LUVTruck.com

hi everyone

I got a new hood, it's fiberglass and with a 3 inch cowl. I'm having some trouble getting it all lined up, though.

For those of you who've done this before, do I need to get new hinges or modify something? What I think is happening is that the hinges are too far forward, when we bolted the hood to the hinges, the hood sat too far forward.

Has anyone had to modify the underside of their hood for the radiator cap? My old hood had a hole cut out, but since my new one is fiberglass, I'm worried about cutting into it.

I also think it might be kind of cool to put the hinges on the side and have the hood open sideways. Haven't looked into it yet. Anyone done this before?

hope you all can kind of see what my problem is, it's hard to explain.

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I got my LUV!!!!!!!

I haven't dealt with a fiber hood but i most likely will in the future. Is it possible to take some pics of the problem? A pic of the hood open and one with it closed? (or closed enough to get a good idea of how forward it is). What brand of hood did you get? Did it have any installation directions? For what it's worth, don't go with hood pins. I elected to eliminate my hood hinges to fit my radiator and i fitted pins to secure the hood. It works just fine and it is nice to have total access to the motor but it's a pain to remove and replace without risk of scratching paint. I plan to add hinges when i get a replacement hood.

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Previous setup: 4.1 Buick V-6/TH 350
Current setup: 400 Small Block Chevy V-8/TH 350
9" ford rear end/short bed/blue
What do Water, Electricity and Humans have in common... They all travel the path of least resistance.

she got the hood from me.
I had looked at hooking up the original hinges at first, but wanted to go with pins myself, so I don't know what kind of troubles you are running into.
If you talk to RATNLUV, he used his original hinges on the hood he got from unlimited. Maybe he ran into the same troubles. I dunno.

Hope you can figure it out!

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03Cobra

With my truck, using pins works out just fine with the fit and all. But over the course of the mod, i've lost pins during test drives with the hood off, Removing the hood on windy days is a handful. It wants to fly away! I took the truck to the muffler shop to get my headers tied in to the rest of the exhaust system. They didn't get right on it and i went home and waited for the call to come and get it. The mechanic assumed that the hood was a normal hinge setup and he pulled the pins and yanked upwards. It tweaked the hood and i ended up spending about a half an hour tweaking the hood back in to shape.
It's stuff like this that makes me want to go back to hinges. Hell... i just might figure out a quick-detach hinge pin setup. The best of both worlds!

Jess, i am curious to see the problem you're facing. Pics, drawings, anything that shows the problem would be cool.

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Previous setup: 4.1 Buick V-6/TH 350
Current setup: 400 Small Block Chevy V-8/TH 350
9" ford rear end/short bed/blue
What do Water, Electricity and Humans have in common... They all travel the path of least resistance.

Right now im away from home and my Dad took my truck to get a yearly state inspection. The inspector needed to get under the hood to verify basic emissions requirements and he pulled the pins and yanked upwards only to tweak the hood again!!! Dad was able to square things back up straight by using his hands and a well placed knee.

If anyone is set on using hood pins, Get rid of the stock latch too. Especially if you have a fiberglass hood. It wont bend like steel.

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Previous setup: 4.1 Buick V-6/TH 350
Current setup: 400 Small Block Chevy V-8/TH 350
9" ford rear end/short bed/blue
What do Water, Electricity and Humans have in common... They all travel the path of least resistance.