Post by amustangrocks on Sept 30, 2013 21:33:01 GMT -5
i know hood pins are not for everyone, and drilling holes in a perfectly good shiny hood is really for a select few but I really like the retro look of the old hood pins so i made up my mind, bought one of those new step drill bits and got a set of stainless Shelby pins for my car. Not only do they look good to me, but on the 05-09 either the grills or the engine bays create some heavy air under the hoods on the highway and more so into a head wind at a good clip causing the rear of the hoods to vibrate some. That really bothered me, made the driving experience less than it should be. The pins took that away completely.
Being somewhat of a fanatic, (did I say that?) the next thing i found out was that driving, over time the pins would slide to one side or the other being off center to the scuff plates. I see it all the time, so yep, I really didnt like that, but still like the torsion clips way more than the old hairclips so i came up with a easy fix.
I dressed up a 1/2" fine wheel on the bench grinder, marked the top center of the pin (notice the center is not the center of the shaft as it includes the square block on the end) and ground a ever so slight divot in the top of the pin. With just a very very slight perfect tension on the hood bumpers, the clips lock into place and stay put centered over the scuff plates perfectly. Just remember if theres too much tension, these aluminum hoods will dent in easy.
Being somewhat of a fanatic, (did I say that?) the next thing i found out was that driving, over time the pins would slide to one side or the other being off center to the scuff plates. I see it all the time, so yep, I really didnt like that, but still like the torsion clips way more than the old hairclips so i came up with a easy fix.
I dressed up a 1/2" fine wheel on the bench grinder, marked the top center of the pin (notice the center is not the center of the shaft as it includes the square block on the end) and ground a ever so slight divot in the top of the pin. With just a very very slight perfect tension on the hood bumpers, the clips lock into place and stay put centered over the scuff plates perfectly. Just remember if theres too much tension, these aluminum hoods will dent in easy.
