Does anybody have any alternatives to the hood prop rod? I hate that SOB. Anyone know of any hood hinges with springs that are a direct bolt in? Early Mustang maybe? Ideas welcome...
I have been thinking about the same thing, one idea I was thinking about, but I have not explored is those hydraulic??? type of hood props that they have on later model cars. Anybody try this yet?
Gas Struts My neighbour installs replacement struts for trunks and hoods. He's installed gas struts for new cars such as PT Cruisers and Lexus and older models such as Covettes for example. Contact Frank Irvine at info@strutwise.com or visit his website at www.strutwise.com He's now designing two struts for my 74, and will be able to get a custom set of struts for your Mav.
That's it! I couldn't think of what they were called. When you get them, maybe you could post a picture of them. I am sure others would be interested as well. Thanks for the info!
Maverick Gas Struts Yes, I'll get some jpg's of the struts and installation points for you and others to view. They'll probably be posted on the www.strutwise.com site sometime next week.
Gas Struts cont'd We are still matching up the proper combination of bracket and struts to fit. We'll have it all together soon. The struts should fit in any 6 or 8 cyl engine bay.
I'm very intrested in what you guys come up with, I tried to make a set on the new car but I was having problems with the way the hood closes. As you guy probly know it doesn't close in a linear fashion,when I did get it to work the hood wouldn't open more than before. My goal was to have the hood open more than the prop rod so I would stop banging my head on the hood latch. The other problem I had was the under hood frame flexed alot. I figured if I changed to pinto/mustang II hinges that would have cured most of the problems but, I really didn't want to go that rout. I did have it easier than most because we have the mustang II front and I didn't have to contend with the shock towers.
whats up thomas---don't you already have a notch cut out in your skull from that hood latch?? Why make the hood go up further-that would ruin the fun of working on a Maverick. I just love to start cussing and screaming before I even pick up a wrench.
Well, we heard alot about the use of struts and gas shocks, but what about the early model mustang hinges with the heavy springs. Has anyone tried them?
I looked at the early Mustangs. Dont even look close. Another problem is the underside bracing on the Maverick hood. Its not all that much and too strong a spring will probably end up bending your hood.
I've tried 65/66 Mustang hood hinges & there isn't one(well you can line up one) hole the lines up on the body & the hood. I've also tried 67 thru 70 Mustang hinges(they are all the same) with the same results. Next I'm going to measure the hood hhinges off of my Torino, but I expect the same results. If we find the right hood hinge we can always interchange the springs for the right tension. Additionally, Branda sells the lightweight springs for fiberglass Shelby hoods.
Gas Struts Dave, We were able to get one side done (battery side), but we couldn't use the same strut for the other side. The one strut was able to hold up the hood. For safety sake though one strut wasn't enough, so Frank has gone into his search mode to find the right combination. It looks as though we need a longer shaft and shorter strut body to make the clearance, and that means checking a few hundred existing struts to find the perfect size. I thought we would have got that done by now, but it's not that easy, Frank says. More news soon.
Would the hinges from a hatchback work at all? Maybe a minivan or suv? I really hate those prop rods. They make me nervous around my grills that I had just finished. Let me know when you find the gas shocks that work, and please post some pictures!!
