a fews guys were asking for pics and a how to on this mod. i know some guys on gonna say, should have done this, or should have done that! i did it this way cuz i had the materials laying around and i have less than $2 in nuts, bolts, and washers. alot of guys use the late 80's early 90's buick lesabre hood hinges. which is what i would have done, if i could have found them. not one in 200 square miles. and with those you have to hack the crap out of the fenders. i really didnt want to do that. so this is what i came up with, and imo, works waaay better. i can go back to stock and noone would ever know it was done. i used factory hood latch in its factory location. i was gonna do a step by step, but the details were too much. you should get the idea from the pics. if you have questions or want details bout something, just ask. this mod needs done when radiator, ac condenser, and grill are removed. this makes it easier to mark brackets and make sure everthing is lined up while hood is shut. i found that on either side of the radiator, there is the mounting bolts for the ac condenser. this location is perfect cuz there is a hole a few inches above it. next on the to do list was locating where the hood brackets were gonna be. i shut the hood and marked where the brackets on core support touched the hood. then just used the hood supports to mount the brackets. next was to make the piece connecting the two. this is where it got frustrating. lots of trial and error on this part. but with everything off of the front, it was easy to get to. after hrs of grinding this is what i ended up with. you will have to reinforce the core support. it wants to twist a bit with weight of the hood. i just used same material from the brackets. you will have to use nylon washers where it pivots to make it move better. and you cant just let it slam shut anymore. you will have to guide it down. i am in the process of making a track for the hood to sit in that way its not as awkward to shut. i personally dont think its that bad. i need to clean up the brackets and paint them still, but they are done!
you prob could, but the junk yards around here are crooks and didnt want to waste the money incase they didnt work. and alot of these syle hinges have the latch on the firewall. i think the buick hinges were the only ones that didnt need crap load of modification done to them and used factory latch location.
it moves very, very little. barely notice it unless im staring at it. i did get more of the rubber bump stop things and put in back. that helped alot. the most i have seen it move was prob the thickness of the hood, like 1/8in if that. and that was a a very windy day and passing 18 wheeler going opposite direction at 65mph. when i figure out how to post videos, i will take video of it while going down the highway.
