How To~ Forward Tilt Your Hood.

[Rokcrln]

Forward Tilt Hood

By

Lewis Fabrication Design Inc.

This mod has been done before by others but not very musch info has been provided to others who may want to try this so here it is. The front end I did this to is the 67-68 style and the 69-72 is not the same but you should get a good idea of what needs to be done. I started by hitting the wrecking yard to get the needed parts off a late '80's(85-86 was first year)-early 90's Buick Lesabre with the forward tilt hood. I removed the front hinge assembly (you need torques allens for this) as well as the rear fender mounted slider and the rear hood slider. Every thing unbolts except the rear hood slider, that I had to use a hammer and chissel to remove.

[Rokcrln]

First step is to remove your front tires and inner fenders for access. Then remove your hood hinges and hood latch. Now is one of the most important parts, make sure your fender, hood, cowl, grill are all aligned how you want it to be when you are finished. Their will be adjustment in the new set up but not alot so you want to be real close before starting. Now measure inbetween your front fenders right at the radiator support you should have right about 66". This is what you will need to widen the hinge assembly to. You will do this one of two ways.
1) cut the tube in the center between hinges and add a pieces as needed to widen.
2) I got two full assemblys and just off set cut both of them so all I had to do was add a inner splice to tie them together. I only did this because I did not have a piece to splice the larger gap in option 1.

Make sure the two hinges are lined up before welding them back together.

Pic 2 is measured from the plate that the tube is welded to to the same spot on the other side.
Pic 3 is over all assembly width from were the two sides touch the fenders.

[Rokcrln]

Now that this is done you can move onto notching the radiator support for hinge clearance. I came in 1" on both sides and removed the peice of the radiator suport all the way down to the corner triangle brace. Then I welded a piece of 8" long by 3/4" square tube to the top of the corner brace and tight to the outer fender as shown in pic1. Then pic2 shows a side shot of how the hinge will look when mounted. Pic3 shows a top view. Placement of the hinge is very important front to back. You will need to trim off part of the front and back of your top radiator mounts. This will not affect strength but will not allow for a stock shroud to bolt to it. Pic4 shows how close the hinge tube get to the inside of the mount and pic5 shows the out side. What you will want to do is clamp the hinge set up in the truck or use self tapping screws to hold it in place and try it out. You will find the right spot for it to be mounted also in pic2 you can see the placement.

[Rokcrln]

Next is the suport structure for the hinge and hood slider to bolt to. I used 2x2x1/8" angle for this step end each piece is 39 1/4" long. They will be 62" apart from each other and equal front to back. This measurment is from out side to out side like shown in pics 2&3. Pic1 shows the angle after I cut it to follow the hood lines. I made a paper templet of the hood shape and transfered it to the angle iron. You will use both rear hole's for the stock hinge to bolt this brace into. The front of the brace will get welded at a later step. Pic4 shows how the end of the brace is lined up with the end of the hood structure. The front of the brace is tight against the front hood structure as seen in pic1.

[Rokcrln]

Now you will make the hood hinge mounting plates. For this I used 2x1/8" flat plate 9 1/2" long ea. First you will need to put it in a vise and bend a 3/4" return on both ends so when it sits on the hood brace it is 3/4" tall. This demension is important for clearance then the hood is closed. Pic1 shows what it will look like. Pic2 shows that the bracve is 10" back from the front of the hood brace to the front of the hinge mounting plate. Tack weld the plates to the brace, they will get removed at a later step so don't go crazy with your tack welds.

Now remove the springs from the hinge and set them aside. Place the hinges in the closed position and place the hood back on the truck. Make sure it is lined up how you want it before going to the next step. Pic3 shows the hinge held tight up to the mounting plate and you will need a marking pen or a scribe to mark both holes. The holes are square and you will want to mark them as a square, do not try and guess were center is! Pic4 show's the hood back off and line's drawn from corner to corner of your square marks to find dead center. Drill all four holes out to 1/2"

[Rokcrln]

Remove the plates from the hood braces but first mark them for location and right or left sides as shown in pic1.
Pic2 Now take some 7/16" square nuts and weld them to the bottom side of the mounting plates. Once this is done replace the plates back on the braces and weld them on for good, make sure they are were they should be! Pic3 Now go ahead and install the hood again and bolt it in place. You can also install the springs again to make it easier and help hold it open.

[Rokcrln]

Now we will move onto teh rear hood slider/catch. First thing you will need to do is trim off the extra metal. Trim off the light guage metal that was part of the hood tight to the heavier plate that is the slider/catch. Once this is done hold it up the the hood like in pic1 and you will be amaized how well it fits the hoods shape. Pic2 shows endo placement being flush with the end of the hood brace. Pic3 shows a pic of a side plate I added for reinforcment. The plate is also made out of 2x1/8" steel and is welded to the side of the hood brace flush with the surface that is up against the hood. The other side of the plate is flush with the edge of the slider/catch and all this should fall into place with the body lines of the hood and how well this all fit together. You will do the same for the other sode and all you need to do is make sure the two sides are even with each other and paralel. Pic4 is for referance.

[Rokcrln]

This next step you will have to work it out your self with my pics to help give you the basic idea. This first design is the most simple and easiest to do. You will need a piece of plate or angle that is atleast 3/16" think and is atleast 4"x4"x 8" long. You will trim it off later once it is all fit aand marked. Pic1 just shows a top view of how it may look as you are starting. Pic2 shows the angle clamped in place. Pic3 show the use of a framming square to make sure it is square with the fire wall. Now you can get all your side to side dimentions by measuring the roller's on the hod slider/catch. Measure from the lip of the roller to the same place on the other roller and write this dimention down. The reason I did not provide a dimention for this is because in teh last step of mounting the slides yours may be different form mine and that is fine. This step now will match what you did on the hood and it will all work out fine.
Now notice on the piece that you are now working on has a rubber ramp that has a grove for that roller to run in. You will want the dimention of this grove to match the width you measured from the rollers above. Mark this out on your pieces of angle and clamp the lower slider track in place. Now shut your hood and check how things work. You will need to move things around to get the hood to close just how you want. When the hood is shut and at the proper alignment you will want the rollers to be tight in the "J" hooks of the lower slider. This will help keep the hood from moving. When all said and done the back of the hood should slid forward with out contacting the fenders at all but it wil be close. Once you are happy with how it all works you will need to mark the stock hood hinge bolt holes in your angle for mounting. Pic4 shows how I marked my holes. I drilled mine out to 5/8" so I have some adjustment sfor later if needed. Also when you mark the holes in your lower slider track make them 1/2" and use larger washers so you will have room for adjustment as well.

[Rokcrln]

Now this step is what I ended up doing for my lower rear mounts. It is not needed but I wanted a cleaner look. I will just post the pics and let you go from their. I am not even going to try and explain what I did but the pics shoud do most of that.

[Rokcrln]

Here is the last of my pics. I hope this may help people with this mod if they decide to give it a try. It is not a real easy mod to do but can be done with medium fabrication skills and good welding skills. Good luck and have fun!


Kevin
LFD Inc.

[Rokcrln]

The rear brackets bolt into the rear two hinge holes then their is a hole near the fire wall that it also bolts into. I will not know untill I get teh cab and front end on my frame but I may need to shave off the bottom bolt for tire clearance. As far as making this bracket, it the one part that needs to be made to fit all the other things you do first. It kind of adjusts for any other part that may be off from the rest of the build.

Here's the problem, if I were to make a kit and have it worth me doing (I have no time to begin with) it would end up around the $500+ range. If I only build one part of the kit for a person and they do not build the rest just like I did then it won't fit/work. So I feel I need to leave it with the people that can build their own to do so and those who can't finding someone who can do it for them. Now their are kits out their for doing this but they are universal kits that need alot of fabrication work as well and that is why I wanted to do my own for my projects.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[Rokcrln]

Originally Posted by dan468

rock, pretty sure you're gonna have to lose the bottom bolt on the catch; depending on tire size of course but it's slim in there

I was thinking this so that is why it extends farther back. I get my LT1 harness back this week so I hope to put the cab on for test fitting in the next few weeks. Then I can always drill an extra hole if needed but I think the two top bolts is enough with the step in the mounting bracket.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[Rokcrln]

Originally Posted by dan468

what extends farther back? are you talking about drill space on the bracket it self?

Look at post #10 and you can see how the bracket follows the fender angle tward teh fire wall. The two bolts in front, are the rear two bolts for the stock hinge. You can see the very front un used bolt hole and that is the front stock bolt for the old hinge. So if this is making sence then you can see how I extended the entire bracket tward the fire fire wall to give me more room for tire clearance. Hope this helps.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[Rokcrln]

Originally Posted by steveo10

just one question did you have to do anything to the hood release? other than that i will be trying this soon and your write up will help out alot. nice work

Yep! Keep your hand out of the way as you shut it but that is about it. The first few inches of motion is just like stock so the hood pops just right. The one thing I forgot to mention is the rear set of hood bumpers need to move forward about 10" so the rear sweep of the hood will clear them.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[Rokcrln]

Originally Posted by dan468

"First thing you will need to do is trim off the extra metal. Trim off the light guage metal that was part of the hood tight to the heavier plate that is the slider/catch"

I have a hard time figuring out what was trimmed. Can you elaborate?
Thanks!

When I got these from the pick N pull I had to use a hammer and chisel (sp?) to get them off the hood since they are welded in place. So you will have hood metal welded to the slide plate that you will need to trim off before installing them on the hood. If you go to the wrecking yard you will see what I mean.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[RunninLo]

One tip I wanted to add for guys like me who only ended up getting the hinge and not the rear catches. I scratched my head for a long time trying to figure a fix other than trying to track down another donor to get the rear roller catches from. One day while servicing my sportbike I noticed that my rear swingarm spools for the stand look EXACTLY like the rear catches. They can be found online for $15-20 and hold up a couple of hundred pounds of bike so they should be fine to hold the hood in place. Once my dropmembers are done I'll be doing this mod and post up some pics.

Josh

[Rokcrln]

Originally Posted by custom63

Could this set up be modified to be used on the 60-66's?

I don't see why not. All you have to do is try it and see what happens. Parts are cheap and plentifully.

Kevin
LFD Inc.