Hood Replacement

[homebrewer]

I'm replacing my existing P15 hood with a better one. Are there any tricks or tips to installing the new one since the hinges now seem to be way past where they should be. In other words, they seem to be sticking almost straight up rather than at an angle that would make the hood an easy bolt on. Thanks, George

[randroid]

George,

There seem to be almost as many places to adjust the hinges as there are ways to cook an egg. Every bolt used to hold them to the car can be wiggled and slid, plus where the hood attaches to the hinges.

I'm sure there will be a few guys who will disagree with me on this, but what I would do would be to loosen (if not entirely remove) one of the hinges to see how it moves, then go from there. Since they're already out of adjustment it won't hurt them and I think you'll be money ahead knowing how they move before you hang the weight of the hood on them. They aren't difficult to work with.

-Randy

[james curl]

George, If you can hold the hinge against the spring you can remove the front body bolt and let the front of the hinge pivot down to remove the spring, do this on both sides. Now the hinge can be moved to allow you to install the hood. Hook the springs back up and lever the front hinge hole back into alignment and install the bolt. See how much adjustment is required to align the hood. Do not try to align the hood with the springs off because when you reinstall them it changes everything. I used a short peice, 18" of 3/4" x 2" oak between the inside edge of the fender and the bottom of the hinge to lever it back up in place.

[greg g]

cover the cowl with a blanket and protect the fenders and the rear of the hood. If you have a couple or even three people, positio the hood as it would be inits open position then adjust the hinges to the hood they should come into line. then bolt it on on both sides snuggly so you can lower it and then make your adjustments.

[randroid]

Gents,

Greg made an excellent point about using a blanket and several friends to test-fit the hood, and I would have smiled and let it go at that were it not for James' equally excellent post about not fitting the hood with the springs disconnected because that would change the geometry of the hinges.

My point: If homebrewer's hood originally hung at a less acute angle than the hinges now aim, wouldn't the weight of the hood cause a different angle in-and-of itself? Perhaps that the hood has not yet been installed would make the difference in the 'angle of the dangle', and could it be that the hinges are in the correct place already and might need only fore-and-aft adjustment of the hood to make things just tickety-poo?

That's too simple but these hoods were originally all alike so it's not out of the realm of possibility.

-Randy

[jimainnj]

I'm replacing my existing P15 hood with a better one. Are there any tricks or tips to installing the new one since the hinges now seem to be way past where they should be. In other words, they seem to be sticking almost straight up rather than at an angle that would make the hood an easy bolt on. Thanks, George

George for what its worth, I took the hood off to paint, one of the hinge

pop straiat up, the other remained in the normal slanted possition, we pulled the hinge down and used a c-clamp to hold possition to are surprise that

pulled the hinge together and it stayed in place after c-clamp was removed

apparently there is a stop on the hinge that spreads apart and jujst needs

pulled together. hope that makes sence. Jim

[homebrewer]

Thanks for the tips guys. The old hood was aligned, so I don't think I have to remove and readjust the hinges. I think Jimainnj might have hit the nail on the head when he talked about the stops. I can see where they are supposed to stop, but they kinda just slide by one another.I will try to adjust them so the stops work or try the C clamp trick. I need to get my son in law over here to give me a hand. Might try installation today or tomorrow. Thanks to all. George

[Plymouthy Adams]

I would think that if the hinge is slipping by the stop that you may have excessive play in a hinge rivet..prior to putting the weight of th ehood on the hinges..inspect these closely..

[homebrewer]

The hood is on and adjusted. The rivets seem tight. Almost too tight. The metal where the hood is supposed to stop is kind of worn away, and the two pieces just sort of slipped by one another.I lined the hinge up with a large crescent and then I just had to tweak the hinge with a screwdriver to get the "stops" lined up. Once that was done everything else was basically a piece of cake. Thanks for all the help. Sometimes you can't see the forest for the trees. George