Best hood prop?

metalho

metalho

Well-known member
Any of you guys make your own hood prop? I bought the leather corners but forgot to order the bracket to set the hood on and I need to work on the car lol.
 
Just lay the hood back on itself. The hood props available are good for showing, and opening both sides at once, but are too restrictive to do any serious work, especially if you have side mount spares.
 
Carl is right but my speedster has the '32 hinge so it won't lay back on itself. I made a gas gauge out of wood and made it long enough to prop open the hood. It is notched top and bottom to fit the hood and radiator braces.
 
Take Aok's advice. I asked the same question here and these are what I bought. They're cheap and fast to install. If you find something better, later, you can remove them in minutes.
 
Harbor Freight sells a clamp with plastic protectors for 95 cents. Just lift both hood sides and place the clamp where the hood tops touch each other. If you worry about the paint just place a soft cloth between them. Maybe I'll do that just to take a picture. My 28 and 29 original radiators have the hood clips.
 
Tom,

The clamp is a good idea; can you post a picture of the 'original radiator hood clips'?

R/ Roger.
 
rscardina said:
I have the one that Randy posted. It came from Macs for about $25. It works well and looks nice.
http://macsautoparts.com/model-a-fo...ss-steel-a16613/camid/MDA/cp/JS0R3CHL1066549/
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Yes I call that one the "head knocker", as I have helped others with their Model A and if you are not used to it and lean into the engine compartment, it will get you right in the fore head.

A fellow club member designed his own about 5 years back and made several for club members. His design is similar to the one sold by Snyder's.
 
CarlG said:
Just lay the hood back on itself. The hood props available are good for showing, and opening both sides at once, but are too restrictive to do any serious work, especially if you have side mount spares.
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During fine point judging, the judges are cautioned to NOT lay the hood back as it can damage the hood along the seam!!!
 
When I wanted/needed a pair immediately and didn't have any, I took two coat hangers, straightened them and cut them into about 18" lengths, slid each one into clear tubing with a diameter just about the size of the diameter of each hanger, bent them into figure "S"s and used them.
 
Forget the idea I mentioned in #7 about clamping the two hood halves together. I just tried it on mine, and it isn't too safe.

Here is a picture of the original hood clips on 28 and 29 radiators. They work well.
Also shown is another way to hold the hood with the 95 cent H/F clamp, and it seems to work well. A small C clamp with rubber pads would also work in the same manner.
 

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160B said:
Yes I call that one the "head knocker", as I have helped others with their Model A and if you are not used to it and lean into the engine compartment, it will get you right in the fore head.

A fellow club member designed his own about 5 years back and made several for club members. His design is similar to the one sold by Snyder's.
Click to expand...


Here are photos of the clips deigned by a fellow club member Mike Thoe. We call them Thoe clips (aka Hood clips).

Unfortunately they work only on the 1930 - 1931 model A's.

In the first photo the stop is an el shaped rod and has a small plastic sleeve on it swedged on the other end and held on to the firewall with a small clip. The stop folds down against the top of the firewall so you can close the hood.

The second photo shows the hood resting against the stop.



picture.php




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Wow! Thanks for all the info guys, Im on it!!! I like Tom's idea, keep it simple eh? Confession, the reason I needed to know was I lost the bolt for the bendix spring in the bell housing and had to pull the starter. Did I find the bolt? Hell yes, shop vac with a length of garden house taped to the end, lol..........ssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.............THUD, CLUNK :) Nothing like a busted part during restoration bolt up. THANK YOU GUYS :)
 
My idea would only work on the 28 and 29 A's. I like 160B's idea for the later A's.
Also like the hood holders the dealers sell, but as mentioned you do bump your head on the hood once in a while if you aren't used to them.
 
The problem I have seen with the types of hood holders that bolt to the radiator rods is that they cause vibration at certain speeds that transmits through the firewall and drives me nuts. And, on the 28/29's, if you forget to fold up the arm before you close the hood, you will damage the hood.

I like Tom's clips, simple and no vibration. Jim Boehmke gave me some plastic clips once that work like Tom's. For my 30/31's Those Thoes clips are awesome. I gotta make some.

thanks for the ideas, guys
 
Jim Brierley said:
Carl is right but my speedster has the '32 hinge so it won't lay back on itself. I made a gas gauge out of wood and made it long enough to prop open the hood. It is notched top and bottom to fit the hood and radiator braces.
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Jim, Did you know Chief? (My Dad) He made a "stick" to hold the trans in high gear for a round trip on Route 66 in a ragged old '35 International Pickup. The "stick" was also used to hold up the hood. I don't remember if the gas guage worked or not. Bill W.
 
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