Spiral Hood Springs

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stimpy29

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Hello everyone. We're in the process of putting the hood back on the car and we're trying to figure out how to properly wind the spiral hood springs (69 Barracuda). So far we get no spring tension at all and the hood feels like a ton of bricks. But if we change the orientation of the spring, it seems like we have to pull the spring back super tight.

Any thoughts or advice? Even a picture would be helpful.

Thanks.
 
I have both fenders off, but the steel hood still on, my '68 'Cuda. Let me know if you would like me to take some photos of the springs with the hood up and hood down. At least you could see how many windings there are.

I could take some photos Monday, outside chance tomorrow, Sunday.

Let me know.
 
Those springs are easier to load with the hood up and proped with a stick. Their combined strength barely holds the hood up. The tension increases as you lower the hood. Hope that makes sense.
 
RedFish said:
Those springs are easier to load with the hood up and proped with a stick. Their combined strength barely holds the hood up. The tension increases as you lower the hood. Hope that makes sense.
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Thanks for your message. We tried what you suggested. Been working on the darn thing for the past two hours and can't seem to figure it out.

I've attached a couple of pics with the hood up and down. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

IMG00176.jpg


IMG00177.jpg
 
FISHBREATH said:
I have both fenders off, but the steel hood still on, my '68 'Cuda. Let me know if you would like me to take some photos of the springs with the hood up and hood down. At least you could see how many windings there are.

I could take some photos Monday, outside chance tomorrow, Sunday.

Let me know.
Click to expand...
That would be awesome. Thanks for your help.
 
Evidently, you just need to wind the spring. Try a needle nose visegrip, you can hook another visegrip or Cresent wrench for added leverage. Go 1 revolution and try it out8)
 
mopar head said:
Evidently, you just need to wind the spring. Try a needle nose visegrip, you can hook another visegrip or Cresent wrench for added leverage. Go 1 revolution and try it out8)
Click to expand...
How do I wind the spring? The spring is so tight that I can only pull it around maybe 1/3 turn or 1/2 at the most. It took two of us to pull the darn thing around yesterday and after we hooked it up, we had the spring on the wrong way because the tension was super tight when the hood was up, but loose when it was down. If we turn the spring the other way, the hook is either too close and won't provide any tension or well over 1/2 a turn away and requires umpteen million pounds of force to pull it around. Is there a technique or something I'm missing?

Thanks.
 
We managed to get the spring wound with some further experimentation. A friend dropped by with a different idea and we had it done within about ten minutes after that. Thanks everyone for your ideas and help. By the way, we pulled the hinges from the car and used the vice to secure the hinge while using a large channel lock pliers to pull the spring around.
 
Sorry, but I could not get to the car to take photos until today. It seems that you have it figured out, anyway. Let me know if you still need the photos because I will have some time to take them this afternoon.
 
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