Are there suppose to be any springs on the hinges to help with lifting the hood, seems like my hinges are getting in a bind while opening up. If not are there anything aftermarket that would work?
Yeh,theirs springs on them. try lubing them? You have a prop rod on a 83 don't you? then no you don't.
you could put 87-88 ones on. I think.
83-86, no. 87-88, there were springs that kept the hood open, you don't need a prop rod. Hinges from an 87-88 will bolt right onto an 83-86. Hinges from a Lincoln MK VII will also bolt on, that's what I have on mine.
I have a few sets of 87-88 if your interested.
X2
Highly recommend using hinges with springs. The early units require the use of a prop rod and the hood is heavy without spring assist!
It was a swap I made last year and is one of those little improvements I really appreciate.
The newer ones with springs aren't hard to find.
Just a note...you have 1983 hinges, they are different from 1984-up. I don't know if the Mark VII add-on setup would work on the '83 hinges.
It might just be easier to swap out the hinges for 1987-88 style with the built-in springs. If it were me, that's what I'd do.
I like the 83-86 with the prop rod. I considered swapping to them on my 87 back in the day.
I guess I'd have to ask...why? The hinges aren't any heavier, so no gains there. And it's so nice being able to open the hood with one hand, you never have to worry about bumping the prop rod while working either. I have noticed that my hood opened slightly higher with the manual brackets though.
i hate the stupid prop rod, would love to swap to something else at some stage.
i dont mean to sound stupid or anything but,,,
you know those fouton bed / couch combo's ?
you lift up a little and the hing wratches down, you lift up again and it wratchets up and locks in place.
we were harvesting parts off it as we do with many things before they get burned or thrown out, these hinges are a good beefy setup for hoods with prop rods.
they look just like car hood hinges without the spring.
lift up a little then let the hood down.
pop the hood and lift up and it locks up as high as you want to go.
just sayin
jcassity,
I'm curious as to what you are referring to. I would like to see them. Do you know who sells them? I also have the 1986 prop rod and it's always getting in the way. Thanks!
Just a FYI: with the factory hod springs you can pretty much open the hood as much as you want and it just stays where you put it. It's kind of nice to have settings between full open and closed.
I'll get a pic of them tomorrow (well i guess today), but i agree with the above post though. it is a benefit to have loose hinges but a pita for the prop rod.
this would encorperate both worlds.
the hinges im talking about are on a fold out couch / futon (spelling)?
they watchet both ways max swing of approx 180deg.
wonder if air shocks would be a better solution.,, kinda like what some do to thier trunk lids.
I saw one company selling a custom set one for each side. It had no hydraulics, they just locked up when extended. I bought some small hood shocks a while back off ebay. I should find them and see if they might work.
here is the futon hing as requested...
The hood hinge doesn't just open up, it opens and lifts as it opens, otherwise, the back of the hood would hit the cowl.
yeah, it kinda rotates on a pivit with a radial swing ... son and i were looking at this hinge last night seeing how we would do it.
it would work but the hood would certainly open very differntly.
I'm 6'5", if I do anything more then an oil change, I pull the hood off. Just not worth the hassle, prop rod or not. I just hate hitting my head on it.
I would also think about swapping hood hinges, just to make everything simpler, even if its not easier or neccisarly better. I also like how a prop rod will not drop the hood down. I have spent some time working on my car when it snows, or had to throw a quart of oil in, and had the hood drop from snow on the hood. My crownvic is 10 times worse then the bird was in this respect.
has anyone looked at installing gas struts on the hood?
No, I thought about it, but the steel hood is very heavy, much heavier than even my Super Duty, which is aluminum, as is the Exploder.
My Falcon has a steel hood, with gas struts.
might have to weigh them to get an idea.
Using the 1987-88 hinges on the convertible was an issue due to the fiberglass hood. The springs kept pushing the back of the hood upward when it was closed.
I tried mocking up the gas struts but kept running into a big problem: there's no place for them to "fold into" when you close the hood.
At least, that was the case with the ones I used (old Ford Probe hatchback struts that had lost their pressure). They kept hitting the strut towers.
Then I discovered the magic of the bolt-on Mark VII springs. Solved all the problems. It's low pressure enough to let a fiberglass hood stay flat when closed. But they're heavy duty enough to hold up a steel hood. They have coils that appear similar to GM-style ones, so replacements are readily available.
The only thing that is maybe an issue to someone else is that the hood doesn't go up as much when it's open. It's not real low, but it's not as high as when there was a prop rod. I'd estimate maybe 2" lower. Otherwise, it's the best solution I've seen so far.
I’m thinking of replacing my hinges on my 85 with 87-88 style. Are they a simple bolt on install or is more required? Also Eric mentions springs from a Mark VII bolting onto existing hinges. Any more info on that?
Ray
Eric, I sent you a PM. Had a couple questions about the springs.
Thank you
Ray, got the message, and I'll post here for the sake of helping others out if they've got the same questions.
The Mark VII had the same hood hinges as the 1983-86 Cougar/T-Bird except for one thing: they had a bolt-on coil section to help keep the hood up. The coil spring looks just like those on older GM vehicles but it's lower tension.
This is the section on my own hood:
(https://www.coolcats.net/ximages/hoodhinge-large.jpg)
The 1987-88 Cougar/T-Bird hinges are redesigned and have a higher-tension coil. That's fine for a stock hood, but in my case, they were pushing up the aftermarket fiberglass hood too much when it was down. The corners stuck up like 3-4". I also did not want the prop rod solution either. So one day in the boneyard I found the Mark VII hinges and tried them out. For me they're not perfect as the hood does come up just a bit, but it's way better than the 1987-88 hinges. It's a nice solution for any hood though...so long as you can find them.
So it’s still a complete hinge swap? I was hoping somehow the springs bolted to existing hinges.
No, they DO just bolt on, no messing with changing out the stock hinges at all. Only problem is, bolt-on the hinge section seems to have a unique clip and there may not be a substitute for it. Long as you get that you're golden though.
Deleted. Did not read the entire thread and Eric answered my question with regards to fiberglass cowl hoods.