Best option for replacing or repairing Hood Hinges

[Jeff73Mach1]

My hood hinges are pretty sloppy, the springs just barely hold the hood up.

Can anyone tell me their experience with the aftermarket hinges?

They seem to be pretty inexpensive and a preferable choice to rebuilding the existing ones, but is their quality adequate?

Keep in mind, I am in the process of a very unplanned and fairly expensive engine build, so I am not in the market for expensive billet hinges.

 

[87fox72mach]

I have a non ram air set if interestd

 

[turtle5353]

I bought a set from laurel mountain mustang a few years ago and haven't had any trouble with them holding up my hood

 

[Jeff73Mach1]

I have a non ram air set if interested

factory? with springs? condition? price?

Turtle

Were they just the standard hinges they sell for something like 30 bucks a side?

 

[OMS]

My hood hinges are pretty sloppy, the springs just barely hold the hood up.

Can anyone tell me their experience with the aftermarket hinges?

They seem to be pretty inexpensive and a preferable choice to rebuilding the existing ones, but is their quality adequate?

Keep in mind, I am in the process of a very unplanned and fairly expensive engine build, so I am not in the market for expensive billet hinges.

Jeff I have sold quite a few of the standard repro ones

Roy used them on his and his uncles car.

I have had two out of 40 - 50 sets where people did not like them.

There is a newer version that is available. They are ones with the springs included - I have not seen them yet.

They are about 140.00 for a pair

Item #D1ZZ-16789R

71-73 HOOD HINGE SPRING

Standard spring. Price: $13.95

Item #D1ZZ-16797AR

71-73 HOOD HINGE, LEFT HAND

Reproduction left hand standard hood hinge. Price: $39.95

Don

 

[turtle5353]

Ya I bought the standard cheap ones and reused my springs. Seem to be holding up fine.

 

[Qcode351mach]

IMHO...rebuilding your stock hinges is the way to go..

http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-hood-hinge-repair

 

[Jeff73Mach1]

Qcode I've seen that thread, but I have to ask-what is it about the original hinges that makes a 150.00 repair, better than a 80.00-100.00 replacement with new parts? I'm curious, because I believe you speak from a knowledge base that seems pretty solid. What am I missing here?

My car is not a concours restoration, and is more likely to see a drag strip than car show.

 

[72HCODE]

i used the repo hinges.

my original hinges were not in good shape; As i started to work on the car i kept having to open an close the hood eventually when i opened the hood one last time; The passenger side hinge snapped a rivet. It shot the hood spring at me which just missed me as i ducked. That caused me to let go of my hood to avoid the spring missile and sent the hood flying over my passenger fender damaging the fender top and snapping the second hinge on the drivers side. The hood then fell off the car and just missed hitting me a second time. Both engine bay aprons were also damaged. Yeah fun night in the garage.

i ordered repo spring and fixed the aprons where the hood hinge mounts on both sides. the repops were fine, had no issue with them other then they were not original hinges.

I bought the ones with separate springs. which meant i had to install the springs on the hinges. I almost gave myself a heart attack installing them, and i bent a screwdriver trying to pry things together.

once the springs were one and i bolted them to the aprons and installed the hood it was fine.

then 3 years later a buddy gave me a set of correct mach 1 hinges with the square springs. i installed the originals and up till 2 months ago i had the repops sitting in a box. i just gave them away to a friend that needed them for his car.

the repops have a anti rust PC coat on them in black and the springs are round, they supported the mach 1 hood just fine they just looked nothing like the original bare metal hinges.

the repops make sense if you want to save money, you can also paint them grey or media blast them and make them look more like the originals if you wanted to.

my originals i got, i media blasted then painted with Bare metal grey to look natural like original but now they won't rust.

 

[Qcode351mach]

Qcode I've seen that thread, but I have to ask-what is it about the original hinges that makes a 150.00 repair, better than a 80.00-100.00 replacement with new parts? I'm curious, because I believe you speak from a knowledge base that seems pretty solid. What am I missing here?

My car is not a concours restoration, and is more likely to see a drag strip than car show.

When I compared the re-pops side by side next to the originals the metal or stampings looked thicker on the original..on every thing.. the mounting point..the hood mount..lever arms...these were the 39.00 hinges,Like I said & Don said for most they are fine..I just couldn't get them to be consistent..That was my experience...I believe it's worth the extra 50.00 to have the originals rebuilt since it's a far superior product..So it cost me 250.00 in the long run..repops then rebuild..I gave the repops away for free

 

[Jeff73Mach1]

Thanks, I'll pull them and send them to be rebuilt.

 

[73vertproject]

Just wanted to say that the repop hinges and springs that I got from Don at OMS work great for my new NASA hood. I think they were about $150 if I remember right.

 

[Kit Sullivan]

The springs on my 71 ram-air hood gave up many, many years ago...long before any repops were available.

As most know, most repops are round wire (similar to the standard hood springs) while the naca hood springs were ( I think) a flat wire, tighter spring.

Being the broke-as-a joke dude I was in the eighties I was always looking for the "budget" way out of things (read: cheap).

I simply tacked the two bottom coils of each spring together with a welder in an inconspicuous, out of the way area and those springs have been perfect ever since!

They tightened up very nicely and have had no problems holding the hood open for hours on end at car shows and cruise nights ever since.[/i]

 

[philt]

CJ Pony Parts. New kits include springs, hardware and new clips.

FREE shipping, same day shipping and on sale for $117.00.

I called the guy that rebuilds yours. $200.00 Shipping and 7-10 days.

Hmmm since CJ guarantees satisfaction, no brainer for me.

while the naca hood springs were ( I think) a flat wire, tighter spring.[/i]

Incorrect. Nasa Hood springs where as the standard hood springs. Round, not flat. Still have my originals although I'm replacing them JIC.

I had to modify my hood & fenders (6.5" shorter) on my 72 Mach restomod so it was time to change the hinges and latch with a draw down electric type. I bead welded the hood edges to make the hood to fender spacing super tight, new hinges were a must to prevent a "floating alignment".

 

[caspianwendell]

CJ Pony Parts. New kits include springs, hardware and new clips.

FREE shipping, same day shipping and on sale for $117.00.

I called the guy that rebuilds yours. $200.00 Shipping and 7-10 days.

Hmmm since CJ guarantees satisfaction, no brainer for me.

while the naca hood springs were ( I think) a flat wire, tighter spring.[/i]

Incorrect. Nasa Hood springs where as the standard hood springs. Round, not flat. Still have my originals although I'm replacing them JIC.

I had to modify my hood & fenders (6.5" shorter) on my 72 Mach restomod so it was time to change the hinges and latch with a draw down electric type. I bead welded the hood edges to make the hood to fender spacing super tight, new hinges were a must to prevent a "floating alignment".

nasa hood springs were flat...if yours were round, somebody changed something at some point

 

[Qcode351mach]

CJ Pony Parts. New kits include springs, hardware and new clips.

FREE shipping, same day shipping and on sale for $117.00.

I called the guy that rebuilds yours. $200.00 Shipping and 7-10 days.

Hmmm since CJ guarantees satisfaction, no brainer for me.

Worth a shot I guess...But on a build like yours..it would suck to get them installed they will work for while..down the road after it's painted they give up don't last..Too risky for such a high end build imho..In the big picture an extra $100.00 or so for peace of mind is worth it.

I just pulled the hinges on my other Mach 1 sending them off for the same rebuild..They charged me 150.00 but I had bead blasted primed them myself before sending them..

I bead welded the hood edges to make the hood to fender spacing super tight, new hinges were a must to prevent a "floating alignment".

I did exactly the same thing perfect 3/16" gap...All done brought into spec by hand with a metal file to be super precise..Your correct, you need a perfect hinge with no play..The after market hinges I bought wouldn't hold the alignment consistently..The O.E.M. hinges I had rebuilt hold the alignment flawlessly.

 

[Jeff73Mach1]

I mought some original hinges in good shape that arrived yesterday. Haven't even unpacked them.

 

[Kit Sullivan]

My original-equipment 1971 hood springs (functional ram-air hood) were flat wire springs, not round.

There are a couple of possibilities for those who have round-wire springs on a "naca hood"

1) maybe only the actual functional ram-air hoods recived the flat-wire springs, with the non-functional hoods recieving the round-wire.

2) maybe it was only in 71: In 72 they may have gone to round-wire across the board. Just a guess here.

and of course, since the flat-wire are made of unobtanium, many worn out flat-wires have surely been replaced over the years with used, new OEM, or repop round wires.

 

[Obsidian11]

Not to hijack a thread here, but I actually logged on to post a hood hinge question myself... Has anyone tried to put gas struts on their hinges like the billet ones have? I refuse to spend that kind of $ for hood hinges and figure there's gotta be a way to retro-fit some gas struts to stock hinges (with the springs removed of course)

Thanks!