Thread: 32 Hood Center Hinge Cover

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Since the windshield swap on my new highboy is sounding more and more like a project I don't want to get into immediately, I have decided to do some other subtle changes to the car that hopefully won't be quite so labor intensive and require body/paint work. I like the look of a stock 4 piece hood, as well as the associated trim on the bullnose and cowl, and have considered adding this trim and a false top hinge cover to my one piece hood top... Can someone tell me, (or better yet, show me some pics) of the stainless hinge cover on the top of a stock 32 hood? How does it attach to the hood/hinge? What does the bottom of it look like? From what I've seen in catalogs, I'm thinking it is held in place with brackets at each end. I'm wondering if i could somehow attach the trim to the center of the hood so that it lifted with the hood. i have never actually seen this piece in person, but am envisioning a rolled piece of stainless, "hollow" on the back where the hinge would pass through. If that's the case, could the backside be filled with epoxy to make it have a "flat" bottom surface and then attach it to the hood with 3M molding tape?

Hey Joey, check out this recent thread: "FALSE ALARM!! I went on a wild goose chase ! " in it you will see a lot of 4 piece hood photos along with detailed instructions as to how to break it apart, including hinge.. Might help you...

I love 4 piece hoods. I just think, wouldn't you be better off buying a two piece top and using it with your current sides (if they will fit - not sure what your hood set up is) and you can save your solid one piece top to use when you want to show off your engine (open sides)... But since I am a new bie too, you may want to check with the experienced deuce owners here first, to see if this might work out...

Joey, here is an illustration of the center stainless hood hinge strip that I stole from the Bob Drake catalog. It shows how the strip is formed on the underside to fit the rounded edges of the hood top halves to form the hinge.

What you are considering could probably be done and hopefully it wouldn't stick up too high to match the cowl spear and the grille shell ornament.

I might try to figure a way to bolt it on rather than use the tape tho.

Mick

Awesome, just what i needed... for 20 bucks I'm gonna buy one and see what it looks like when it gets here.

I've heard that the VW Bug has a side spear that will work on the centerline of Deuce hoods.

I like the look as well, but the hood on my 31 on 32 rails project is 32 3/8" long so I'll have to do things a little differently.

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What I thought would work would be to make up some short aluminum pieces from strap that would span the underside of the chrome strip.

Drill and countersink for 10-32 FH stainless screws.

Epoxy the stainless screws to the aluminum pieces.

That would give you a home-made chrome strip retainer.
3-4 should do it.

Lay masking tape in the area of the hood to be drilled, then drill.

Use stainless nylock nuts - with a flat washer underneath - drawn up just snug enough to prevent rattles.
They will stay in place even if not firmly torqued down.

I have my own ideas for how I'm going to do it... drilled the first 2 holes in my new car tonight... Bought a bullnose and emblem from SoCal, and the stainless end spear for the cowl... got something else up my sleeve for the false hinge cover itself... (right now its a piece of 3/4" masking tape) I am quickly learning that nothing fits like you hope it will, filed and bent and ground and cut and filed again 15 times on the bullnose to get it to fit... similar scenario with the cowl spear... but its gonna work, one way or another. Here's a sneak peak at the project in progress...

Finished it up today...turned out pretty good... the hood hinge cover is fake, attached to the center of the 1 piece hood top. Along with the red/white pinstripes I think it gives the car a little more nostalgic look... what do you think?
Windshield and headlights are next!

Looks good...............I'd vote for the windshield change first to keep in tune with the nostalgic change.

That a real Yenko, or a clone?

Yep, definitely gotta tackle that windshield... its on its way as we speak. As for my "other" Deuce...It's real...No offense, but I didn't know any of you hot rodders even knew what a Yenko was! 27k miles, sold new at Colonial Chevrolet in Norfolk VA. Had a 6 page feature in the Nov.05 Musclecar Enthusiast magazine. As I said, I'm new to this hot rod scene, but have loved musclecars forever... here's a pic from the photo shoot... some may recognize the background, it was shot at York fairgrounds, home of the NSRA Nats.

Originally Posted by joeybsyc

Yep, definitely gotta tackle that windshield... its on its way as we speak. As for my "other" Deuce...It's real...No offense, but I didn't know any of you hot rodders even knew what a Yenko was! 27k miles, sold new at Colonial Chevrolet in Norfolk VA. Had a 6 page feature in the Nov.05 Musclecar Enthusiast magazine. As I said, I'm new to this hot rod scene, but have loved musclecars forever... here's a pic from the photo shoot... some may recognize the background, it was shot at York fairgrounds, home of the NSRA Nats.

Unless the power parkers beat me out (or it rained too much), that's close to my favorite spot at York

Nice Yenko, tho I do like the roadster better

Nice job! It's the little things like this, high quality and attention to detail that I can really appreciate. I think your right on with doin the windshield thing. Nice car!

I see you worked around the little quirks of leveling the trim... especially at the cowl area... You did a good job