Also, are the hood springs different? I would think that a flat hood is a little bit lighter? If so, it may have used a lighter weight spring.
Can you guys with known original hoods count the coils & give the outer diameter of your springs for each hood type?
I researched some of that a couple years back. Here's a quote from my thread on the subject...
Quote:
Quote: I guess while I'm on the topic of springs, I'll post the data for steel hood springs also.
barracuda: 24 coils, .215 spring thickness (with paint), 1 3/4 outside diameter, 5 1/8 long (without hooks)
challenger: 22 coils, .240 spring thickness (with paint), 1 15/16 outside diameter, 5 1/4 long (without hooks)
Tav
Found this in another thread and thought I'd post it here also since it's relevant.
Barnabas_Kriss wrote...
Quote: Actually for the steel hoods, there are two kinds of springs, I researched this in the 70-71 factory parts book, and confirmed it on cars I owned/parted. One is 23 coils, used on 70 cuda/barracuda only. The other one is 18 coils, (wound from a thicker wire) used on 70 challengers, and all 71-74 E-bodies. This applies to all steel hoods (flat/rally/shaker).
Perhaps we've counted our coils differently, It can be tricky deciding if you should count the first and last ones with the hooks on them. Anyway, I thought I'd let everyone know this this needs looked into just a little more, and maybe a picture posted here showing a comparison.
Tav
Those spring measurements that I posted were from my 1970 'Cuda with J54 hood, and my 1970 Challenger with (early build no crumple zone) flat hood.