Euro style hood opening?

Is there any way this would be possible? I just saw a Blazer with a reverse opening hood and that made me think, the Riv would look so stylish and exotic with this kind of hood (Not to mention getting under the hood would be easier). I know some older American cars did this so how would one go about making our hoods this way (Or is it even possible)?

Here's a picture of what I mean in case someone doesn't get what I'm talking about

That style of hood opening was also used on Buicks fairly recently. I'm surprised it wasn't used on the Riv. They must have phased it out to cut costs. Meh. I have thought about doing the reverse hood but not looked into it yet. It might not work well with the integrated grill.

Here's a powered one for $1200

http://www.streetdreamsbyross.com/hoodrev.php

$390 kit for PT Cruiser

From the looks of the PT kit it appears the integrated plastic grill on the Riv will be a huge problem.

Damn. Too bad you can't reverse the way it's mounted (In that you could attach the grill to the frame where the hood opens around it). That's what I was saying, given the Riv's somewhat exotic looks at the time that style of hood seemed so fitting. Damn you GM for cheaping out and not doing this, it would've been so cool!

I'm not a fan of the reverse opening hood. IMO it makes it harder to work on the anything. I have a fiero and a datsun 240Z both with the reverse hoods, and I hate it. It looks cool, but it's a PITA. That being said, it could still be done on our cars. You would just need the hood to open up away from the car at the front while it tipped forward. Then the grill wouldn't hit anything.

something like this is what you'd need


You know, like an older car's hood hinge.

duster_do_little wrote:

I'm not a fan of the reverse opening hood. IMO it makes it harder to work on the anything. I have a fiero and a datsun 240Z both with the reverse hoods, and I hate it. It looks cool, but it's a PITA.

I've never heard this from other people who've had cars with those kinds of hoods. Another nice thing I think, if you accidently leave the hood open it won't fly up on you.

Still, I'd think it gives you more vertical room under the motor. I'm thinking off-hand of replacing that last spark plug in the back on the Riv, without the hood to bang my head against it would be much easier to reach. No matter, I wonder where that thing would have to be mounted? How would you attach it to the hood without drilling holes that stick out through the other side?

i don't think tho it's easyer or better to work on the engine.
if the hood is on the way...like u say on chaning the last spark plugs or anything. i changed mine after i buyed the car. was annoying..but it wasent the hoods fult that i couldent reach there good.
if the hood is relly on the way you can allways open the 4 nuts on the hood and the lifters.
for engine change or anything.
and teh hood wont open itself whit the wind when you forget it open.
thats why it as a wind lock. you have to open it manualy whit your hand to lift the hood up.
and anyways...how many times to you relly keep the hood open?:/...
well maybe some like it...but i like the originality.

Who really cares what the Riv looks like with the hood open? I'm happy as long as it opens out of my way and doesn't close on my head while I'm working on it.

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I know some older American cars did this so how would one go about making our hoods this way

Why are you calling it "Euro style"?

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I'm not a fan of the reverse opening hood. IMO it makes it harder to work on anything.

I completely agree. If GM had used this reverse set-up, I would change mine to the "right" way, which is the way it is now. There is no debating it really, the simple fact is, you have 3 sides to work on the car with our OEM hood, but only 2 sides with the reverse mount. Changing it to reverse is a complete waste of money, imo.

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Still, I'd think it gives you more vertical room under the motor.

Huh?

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if you accidently leave the hood open it won't fly up on you.

This is only good thing about reverse mounting the hood. Yet if you are unobservant enough to drive with the hood up past the safety lock, our hood struts should help to slow down the hood from flapping up. I don't know how you would not notice, though. The hood needs to be up about 6" to clear the safety lock.

Shintsu wrote:

No matter, I wonder where that thing would have to be mounted? How would you attach it to the hood without drilling holes that stick out through the other side?

You would have to weld a plate on that the hinge would mount to (kinda a C shape so that there's a small gap between the hood and the mounting point). They would need to be strong hinges too, because you wouldn't be able to use struts or anything, the hinge itself would hold the hood open. Like was mentioned though, you go from 3 points of entry to 2. The only benefit is that the hood will never fly up on you. My Datsun has hinges kinda like what you need, but I doubt they're as strong as you'd need, and you would need them to be longer so that when open it lifts the front away from the car a little more, to keep the grill away from the radiator.

It's definitely doable, but you would want to plan everything out before jumping into it. You might have to roll in the front part of the fenders (where the hood rests), so that you have enough clearance for the hinges. You would also need to weld a plate inside the fenders for the hood to attach.



If you look at the pic, the parts of the hinge closest to the front would need to be longer to make the front lift up more, and you would have to counter act that a little by making the back longer so that it still lifted near vertical. The best thing to do would be make some hinges with the vertical brackets twice as long. Find a spot inside the engine bay near the front where you'd like to mount the hing. Outline that spot so that you know exactly where it is. then attack the hing with clamps or whatever you like (something easily removable), then put the hinge to a point where it would touch the hood while it's closed, put some water based paint on the hinge. Rest the hood on the car so that it's flush. Then take the hood off and you have your mounting point. Now, fully extend the hinges, and have someone help you hold the hood up where it would be on the hinges and that will tell you if you have enough clearance for the grill. If you do, you can go through properly mounting it. You wouldn't need a safety latch for it (hood should never fly open when driving down the road), you would just need a regular latch up by the cowl (near windshield).

Doesn't sound too hard to do, would just take some time.

Sounds hard to me. What would you do about the bumper? Or grill is integrated into the hood, unlike the BMW shown above.

Shintsu wrote:

Is there any way this would be possible? I just saw a Blazer with a reverse opening hood and that made me think, the Riv would look so stylish and exotic with this kind of hood (Not to mention getting under the hood would be easier). I know some older American cars did this so how would one go about making our hoods this way (Or is it even possible)?

Here's a picture of what I mean in case someone doesn't get what I'm talking about

Yes Kevin this is possible. For approx. $6000.00 you could have the hood converted. Just find a customizer in your area and they will be glad to help you make your Riv look so stylish and exotic and it will be so much easier to get under the hood. They could also convert your doors to the Lambo style if you would like another touch of class that would compliment the hood.


Bert

If the reverse hood is so bad, why is it used on the Solstice/Sky, Corvette, Viper, and so many other performance cars?

Is it possible there is also a quick release mechanism on reverse hoods so it can be removed entirely? It would sure make it easier to remove/reinstall the hood if it was hinged in the front rather than the back, or not hinged at all as some old removeable Mopar hoods were. Removing a light, reversed hood would be a one man job that could be done in a minute if the attachment was designed right.

It's probably easier to remove the hood entirely with the reverse tilt design. I thought the reason they used those was because of extreme cowl hoods that might touch the windshield.

The cars I mentioned don't have tall cowls.

I don't know whether it's for function or style. It just seems like, if you wanted to make a hood that one guy could easily remove, that would be a good way to do it.

I used to own a 89PA it had this style hood.

Bert

I think biggest reason is to keep air from wanting to pop the hood up. I've seen hoods fly of fat the drags before. The safety clip just tears off. What I stated to do wouldn't be that hard, and the hinges I showed would help you clear the bumper, because rather than tilting forward, it would be tilting up and forward, so the hood would gain more clearance by going up and then when it tilts forward the grill will be at an angle, so it won't hit. Taking a regular hood off is much easier than a reverse hood. The bolts to take a hood off are on the outside edges anyway, so they're relatively easy to get to. The bolts on a reverse hood are also on the outside edge, but if you look at the shape of the front of a car it slopes down, so it makes for a smaller angle for which you can put a socket in and take the bolts out. Also, even if it's reverse opening, you still can't get to both sides at the same time, you have to walk around the hood. Like I said, I have two cars with reverse opening hoods, and I hate them. Sure they look cool, but they're a PITA to work on compared to my regular hooded cars. If the "euro" hood allowed you to work on the car easier, wouldn't it be on regular cars rather than on sports cars?

I'm sure I could design an attachment system for a reverse hood that would make it fast and easy to remove - as long as it's light like the Riv's.

I believe you're right about it being a way to prevent the hood from flying off however. There's no other reason for cars with a normal action hood to need extra pins to hold the hood down.



I doubt any of us want these ugly things on our cars - perhaps the reverse hood Rivi mod will take off as more of us get truly fast.

Jack the R wrote:

I'm sure I could design an attachment system for a reverse hood that would make it fast and easy to remove - as long as it's light like the Riv's.

I believe you're right about it being a way to prevent the hood from flying off however. There's no other reason for cars with a normal action hood to need extra pins to hold the hood down.



I doubt any of us want these ugly things on our cars - perhaps the reverse hood Rivi mod will take off as more of us get truly fast.

I'm not a fan of hood pins. i don't think they work very well. i saw a guy lose his hood because too much air was coming in his cowl and broke one of the pins loose, thus causing the hood to fly off and not only destroy the hood, but damage more of the car. It was on pinks.

If you wanted to do the "euro" hood mod, it would probably take you a few weeks to do it right (working a couple hours a day). i just don't see the point in it. It would take a hell of a lot of horsepower to get the riv to the point where the reverse hood would be much better, just because of its weight. And at that point I'd be more worried about the car's aerodynamics in those speeds.

Does anyone know how to release the hood wen the hood release dosen't work?

My own 4 cents is this:

Personally, I would call it the Lincoln-Mercury-style hood - Many Mercurys and most Continentals from the mid-50's to 1971 had the reverse-opening hoods.

I don't know for sure if the hood was the only culprit, but I can tell you that the smaller opening in those reverse Lincolns with huge V8s in them made for some pretty tight access...

I'm glad it doesn't open reverse on these cars. Would be a nightmare to work under the hood.

Nice river man I got a all white 97 river with 75 thousand on it looking to some mods I'm open for advice [b]

You could start by going to the yard and pulling reverse hood hinges and setup from a mid to late 80s lesabre. Most swaps ive seen use the lesabre parts.