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If the hinge is functional at all, one way I've been able to relieve spring tension on some things is to open or extend spring, if the spring will extend at all, fill as many of the spaces between coils as possible with nails or somesuch solid item, then allow spring to retract. The coil space being filled only allows it to move so far and may be enough to remove spring or get your bolt in.

The least tension will be experienced when the hood is fully open - and I mean all the way open

My experience with these GM cars is pretty limited, but on the two or three I know of the owners have all fabricated hood-hold rods to insure it stays up, w/o that they are pretty precarious.

Clever idea about packing the spring coils! I'll mention that to my friend struggling with his 53 Olds hood.

As you now know Dave was right on. I would suggest this is a more common issue than people may realize. Take a look at all of your hinges.

There will be an amount of slop due to age and use - and size of your hood.

Below is a qick and dirty way of fixing. When done with care, it will last many years, and be relatively invisible.

Take your hinges off and the spring off. Easier than you might think.

I have repaired this in many occassions (on early 60's Fords mind you) by simply welding the head of the rivets to ONE of the hinge pieces - the one with the elongated hole. The other piece is the hinge and the rivet is intended to rotate in that one. It's been many years but i think that the hinge rotates inside the piece that is bolted to the car??? (again in Fords)

Now when I say weld, I simply mean tack the head of the rivet to the hinge piece, so that it will no longer suffer the slop from the elongated hole.

When complete you can grind / dress the weld to 'hide' the repair.

Be carefull, when setting up the pieces before you weld, as if you set it in the wrong position, your hinge mount holes may not be large enough to adjust to compensate for this wrong position.

Clear as mud??

dongle

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.

I didn't make myself clear, I wasn't talking about a prop stick to hold the hood open during repairing the hinge, I was addressing how he displays his engine compartment at shows, etc. Sorry for the confusion. To repair his hood hinge he's using nylon web straps to ceiling rafters.

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.

Can't you use a hardened shoulder bolt?

I suppose I could use a shoulder bolt, but what about the length of the shoulder? That length would have to be very much right on the money in order to be able to tighten the nut all the way, while still being loose enough to pivot, but tight enough not to have play between the two hinge pieces? Do you think I'll be so lucky as to find the perfect shoulder bolt?

Edit: I suppose it was a dumb question. I just have to go to the hardware store and see. I hope there are enough choices that I'll hit paydirt and can move on along with this project.

Why not use a metal sleeve with a bolt and nut? That should allow it to pivot without affecting how tight the bolt is.

Another option might be a bolt and a nylon insert lock nut-- usually the nuts stay pretty much where you put them.

Thanks for the additional suggestions. When I get back to the body shop next year, we'll take a closer look, keeping all your thoughts in mind.

In the meantime, tomorrow is an off-day around the house. Might like to tackle another issue on my Packard re: starting. See v-8. Thanks again, guys.