Hood Conversion

[mhota461]

My new project for the grand am is to get the hoof to flip front like the old style vets. I want to use the existing hinge system and re mount prolly will ned to wel mounts to get it to set right, but i want the hood to flip front instead of back?


can anyone using photoshop do a quick chop of how this would look, be nice to see before i start here after ut gets warm

[Big Joe]

Mike (ga5speed02) is going to be doing this. He's been talking about it forever. You should see if you can talk to him about it.

[mhota461]

i had the hood off and was fitting for it, i have figured out how to make it hinge, that wont be the problem im just welding a plate that will be up from the front mount bar in the bay. The only thing i have not gotton down yet is the hood lock, because it will be facing back it will not fly up, i was debating about just usinh locking hood pins, this would work, but it would be nice to have it done with the original lock system.

[TA^Guy]

First things first you need to go to a salvage yard and get the hinges from a Buick LaSabre.

[03GT-SC/T]

Do you know about what year the LeSabres had them John? Wasnt it the early ninetys?

[sudden_impulse]

I believe they were on 92's, maybe 94's. My friend has one and it's one of those two years with the reverse hood.

[TA^Guy]

Originally posted by 03GT-SC/T
Do you know about what year the LeSabres had them John? Wasnt it the early ninetys?
Yes early to mid 90s. I kind of want to say even some late 80s as well.

[mhota461]

How did they mount on the front? would it be an easy mod?

[tenspeed]

Originally posted by mhota461
would it be an easy mod?

No, it's not a easy mod. I was thinking about it last night after reading your first post.

The hood is pointed in the center, so the hinge will have to both tilt and lift the hood so the center doesn't hit. That will be the biggest problem. Once you get that part solved, the rest should be easy.

The hood may have to reinforced and there should be a couple of hooks add to the rear of the hood so it doesn't go through the windshield if you crash. You can probably modify the stock hinges to make the hooks.

[bballr4567]

Yea you can have it come up and out or you could make the hood go past the front bumper. Like it will slide out while coming up. Its not going to be easy by any means. Like Jim said the hood is pointed and will make it a challenge.

With that being said it will probably be easy once you figure out how to do it. lol

[mhota461]

yea its still cold out so i got a couple months to work on it, i think it would be sick to have a GA with a front open hood, not to many out there

[thegrimone]

yeah when I think about the Saab I have, the hood pops up then slides forward then tilts the front part down over the bumper. the rear of the hood had a peg on either side that slid in a holder, the actual latch was still in the front.

[TA^Guy]

As I stated, you need the LaSabre hinges and it's really not that difficult. Worst part it you might have to move a few things under the hood to gain clearence for the new hinges.

As Matt said above, his Saab had tabs in the back to keep it in place at the rear. IIRC doesn't the GA hood and cowl already have a tab that acts as a safety device for front impacts to keep the hood from coming though the windshield? Maybe if those were modified to hold more snug it would work.

I have thought about doing this to my truck but with the frontend modifications I plan on doing I don't want to cover up all that hard work while at shows.

[2001GAGT]

Here are some pics I have on my computer from a few years ago. I don't remeber who's car this is.

[2001GAGT]

here is another

[ManktheTank19]

The hood is nice but not a fan of that trunk mod

[litdevil316]

FYI, vettes STILL use the flip forward hoods...