Forward Hood Opener

[Learpilot]

I am looking for a forward hood opener for my one piece hood on my 36 Dodge.
I found on EBAY a 1936 blue and white Plymouth item # 200607713039 with a hood opener like I want.
I emailed the owner a question ,but he did not build the car so he didn't know.
I also found one for a 37 Ford ,but the guy said that it would not work because the 37 ford has a flat part over the radiator and it would not clear my radiator shell.
Thanks in advance for your answers !
Rick

[WZ JUNK]

If it was me, I would just make the thing.  Seems like most of the stuff I buy, I have to modify it anyway so that it works correctly.  Take a picture of what you have and mabe we can come up with something.

I have a friend that made his own for a 32 Ford and it works great.  Basically it uses two unequal pairs of pivot arms.  When it swings up and forward, it goes over the grille then stops and at the same time the back pivots up as it has the longer arms.  Hard to explain but it works.

John

[Learpilot]

If it was me, I would just make the thing.  Seems like most of the stuff I buy, I have to modify it anyway so that it works correctly.  Take a picture of what you have and mabe we can come up with something.

I have a friend that made his own for a 32 Ford and it works great.  Basically it uses two unequal pairs of pivot arms.  When it swings up and forward, it goes over the grille then stops and at the same time the back pivots up as it has the longer arms.  Hard to explain but it works.

John

Thanks !!! I was thinking the same thing. I was just checking if anyboby has one already made. I got the pictures from the 36 Plymouth on Ebay. I called the guy from Roanoke , Va that was suppose to have built it, but he said they just did a little work on the motor mount and firewall.
I have a friend that has a CAD program on his computer. So we can get the lengths right as well the pivot points. The only thing I need to leave him alone untill after the Hot Rod Power Tour. It has been so long that I was an engineer (35 years) that we still used a sliderule.
I was thinking about using thick wall tubing and threading it for Hiem joints. I just don't know the size, maybe 5/15" to 3/8"
I already have a three piece hood.
No matter how good our Hot Rods are we always try to make them BETTER !
Rick
Thanks again !!!

[WZ JUNK]

I think I would just mock something up out of  3/4"X 3/4" wood to represent the pivot arms.  You only need to figure out one side at this point.  Start messing with it and changing the length of the wood.  Draw what you want out on a big piece of cardboard and then start changing the lengths of the pivot arms until it does what you want.

My friend Ron, who reads this board but does not post, uses velcro to hold the hood down on his 32.  The weight of the hood and the way that hood hinges forward, naturally keeps the hood down.  The velcro just keeps it from fluttering a little when you are at speed.  I know it sounds crazy but it works.

I would not be to concerned with a heavy heim joint.  A small one or some other pivot method should do just fine.

John

[Learpilot]

I think I would just mock something up out of  3/4"X 3/4" wood to represent the pivot arms.  You only need to figure out one side at this point.  Start messing with it and changing the length of the wood.  Draw what you want out on a big piece of cardboard and then start changing the lengths of the pivot arms until it does what you want.

My friend Ron, who reads this board but does not post, uses velcro to hold the hood down on his 32.  The weight of the hood and the way that hood hinges forward, naturally keeps the hood down.  The velcro just keeps it from fluttering a little when you are at speed.  I know it sounds crazy but it works.

I would not be to concerned with a heavy heim joint.  A small one or some other pivot method should do just fine.

John

Thanks for the info !!!
I was thinking about using yard sticks as my pattern. I can get them fairly cheap.

That is a good idea about using velcro to hold down the hood. Does he use both sides or one side to keep it from rattling ?
Thanks, Rick

[chimp koose]

There was an article I believe in street rod builder magazine that went through the process of making the hinges you are talking about. I need to get on that soon as well .I should be mounting the hood on my anglia this summer.

[2buck]

I helped a friend who has a 1940 Chevy P/U do a forward hood tilt linkage 'study' with 2004 SolidWorks CAD. It took about 5 versions before I had the linkage's positions and lengths established so it would tilt far enough forward to give decent access to his engine.

I believe the yardstick method would give 'ball park' results because the pivot points would be too flexible to actually work once everything was done with heim ends.

We have not taken that data and built the pieces yet. He is tied up doing steel fabrication for the next 30 days so I can not give a 'field' report.

I would think the linkage made with 1/4" heim ends would be sufficient.

[rumrumm]

You might look at the Tri-C hood. I have one on my '32 and I think you can reverse it so it opens from the rear instead of the front. It is a nicely engineered system with a safety latch and a stop to keep the hood open. It might be worth giving them a call if you don't want to build one.

www.tri-cengineering.com

[Learpilot]

You might look at the Tri-C hood. I have one on my '32 and I think you can reverse it so it opens from the rear instead of the front. It is a nicely engineered system with a safety latch and a stop to keep the hood open. It might be worth giving them a call if you don't want to build one.

www.tri-cengineering.com

This looks good, Thanks