Hood support arm retaining pin?

[hartmandm]

I have a series V. The arm that you use to hold the hood/bonnet open has a small hole in the end, presumably to allow a pin to be inserted to ensure the arm does not accidentally slip out of the hood hole, resulting the hood falling shut.

I currently do not have any sort of retaining pin for the support arm. My question is whether the car originally came with some sort of retaining pin for the support arm.

Thanks,
Mike

 

[65beam]

pin

I have been around alpines since 1965 and I don't remember them having a pin when new but that was not something I worried about. I can tell you that most cars I see at shows now have a small hitch pin in use. you don't worry about the hood coming loose and body panels getting mashed and scratched. it's only common sense to use the pin.

 

[Series6]

Being a Darksider I have prop rods on both sides and put pins in both.

 

[V6 JOSE]

My ´64 Series IV had a hole in the rod to be able to put a pin in it to keep the rod from being pushed out while working under the hood.

Jose

 

[crs]

Interesting topic and a good idea.
I have owned Alpines since 1963 and never thought of such a pin and never had a support rod knocked loose when the hood was up- just lucky, I guess. Tomorrow, I will check the hood on our Series IV to see if I can find such a hole.

YEP, the pin hole is there and I will begin to use it when servicing the engine.

 

[greenbeam]

I just have a split pin sitting loose in the hood latch recess. When I'm working in the engine bay I drop the pin into the hole in the prop rod. That same split pin has been sitting loose in the latch recess for the 17 years I've had the car.
Cheers,
Paul.

 

[Beeman]

Using a lock pin makes good sense. A tractor type P pin would be ideal. Interesting though that Rootes don't mention pins in the Owners manual or the parts manual. Perhaps mechanics were made of sterner stuff then. A hood dropping on the head was an acceptable occupational hazard.

 

[twospeed]

I have a series V. The arm that you use to hold the hood/bonnet open has a small hole in the end, presumably to allow a pin to be inserted to ensure the arm does not accidentally slip out of the hood hole, resulting the hood falling shut.

I currently do not have any sort of retaining pin for the support arm. My question is whether the car originally came with some sort of retaining pin for the support arm.

Thanks,
Mike

This is what I did--hair-pin clip and small cable.

 

[crs]

Two speed,
That is a nicely finished engine compartment you have there.
Is that sound insulation on the center of the hood?

 

[Series6]

Here's what Cactusmasher and I did.

 

[twospeed]

Two speed,
That is a nicely finished engine compartment you have there.
Is that sound insulation on the center of the hood?

No, I had a friend paint it to look like carbo-fiber.

 

[crs]

The reason I asked is that my red 1963 series III had a factory sound deadening pad in the same place under the hood. So I wondered if yours had one also.

 

[RootesRich]

The reason I asked is that my red 1963 series III had a factory sound deadening pad in the same place under the hood.

This sounds (no pun intended) like the insulation and retainer cage that came with the GT models.

 

[crs]

Rich,
You may be right, but I was never sure what features a GT had.
I bought mine used when it was one year old and it had :
Factory hard top and soft top,
Electric overdrive,
Lucas road lamps,
Factory luggage rack on boot,
GB badge,
Michelin tires,
Factory three point seat belts,
Dual down draft Zenith carbs,
Single air filter feeding both carbs,
Under hood sound insulation,
Sun visors,
Tonneau,
Owner and service manuals,
tool kit,
Spare tire.

It may have just been a custom order, but it was well equipped and I would have kept it as a pet, but it lost out to my wife's 1965 Alpine when we began to have kids and needed a larger car.

After owning a TR3A, the Alpine was a real pleasure to drive on the highway.

 

[greenbeam]

Some ST's also came with a 'dusty climate' (or something like that) spec. My S3 ST (soft-top and hard-top) had the single 'can' air-cleaner, Zenith WIA-3 carbs, and a single outlet exhaust manifold. It doesn't have the sound deadener under the bonnet, but the bonnet has been resprayed, so it may have been removed.

My understanding is that the gauze air filters are no good in dusty situations, which meant the GT can filter was used, which reduced air volume, so the WIA-3 carbs were used and a more restrictive exhaust manifold. Not sure how under-bonnet insulation fits into that logic....

Hope that helps.
Paul.

 

[crs]

Greenbeam,
The dusty climate air cleaner worked well in Texas and should have been installed on all cars shipped to dusty areas.

BTW, Last week we had four house guests from Australia who were vacationing in the US. They should have just arrived back at the Sydney airport yesterday. One of them actually recognized my car as an Alpine!

 

[Jay Laifman]

My Tiger has a pin in the hole. But, I figure my dad put it in there at some point.

 

[DanR]

I always use my cotter pin when I raise the hood.

I have five Alpines and "all" have the hole for the pin (s).

Never saw an Alpine that didn't have that provision.

Wish my trunk lid had something like that especially after it fell on my head last year while hooking up the springs.

 

[V6 JOSE]

I wish the trunk lid had the same safety feature. I have had the trunk lid fall down on my head while working in there. Of course, the trunk latch hit me on my poor bald head each time. You know, that can get to be irritating, after the second time it happens.

Jose

 

[Series6]

Procraft solved that problem by using gas springs.