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Want to change my '39 Chevy pickup's hood swing from gull wing to front opening. I have removed the side panels and have a plan for them. My question is how does one hang hinges on this cowl and have the hood clear it? What hinges would do the trick?
I cant tell you what hinges to use , but your going to need to beef up the grille area to accept the weight of having the hood hinges , plus add a plate in the front under side of hood to accept the bolting of the hinges, after thats done have you figured out how you will latch the hood at the cowl, because just a single latch in the center will let the corners flop and chip paint, most likely will need a set up off an older corvette that latched each side of the hood corners.
I would just go to a salvage yard and walk around , look at the foriegn cars as their hinges arent quite as massive as american cars , so the lighter weight , and smaller hinge will be eiser to make work.
You will most likely go through several hinges to get the right lift of the hood .
Also the narrow area front of the hood has less strength and wont be near as stable as hinging from the wider area from the rear . Just a thought to consider.
SprayTEch
Thanks for the thoughts.
Since the hood will be hinged off the cowl area, I found the fulcrum point of the hinges needs to be about two inches behind the firewall. I found a cheap set of Ford Taurus hood hinges at our local Jalopy Jungle and welded them in last night. Still need to finish the reinforcement of the cuts I made, water/fire proof, and do the body work around them but I think it'll work great. Then I'll reinforce the top two hood halves and bolt them on.
I want to keep this truck original looking and the old, gull wing style was cool, but metal fatigue is eating all four panels of this well used family hand-me-down truck and I don't want the side panels to scratch the paint and I think this'll cure it.
Boy do I feel like a dope , I read your question all wrong.
I some how read that you wanted a front hinged hood.
Sorry for the bad advice
Spray
That's ok. I have done similar things and probably will in the future.
Checked out your photos, lookin' good. Did you bend the metal for the hood yourself? How does it open? If it is gull, how are you going to protect the fenders from scratches?