Desoto Hood Springs

Paul, this might help. My '53 project Firedome arrived with loose hood hinge pivots and no springs. What a pain! I found a used pair of hinges with springs from a '53 Chrysler that was being parted out on eBay and swapped out both hinges with springs. At last! (I thought.) No more carrying around a broom for a prop stick! Only, the new old springs would not hold the hood up. I lived with it for a year, and then remembered Hooke's law ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hook e's_law), F = -k•x, from freshman physics. Spring force is proportional to elongation (x). So, why not preload the hood springs to give elongation a boost? Turned out that was pretty easy: my springs have a long hook and a short one. I heated the long one, using a propane torch equipped with a MAPP gas cylinder, and bent a new hook on it, shortening it about an inch. Sprayed on some paint and put it back together.

Removing and replacing the springs was a challenge. Tim Bowers (and a few others) have posted tricks on YouTube on how to do it the easy way. I removed the hinges and used a come-along to stretch the springs out far enough to unhook them. Tim's method looks far better if you have a welder and can make his gadget. See https://youtu.be/ay7vFc7xC6c .

John, I initially reacted to the extreme work but I realized something needed to be done. I was more looking for devices that will decrease the length of the spring. Is there anything along those lines? The trouble is all the coils are together when the hood is up. When the hood is down, how do I get any coils together?
I am surprised you could accomplish what you did with Mapp gas. I do not see myself as skilled in this art to unbend the spring and then to put another bend in it. I need another solution. Thank you for helping out!

I think if the coils are together with the hood up, the long hook is too long. To shorten mine, I heated the spring with MAPP and bent the hook into something like a circle, then cutoff the old hook to make a half-circle new hook. I think this would work for you. You might be able to remove and replace the springs without removing the hood if you are more clever than me.

Thank you John. What you just described will do the job. The long hook is real
long - 3" or so. I am surprised there are no NOS springs out there. And I am also surprised that I never seem to encounter cars at car shows with sagging hoods. Maybe I am just conscious of it on my car since I hit my head on the hood. I never have hit the noggin at a car show.
John, what is the distance off the floor of the bottom of the center of the hood(center of the V shape of the hood) on your 53? And do you know that is what it is supposed to be?
I always thought there were small clamps available to clamp some coils together to resolve a problem like this - assuming my car actually does have a problem.

Paul -- I don't know how high the hood is supposed to be from the floor. On my Firedome, it's about 5'7" from floor to the center of the chrome lower hood edge molding. I checked, and my springs raise the hood to the end of hinge travel. That is, it won't go any higher.

(Click on photo and it should rotate.)

Saw this on eBay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Automotive-Hood ... 68&vxp=mtr

Nice try Mark. The spring is no where near the 24 coil, 1/4" diameter wire by 1 1/2" diameter coil the DeS has.

Darn it. Here is the right one.