Colin Emerson

Guys,
Took some pics, just trying to modify to a small enough size, any tips?
Give me a couple to figure this out

Alan

The silvery thing is the inside of the pocket bracket or the threaded backing plate... it was originally part of the hood...but not anymore...

Maybe you can get it welded on again... but with welds designed to tear out so you need to duplicate that somehow - dont get it welded on too tight in case there is a next time! (god forbid!)

Alan

SharkSkin

Colin, check this out... it's not the absolute best way to resize pics, but for what it costs -- it rocks! http://picasa.google.com/

Colin Emerson

Okay just attached these, have more but dial up is slow this should add some to discussion

Alan

Yep - that there was once part of your hood! (spot welded on) Just as I visualized (but bigger).

I think you are going to need a new hood... at least you still have the ball mounts for the struts...a bit bent maybe?

Alan

goodspeed928

Holy $HIT!
25 MPH - maybe 125
WOW! that just sucks!

Colin Emerson

Thanks Alan, "you the man"
Added a few more. Yeah I know the car is filthy, rain plus a 1/2 mile of gravel will do that.
I think I will try to get it welded back on, you can see on the underside of the hood(I hope) where those "brackets" used to sit. It blows me away that those welds let loose, and I was doing about 25mph, gonzo. I am still kind of dazed that this happened.
I would have thought that the hood would come up and stay there, not just get torn away.
So you can see I have some scrapes on the hood, two small bends on the hood, struts must be screwed, and the drivers side hood bracket looks skewed.

Imo000

Yup, just as Alan said. The spot welds let go. They were not designed to come apart like this but rather its a cheaper way of assembling it. The corner of your hood is pretty banged up. I would just buy another used one and just transfer over the washer nozzles. To straighten out your old hood will cost a lot of money and the end results will never bee as good as a nice used replacement one.

Either buy one form one of the big vendors or someone from here that is parting one out.

Why didn't the safety latch catch the hood from flying up?

Bill Ball

Ewwww! Sorry. Make sure the safety latch works when you reinstall.

goodspeed928

The only good thing is that YOU are OK.
That could have din a bad reck.

928SS

sounds like the safety didn't work/bummer!! a hood on my 1st car/64 merc, pop loose once at about 50mph- hit the windshield/shattered it, trashed the top of the car and hood. worst part was not being able to see and trying to stop w/out crashing... not fun.

glad you're ok!

since the hood is off, probably a good time to pull the motor, and do an OH, eh?

CHRIS-90GT

I feel your pain. I purchased a Ford Mustang GT Convertible this summer. The guy before me just had it painted . The car looked mint. I had it for one week before I decided to detail the engine. It looked great. I left the hood open so the engine could dry. Four days latter I took it out in a hurry, forgot the hood was open . At about 45mph the hood slammed back into the windshield . I also joined that group "THE IDIOTS"

bd0nalds0n

It's a good time to replace the vacuum pod that operates the recirculation flap in the passenger footwell. To remove the plastic grate/housing, you've got to unscrew the blower motor which is sandwiched from above, and to do that you need to have the hood off. You might also want to take a look down the blower tube and consider trying to clean the evaporator if it's dirty.

...when life gives you lemons...

Colin Emerson

Well guess I am in the market for a new hood, I can tell where the damage is at the back of the hood will be a nightmare, will probably always peel and chip. Still can't figure out why the welds went......
This happened on a very busy 4 lane(one way)avenue in downtown Calgary, people and cars everywhere, bad luck it happened to me, good luck, I am not hurt, no one else is hurt and the rest of the car is fine.
Now go have a quick look at you hood hinges, how do those welds look...
Thanks for the interest and input

Fogey1

I was 14 and my Dad and I were en-route to a school interview in his XK-150 Cabriolet (Drophead Coupe? Anyway, a convertible).

We were Northbound on Interstate 71 at over 100mph when the hood overcame the safety latch alone and flipped up.

A lot of force was involved - it threw us against our belts and slowed the car to under 70mph instantly. My Dad got off the road safely. The hood had bent back over the winshield frame, ripping the metal of the hood and slapped the convertible top hard enough to bend the center bow down between us, far enough that we couldn't see each other's eyes. (Looking back, we can be very glad the top was up.)

We removed the hood, finished the trip and returned with those beautiful, polished twin cam housings brazenly displayed.

Seven years later, I had a similar experience in a 356B Roadster. Lower speed (<50mph), shorter hood and busier road but, overall, very alike.

Both times the hoods were improperly latched. Both stayed on.