T/A AAR Hood Bow, How did it happen?

[gzig5]

I've got an aftermarket AAR hood on my car that is currently flat and I want to keep it that way.  I started by removing the OEM springs and using a strut stick to hold it open.  That was a pain to work around and I was going to do the bars for the hinge but I found a set of lighter 1" springs.  They hold the hood up fine but without a lot of extra tension.  When the car is in the garage, I either have the hood open (working on it) or I close it so only the safey hook catches.  I've had them on for several months now with no distortion.  I have some extras of the springs so if anyone wants to try them, I'll sell sets for a couple bucks plus shipping.

[scf100]

Ring Brother's sells gas strut hood hinges for e-body fiberglass hoods. Will gas strut hood hinges help at all?

No , the gas struts will still put pressure against the hood unless the leverage is such that the strut does not help to lift the hood when closed .
simple solution is 2 rods , I don't have the length handy but a straight rod with 90* bend on each end approx 1" long  , lift the hood & slide the rods into the holes in the hinges & the hood stays up without any prop rod

THAT'S THE TICKET!!!!

[Brads70]

Ring Brother's sells gas strut hood hinges for e-body fiberglass hoods. Will gas strut hood hinges help at all?

No , the gas struts will still put pressure against the hood unless the leverage is such that the strut does not help to lift the hood when closed .
simple solution is 2 rods , I don't have the length handy but a straight rod with 90* bend on each end approx 1" long  , lift the hood & slide the rods into the holes in the hinges & the hood stays up without any prop rod

THAT'S THE TICKET!!!!

I tried 2 different springs that were advertised for T/A hoods, none of them worked. One was actually dangerous as any wind and the hood would come crashing down. My T/A hood is a repop so maybe the weight of it is different than the originals? This picture was taken years ago of the hood prop rods, I haven't ran any spring for 10 years now. Just the hood prop rods.

[Fastmark]

I'll have to agree with Cody here on this one. I bought my AAR in 76 with no collision damage, original hood and original paint on the entire car. It had a bow so bad, you could see the engine. Remember the old add of the pro golfer,  Bruce Litten, I think?  He  had an AAR in his driveway. It was the same way. I was at a show in the late 70's and talked to an original owner who had his original paint AAR in the show. His hood was not bowed. He told me that he went to the dealer to complain about the bow and the dealer replaced it twice in warranty. Both the new ones warped within days. Finally the dealer showed him a bulletin from Chrysler for the "fix". Remove the hood springs and use a prop rod. They would not replace any more hoods. So, I removed my springs and the hood settled back down in a matter of days sitting in my driveway in the Texas sun. I use a prop rod now and keep my springs in the trunk just for car shows. My hood has never had any fiberglass work done to it other that primer and paint. I was told by a guy in PA that repoped the first AAR hoods years ago, that the fiberglass resins used back then were less heat resistant. In other words, they would move around some when it got hot in the sun. Also the metal that the hood hinge bolts to is very short and does not extent very far past the hinge itself. That is right where it starts to bend. On his hoods, he did two things. He used a longer metal plate that would strengthen the hood farther to the front of the car and he used a fiberglass resin that was intended for making molds. It had higher heat tolerance so it would not move around at the lower temps. I've got a picture on my phone of my hood fit.

[Fastmark]

Here's my car. Still original paint except the hood. It may be a 1/8" high still so I have it lowered at the back to make up the difference. The only way I'll get that out is to do what Mike is talking about and cut the bottom side and reform the hood. It was just bowed too many years.

[Shane Kelley]

Here's what happened to me.

I restored a 1970 Challenger T/A.  I did all the body work with the springs off the hood and everything was dead nuts perfect with the tops of the fender aligning to the top of the T/A fiberglass hood.  When I got the car all done I still did not put the hood springs on, that was until I decided to take the car to a show and wanted the hood to stay open by itself.  Won 1st place at the car show and when I got home I didn't take the springs off.  Kinda forgot about having the hood springs on and it may have been a couple weeks or even a month or so later when I was walking in my garage and looked over at the T/A.  That's when my heart sank.  The hood had bowed up about 1/2" in the middle and looked liked crap.  I was pissed.

The fix?  I took the hood springs back off and put 50 pound bags of cement on the edge of the hood and left it there until the bow was out of it.  It worked!  The hood went back to perfect alignment and has stayed perfect'y aligned for many years now.  I learned that the hood springs is what makes these hoods bend.  I'll never put my hood springs back on. 

Look how quick that happened. Crazy!  That would explain why lot's of people claim they came from the factory that way. Transport time plus dealer lot time could add up to the amount of time Cody's car sat real fast. So it's very possible they did fit decent when the rolled off the assembly line.

[scf100]

Ring Brother's sells gas strut hood hinges for e-body fiberglass hoods. Will gas strut hood hinges help at all?

No , the gas struts will still put pressure against the hood unless the leverage is such that the strut does not help to lift the hood when closed .
simple solution is 2 rods , I don't have the length handy but a straight rod with 90* bend on each end approx 1" long  , lift the hood & slide the rods into the holes in the hinges & the hood stays up without any prop rod

@Brads70 do you know the diameter of the rod?.............hardware store carry rods or?

[Brads70]

Ring Brother's sells gas strut hood hinges for e-body fiberglass hoods. Will gas strut hood hinges help at all?

No , the gas struts will still put pressure against the hood unless the leverage is such that the strut does not help to lift the hood when closed .
simple solution is 2 rods , I don't have the length handy but a straight rod with 90* bend on each end approx 1" long  , lift the hood & slide the rods into the holes in the hinges & the hood stays up without any prop rod

@Brads70 do you know the diameter of the rod?.............hardware store carry rods or?

I used 5/15 stainless rod 8 1/2" between centers . I bought the material at the local steel supply.

[scf100]

Lowes has bar stock too....3ft long steel or aluminum



looks like Grainger can get ss rod stock in several sizes 1 foot long....

https://www.grainger.com/category/raw-materials/stainless-steel/stainless-steel-rod-stock?attrs=Length%7C1+Ft&filters=attrs

[Cuda Cody]

How many people are using a "safety latch" on the AAR hoods?  Original AAR's did not have the, correct?  But the aftermarket AAR hoods do?

I heard the aftermarket AAR hoods have a lot more metal bracing in them so they might not bow with the springs on?

[gzig5]

How many people are using a "safety latch" on the AAR hoods?  Original AAR's did not have the, correct?  But the aftermarket AAR hoods do?

I heard the aftermarket AAR hoods have a lot more metal bracing in them so they might not bow with the springs on?

I do.  Looks like previous owner moved all the HW from the original Rallye hood over to the AAR hood.  Don't have a pic at the moment and it is an aftermarket.

[Cuda_mark]

I think the bow in the hood on the TA's and AARs is part of the history and charm of the cars. I'd leave it if I owned one.

[IRON MAN]

How many people are using a "safety latch" on the AAR hoods? 

If this is a "safety latch" I am using one. I call it a "hood rod" since I like Hot Rods.

[jringo8769]

Hey I have a question
Maybe this has been asked and answered before
Why has no one aftermarketly made a all steel aar and challenger ta hood?
Would there not be people who would want one?
I have always thought their should be someone who made this
Just my 2 cents
God Bless,John

Sent from my SM-S727VL using Tapatalk

[Cuda Cody]

@jringo8769   That's a great idea and I have actually seen someone that made a T/A hood by hand.  It looked really good.  The market on these items is so small it's hard to get tooling set up and make it work for most of the companies that do these sort of things.  Wish we had more options, but it's part of owning a rare car.  And Welcome to the forum!