Fly-Up Hood '96 Exp

[cybercreeper]

I had my exp's hood fly straight up at a 90 coming on to my shop today. Long story short. Went to go pay the insurance bill. got out paid the bill, got back into the truck and the truck wouldn't come out of park. WTF! check the brake light fuse and the other fuses under the hood...they were all ok. Checked the little square thingie on the brake pedal (Don't know what it's called). found out it was one of the wires that goes into that square deal that had broken off. stripped the wire and shoved it back into place (Temp fix while i got it back to the house). worked like a charm. But here is where I SCREWED up on my part. i never closed the hood back all the way. during my excitement that i was able to get the truck out of park. I drove off. coming down the street close to my base the hood went straight up at a 90 degrees angle. i quickly stopped, pulled to the side and pulled the hood down. with all the adrenaline going on i quickly shut the hood and drove off. I was already 1/2hr. late to work. When I got home I realized that the hood was not sitting straight. It overlaps just a bit on the passengers side. Not much but now i can't seem to open the hood with out bending the it where it overlaps. also the paint is crack on the back side of the hood where it's is overlapping. I know I'm not the first idiot this has happened to. Stupid me!

What can i do to straighten my hood back to it's original place.
Are the hinges bent?
Can i unbend them back?
Do I need to replace the hinges?
What have some of you done to repair this. The hood seems to be ok besides some crack on the paint.

Need some Advice here Fellas....Thanks

 

[vroomzoomboom]

check all your gaps, and try losing the bolts that hold the hood to the hinges just enough that you can slide the hood back and forth. if you get a even gap at the back, and has strait gaps on the side (but the hood has a larger gap on the drivers side then passengers side or vise versa) then open the hood up a bit, and just push it over to the side that has the larger gap. as well look at the fire wall and make sure you didn't bend anything there. hope this helps ya!

 

[cybercreeper]

Thanks will do that today...I'm kind of nervous that the hinges might be bent. I'll pull it off today and let you know what I find. Thanks for the advice.

 

[cybercreeper]

Thanks for the advice

 

[99SportX]

It is possible that you bent the hinges, but it is also possible that you bent the firewall where the hinges bolt. With a little force and adjustment, you should be able to get it back to where it should be.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

It is possible that you bent the hinges, but it is also possible that you bent the firewall where the hinges bolt. With a little force and adjustment, you should be able to get it back to where it should be.

x2, there is a trick you can do with a 2x4 with them, but i can't quite remember. you take the 2x4 on the top side of the hing between it and the firewall, and lift, but i thing that will only work if the hood is forward and up on one side. if i'm wrong, some one correct me, and quick!

 

[cybercreeper]

I don't quite understand this 2X4 trick your saying....???

 

[carlover]

i had that happen on my 1968 mercury cougar on the freeway at 70 mph. I had forgotten to put the hood pins in and it came slamming up and came right off the car. Very scary experience.

 

[MONMIX]

Hood flips rarely turn out of be cake walk jobs.

First things first remove the latch and set the hood down and see where it sits. A pair of hinges might be in your future. Not too terrible.

 

[cybercreeper]

If it did turn out to be the hinges, Would it be better to find new ones or get them off a Junk Yard. Are they all pretty much the same...?

 

[MONMIX]

as long as the junk yards ones were not in a hard front hit.

 

[cybercreeper]

Well i finally took the hood off today...looks like the hinges are bent a bit. They wouldn't allow the hood to go up so I was able to stick my hand in between the hood and take the bolts that hold the hood to the hinges off. With the hood off I took a closer look at the hinges and when i try to push them up (as when the hood is on) the hinges hit the top part of the fire wall. Looks like I'll need another pair of Hood Hinges to replace these. The hood is fine no major damage just some scratches and a bit of cracked paint....

Anyone Have any Hood Hinges For Sale???

 

[cybercreeper]

Will be ordering some hinges off of EBay ($50 for the air shipped).....hopefully that is all it needs. Nothing else looked damaged....I'll keep everyone posted....