Getting Rid of the Hood Torsion Springs on the Early A-body

[daves66valiant]

I thought I would post this over here if anyone was interested in getting rid of the torsion springs since MOPOWERS did the gas shock deal on his Dart.

Not finished yet. Luckily this is on the beater parts car.

I welded a grade 8 bolt to the back of the channel bracket. I'm sure you can use something else but I went this route because I can still remove the retaining nut without having to take off the fender in the future.

Excuse the weld again. Still need more practice at this.

I ended up drilling two holes because  **(*)I did not realize that the original pinned/pressed bolt was a smaller diameter before I ground it off the donor hinge. The top hole and fastener will be welded to so it looks like original button

Here are the donor hinges from a 73 Duster

The fastener pictured next to the button after grinding it off

Should look like this when finished so that this parts still appears stock.


Not too bad so far. I hope to finish the other side tomorrow and have the hood on to check clearances and any binding issues. I have other detailed pics if anyone is interested. I got this particular idea from another member (sweattybetty) and really liked the idea of not having torsion hood springs in the engine bay.




Dave

[doug 371]

 

[Jim_Lusk]

Clever.

[Bakaruda]

Some one on the board did a hatch lift on there hood. I am going to try this.

[CudaDon65]

I have a 65 barracuda and would like to see more of your pics please.

[west]

that looks real nice,i like the stuff only a mopar person would notice and i bet alot of them won't notice that either.
  i used lift supports on mine,mostly because i could'nt get the spring tension right.I called a company called bullydog and told them the length and pressure i wanted and got them 3 days later. :)the ones pictured are some i used for mock up,the bullydogs are a little nicer and have steel ends.

[daves66valiant]

that looks real nice,i like the stuff only a mopar person would notice and i bet alot of them won't notice that either.
  i used lift supports on mine,mostly because i could'nt get the spring tension right.I called a company called bullydog and told them the length and pressure i wanted and got them 3 days later.

That looks pretty sweet too. Today I went to an industrial bolt supply co. and bought some 1/2" x 3/8" long shoulder bolts to use instead of the grade 8 bolt. Not sure if I'll need 1/2 x 1/2 yet.  The shoulder bolt is designed as a pivot anchor. Just in case anyone is blanking on what a shoulder bolt  looks like. Just find shoulder bolt in the items listing. Cool description.

[daves66valiant]

I have a 65 barracuda and would like to see more of your pics please.

I'll get some extras up today. There are a couple things you need to watch for when the hinge pivots as you close the hood. It will rub against the bracket if you don't put a flat washer between the bracket and the hinge. Better explained with a picture. 

Dave

[Bakaruda]

West, that is exatly what I was talking about.

[6469mopar]

Very cool, nice work

[daves66valiant]

PART II 

Well I finished mocking everything up today. This modification works like a dream. There are a couple of things I need to mention to make things smoother for those of you that are going to do this modification. Here goes part II.

Back side of shoulder bolt. I used a 1/2" X 3/8" shoulder bolt which gives just barely enough room for the hinge to pivot on. I would definitely get the 1/2" x 1/2 shoulder bolt (which is what I'm going to do)


It is very important to have the hinges in the hood up position when calculating where to place the spring mounting bracket. I wanted about a 3/8" gap (finger tip) between the hinge and the cowl. After doing the 1st side I measured the distance from the top of the cowl to the top of the mounting bracket. My measurement was 8 1/8" inches which I used for the opposite side.


I drilled a hole through the inner fender to access the shoulder bolt with an Allen drive socket. I think not welding this piece is best for future removal of the hood springs or maintenance. From the inside I'll put a small 3/8" body plug into this hole to keep water out.


Attachment of the hood with the springs off the bracket. I also aligned the hood



You can see where the spring stop bolt hits the mounting bracket in this picture. Important to have the 1/2 x 1/2 shoulder bolt instead, plus a flat washer between the spring assembly and the face of the mounting bracket.


This is why I am using the original flat fastener from the donor car. It should look like this after it is welded to the backside of the hood hinge. You could massage this part as well to get the needed clearance.



Everything mounted up perfectly with the hood in the open position.

Here's the closed position

Finally no torsion springs


The moment of truth VIDEO OF THE HOOD OPENING AND CLOSING 
It creaks a little which is in part due to what I stated above about the clearance between the spring hinge and the mounting bracket. One thick washer will do ya. I even though about nylon washers too.

Click here for video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y72J6Gdj_1Q

[fstfish66]

that looks real nice,i like the stuff only a mopar person would notice and i bet alot of them won't notice that either.
  i used lift supports on mine,mostly because i could'nt get the spring tension right.I called a company called bullydog and told them the length and pressure i wanted and got them 3 days later. :)the ones pictured are some i used for mock up,the bullydogs are a little nicer and have steel ends.

west very nce,,, what are the  specs on those gas shocks if you dont mind me asking ??

[CudaDon65]

Thanks for all the pics. I've removed my old springs. Now I need to find some parts for my car.

[west]

CORRECTION:I listed the company that supplied my struts as bullydog
 actually they are from strongarm.
  Fish,they are a 10" body and 19" extended length with 80 lbs of pressure,part # 4613.
 I called strongarm @ 330 630 0240 and talked to betty,gave her my specs and then got the part # i needed,then went to kragen(checkers,shucks) to buy them.
 this is for a fairly heavy glass hood,a steel hood may require 100-110 lbs of pressure.

[fstfish66]

OK THANKS DIDNT REALIZE YOU HAD A GLASS HOOD,,,,,,DAVE VERY NICE  JOB,,,,,,