Help needed with reversing hood opening direction.

[ELIGILL1]

Im restoring a ‘68 2002 and I’ve gone with the m20 swap. I’ve used a radiator that ended up being a bit to big ( it’ll still work with some modification). I need to reverse the direction that the hood opens. I had to remove the front hood supports to make room. I’ve seen pics of it being done. But I need more direction. Here are some pics of my progress. The front brace is titanium. 

[visionaut]

Recent similar discussions. Search is your friend…

 

https://www.bmw2002faq.com/forums/topic/323559-rear-hinged-hood

 

https://www.bmw2002faq.com/forums/topic/282306-bonnet-opening-with-hide-gas-shocks

[Son of Marty]

Just at a glance IMO theres nothing back there thats stiff enough to support hinges other than move the fuse box and fabing some hinges to the fender tops but it would be a challange to keep them low enough to fit under the hood.

[PhilC]

As per the link to my thread above this is something I would love to do, the front opening hood is so restrictive to working on the engine IMO. If you come up with a solution I shall be stealing your ideas 😉

Great fab work 👍

Edited March 3, 2023 by PhilC

[tech71]

42 minutes ago, Son of Marty said:

Just at a glance IMO theres nothing back there thats stiff enough to support hinges other than move the fuse box and fabing some hinges to the fender tops but it would be a challange to keep them low enough to fit under the hood.

Yes, difficult if not impossible.

OP if a mod is absolutely required, consider  making the hood removable/retained with  pins. A lightweight fiberglass hood makes sense here .

Edited March 3, 2023 by tech71

[ELIGILL1]

I really appreciate all the input. Yeah I think I’ll just go with completely removable hood. It would be so hard and frustrating I bet. 

[Son of Marty]

Yeah I think the real problem is you would have to do most of the fab work before you could even try it out, principal dosn't always equal funtion.

[Mike G]

Why not weld brackets to your tube for the hood hinges and have it open forward like stock?
 

Three fans seems excessive. 

[ELIGILL1]

If I went that way, the hood will still hit the top of the radiator. I thought about going that way earlier. I don’t think it’ll work. 

[AceAndrew]

52 minutes ago, ELIGILL1 said:

If I went that way, the hood will still hit the top of the radiator. I thought about going that way earlier. I don’t think it’ll work. 

 

Then chop the bottom of the radiator.  I'm with Mike, you could make it work this way.  Much simpler than the other option, but not as easy as just pinning it.  

 

In fact, I'm not entirely sure why you had to remove the uprights to begin with.  You can lean the radiator up against them.

 

 

 

Love the project, you have a blog yet?

 

[ELIGILL1]

Yeah it’s been a whole learning thing. I’m using an e30 mishimoto radiator. I figured since it works for the engine I should try to make it work. 

[ELIGILL1]

And no I don’t have a blog yet. 

[AceAndrew]

3 minutes ago, ELIGILL1 said:

Yeah it’s been a whole learning thing. I’m using an e30 mishimoto radiator. I figured since it works for the engine I should try to make it work. 

 

You're not wrong, it's a good idea.  The radiator I show in the picture is also from the E30/E36.  However, you can take the bottom part off with a bandsaw and weld new plates on the bottom, this shortens the radiator enough for better clearance.  If you look closely the tops of the frame rails are notched as well.

[ELIGILL1]

Are you serious? I had no idea you could do that. But wouldn’t that void the warranty? 

[AceAndrew]

haha, yeeeahh I don't think they'd want to warranty it ... but you've already come this far...

 

Think there are a couple chopping pictures from a couple years back on my blog.... hopefully they serve as a better visual if you want to consider it.

https://www.bmw2002faq.com/forums/topic/116731-m20-triple-weber-build-x2/page/8/

 

Also see you're in Boise.  Small world (graduated from Timberline), want to drive my 02 up your way in the next couple years.  Maybe meet up with @M3This?