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Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Nose Job Hardware

Time to re-attach the nose to the body:

After some final finagling to ensure everything was aligned as closely as possible, the hinges were welded to the steel frame and bolted to the fiberglass.  Only then was I able to tell if it would actually work as expected.  I had to make a few minor modifications to the braces that are within the drainage channel.  I also had to cut the flaps just in front of the doors so that their curvature does not interfere with the rotation of the braces on the sides of the hood.  This is what it looks like in place and operational:





The hinge connections are working properly.  However, there is enough rotational force on the hood that the stop braces (which keep the nose from flipping completely over and smacking on the floor) were twisting under the force.  So I added reinforcing in two directions. . .



That kept the braces from bending, but now it was twisting the frame to which they were attached. 

Time for Plan B.  An angle welded to the hinge itself prevents them from turning too far.  This approach required a little trial and error to get just the right length on the angles so that they stop the hood at the desired location and both sides are aligned, but it is a much simpler, elegant, and reliable solution.


Next dilemma: how to secure the hood when closed?

I took a field trip to the local pick-and-pull yard and found two Honda Civic donors with trunk latches that looked like they would do nicely.  They are both relatively compact, and will fit between the outer and inner bodies just above and beyond the top door hinges.    I had to remove a small bend in each, and trim them a bit to fit the desired locations.  Here's what they look like installed.


Passenger                                                                                                                                               Driver

The original hood release pull was missing - so I made my own.  Not bad, I think.  


The original was mounted way at the back of the firewall.  The new location is just inside the driver side door.  I still need to figure out the final connection of the cables to the pull before it is operational.  I will also need to glass in wood mounts to the hood for the hook side of the latches.

The original configuration of the hood included baffles in front of the wheels to keep dirt and water off of the headlights when they are in the down position.  I wanted to maintain that functionality, but the rotation of the hood now rotates the bottom face of the cowling through that plane.  I needed a solution that utilized a flexible membrane similar to a "mud flap".  A pair of cheap black rubber floor mats from the auto parts store worked nicely after trimming back the bottom of the original steel baffles.
                                                                                   
Wheel Side
Headlight Side
Note in the photo above (left) that I had to drill holes through the new baffles for the wiring for the front end lights.  The holes are just above the hinge point, so even though the hood rotates +/- 90 degrees, there is little movement of the wires themselves.



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