Re: How to adjust hood on 53 Buick?

Posted by JeffM On 2008/12/31 17:48:49

Owen, I know you know your stuff, but I would feel more safe having a second person holding the hood up. If the spring pops and the pole falls, that hood is very heavy. Go with two guys.

Also, dongle, thanks for your suggestion. We are certainly going to be looking to go that route. Regarding the slop in the hinges you witnessed over the years, mine has (err... hadhad) a lot of slop.

The hinge was two pieces. The spring grabs one piece, and that piece has a wedge that sticks out the side and fits into a slot on the other piece. The slot keeps the spring from pulling the other piece of the hinge all the way forward and allowing the spring to pop off.

Previously, we had a problem where the wedges had too much slop in them, and when we closed the hood, the wedges cleared past the slot and both springs popped off. When they pop off, they fire like missiles!

We tack welded the wedges to the slots, figuring that would cure the problem. We believe the pivot pin busted because the wedge was not completely in the slot when we welded it. Therefore, we think the slight offset was enough to put an awkward tension on the pivot pin, allowing it to torque and break. It was a disaster waiting to happen.

I think we will disassemble the hinges, cut off and grind down the welds we made, reassemble and weld the pivot pins in place on one side, as you suggested. That will hopefully remove the slop and force the wedges to fit into the slots as they are supposed to.

All in a day's work.... Or a few days.... Sure do want to get it right, though.

Incidentally, since our pivot pin broke, I am not sure what we will use to replace it. It's just a pin, so I am thinking of cutting a bolt, but don't know how to rig it to where it stays in place without having room to slide around.

Any ideas on what to use in place of the pivot pin? There is a lot of tension from the spring, so I don't know what is the best solution.