April 2005 – hood hinge install

I preferred to attach the hoop for the hood hinge to the hood without using rivets so I found some 3M High Strength Body Filler to bond the hoop to the back of the hood. 2005.04.a.hoodhinge1I had some helpful advice to trim some of the extra metal off the hoop. I first place the hood on the body and traced the outline of the engine compartment opening from underneath. I then cut the excess hoop metal so it fit inside the marks I made. This was a great piece of advice. Had I not done that you would have seen a Cobra hood for sale on Ebay.

Next I had to drill holes through the metal on the hood hoop for the hood handles.  It would have been nice to have a  1 inch drill.  Instead I had to use a 1/2 inch drill and a dremel to enlarge the hole.  It took a little longer but it worked and the handles when on easily. 2005.04.b.hoodhandleI have added a new dremel to my tool collection. It has turned out to be a valuable tool when you need to shave or shape some of these metal parts.

I  am not finished with my 3M High Strength Body filler work but I was anxious to put together the hinge assembly to see how it is going to fit. Here the hinge assembly is in place but not bolted down yet.  2005.04.c.hoodhingeI test fit the hood on the body and it would not sit flat…. ohhhh noooo! But it turned out that the HV coil was mounted in a position the hit the hood hoop.  Whew, that was easy to fix by moving the HV coil.

Hours spent on the build: 223 hours

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