Hood pins

[Rsgwynn1]

Has anyone installed single or double hood pins on an Alpine? If so, what brand and how hard was it to do?

 

[skywords]

I certainly am no expert on the subject but I bet the racing Alpine boys and girls would know. Sounds like a job for a lathe to me. Try posting in the racing section?

 

[sunbeam74]

One of the race cars I have has hood pins. I didn't do the initial installation, that was done in the 60's, but I had to redo the pins recently.

Basically it was the Moroso pins that measure .375" diameter. I think 7/16" are more popular - just for ref.. In my case, they were only mounted in the rear of the hood. The most challenging part was the fact the top of the cowl where the hood release mechanism resides isn't thick metal. So, the solution in the 60's was to cut round disc, about 1/8" thick, that had a center hole tapped for the .375" diameter pin. This 1/8" disc was riveted to the top of the engine bay cowl.

Email me and I can send you a picture. (milano164@comcast.net)

Remember... once you cut the holes there's no turning back.

Steve

 

[Dr.NO 007]

Alpine Hood Pins

We all know Alpine hoods open from the windscreen up and forward to front of car, the faster you go the more the hood wants to close. the front hood hinge is quite adequate to keep the hood from becoming airborne. if the latch at the back of the hood accidentally opens nothing happens.
Why on earth would anyone punch holes in their Alpine hood and install hood pins to make it look like a nascar muscle car or a street rod ? to each his own I guess.
Chuck
ps - if in fact you remove all of the front hinge bolts while working on the car engine and at the end of the day just place the hood back into it's resting place and in the morning take off to work early before really waking up !! then at about 60 mph the hood shaped somewhat like an airplane wing then becomes airborne , travels over the open cockpit and lands upside down on the road behind you. I know, I saw it happen to a 20 year old in a Series 3 in 1965. lucky "no cars" following too close and stopped & picked up the hood with only a few scratches.

 

[Armand4]

If you're just doing this for the racing look, a more period-correct option would be to use leather straps to hold down the trailing edge of the hood. From what I understand, this was the classic British way of holding down the hood, er, bonnet.

 

[Rsgwynn1]

Thanks, all. I was looking for an unobtrusive alternative to the hood latch. Will probably rely on the factory installation instead of the hood pins.