[Reverse Tilt Hood]

love the hood, I've been wanting to do this to my Chevelle for years. My question is this. If you lengthened the two rods that attach to the hood supports do you think the hood would open further? thanx, and again nice job! tom.

[Reverse Tilt Hood]

Hello Everyone, here is how I did my reverse tilt hood.

 

Most guys who do a "suicide" hood on their trucks use Buick LeSabre hinges, I didn't like the way they looked while open and how the hinges were highly visible.

 

So instead I used a Universal kit made by AutoLoc, part # TILTHD $128.69 from Summit.

 

 

Step 1) mount the hinge pads to the radiator support. Mock up the entire assembly and lay it over the engine how it would sit while mounted

 

 

 

Mark where the mounting pads bolt holes will go on the radiator support & drill them out

 

I originally intended to weld the plates in place, but found that the radiator support is aluminum and the plates are powder coated steel. So a couple bolts in each plate will do.

 

 

Step 2) mock up the assembly again with the plates bolted down to the radiator support. Close the hood of your truck untill you can barely sneak in a arm and mark where the assemblies mounting points line up on the hoods support braces.

 

Pull the hood off and set on a padded work stand & lay the hinge assembly down on the hood lined up to your scribe marks. Drill through the hoods support skelton using the holes on the hinge brace as a guide in order to get a few bolts in to hold the hinge brace to the hood.

 

The front mounting pads on the hinge brace line up with the hoods support skeleton yet the rears do not, so I used a piece of aluminum stock to connect the two rear mounting pads together and mounted the aluminum to the center of the hoods support skeleton.

 

 

Step 3) Take the trucks original shouldered bolt that was the OE hinge, and bolt it onto the bracket on the cowl.

 

 

Using a cut off wheel or sawzaw, cut a notch on the hoods side of the OE hinge

 

 

The OE hinge is now the hood catch, disregard the hood lift spring.

 

Step 4) Put the hood back on, with the notched hood hinge resting on the shouldered bolts. Slowly lower the hood and line up the eyelits on the hinge brace to the mounts bolted to the radiator support and insert a couple 3/8" bolts through the eyelits & mounts

 

 

Now lift up & pull forward on the front of the hood, the notched piece on the hood will slide off of the shouldered bolt. Now lift from the rear of the hood and be sure to have a hood prop ready. I used a long screw driver.

 

And there is your reverse tilt "Suicide" hood

 

 

 

To open the hood:

 

pop the hood release as normal and undo the manual catch on the front.

 

 

lift up/forward.

 

 

than grab a rear corner of the hood and pull upward

 

 

To close. Set the rear of the hood down on the cabs cowl. While directly in front of the truck, in one motion push the hood away from you. It will slide, the notched hood piece will catch on the shouldered bolt and the hood latch will grab the hook on the front of the hood and keep closed.

 

Some questions that come up:

 

Q) Is that as far is it opens?

A) Yes, any further the front of the hood will interfere with the grill

 

 

Q) Isn't it now a major pain in the ass to do any work on the engine.

A) Not as bad as it looks, in some ways it's easier to do a few things, like spark plugs. Any major work to be done the entire hood comes off with two 3/8" bolts.

 

Cheers ~Mykk