lift off to hinged

Hello All,
Hope everyone is well.
I have an old duster race car that has lift off hood and deck lid.
For me its a Royal PIA .I would like to hinge them .
I have hinges for both that I can install on the car (sans springs) and I have steel panels to use as a bit of a template .
Has anyone done this ?
If so how ?
My thought was to use fiberglass mat and bond homemade aluminum receivers to the panels . Would be interested in ideas .

Using the mat to reinforce an aluminum hinge bracket might work, but I would be concerned about the structure under the hood & trunk lid being strong enough to handle lifting it from just the rear (or just the front). The structure was designed to lift from both sides at the same time.
The next thing I'm wondering is if you have given thought as to how your going to latch them down? Instead of being lifted straight up, the hinged panel will now be swinging up and down at a curve. If you plan on still pinning the opening end, you may have to adjust the length and angle of the pins.Gene

Depends on the panel, whether it's "race-weight" or has any inner structure.
My race-weight lift-off hood is also something I'm "over".
Had another Duster, had a nice 'glass hood with stock-ish inner structure, used hinges w/o springs, worked fine.
Heavier of course, but still lighter than an OEM hood.
Pins were not an issue, stood up vertical, and I used a Toyota PU prop rod.
If doing your own inner reinforcement for hinges, they should be full-length, and joined at front & back (basically fab a square).

In 2000 I bought a flat stock appearing fiberglass hood for my Challenger from AAR. I planned to cut a hole for a tunnel ram but noticed I would be cutting thru the underlayment structure. A gentlemen at AAR told me to place hood upside-down on a blanket or lawn/grass. Then cut slabs of styrofoam insulation board like Celotex and fit them into and in between the existing structure. Then lay fiberglass cloth over the foam board. After it cured I cut my hole and the hood remained uncompromised and stiff as can be.

Thanks both for the advice. Once I get to it I will post some pics over the underside.

Interesting thanks

We did it on a Dart, glassed in aluminum angles to attach the hinge. Removed big springs then used 2 poles (millions in the junk yards) to swing up into the pin holes with the standard 2 hood pins to hold the hood down.

Build a square frame from thin wall square tubing. Hinge to the frame. Make brackets off the frame to use existing pins and pin holes to attach the hood to the frame.

This was along my line of thinking . Good to know it’s been done

I think this would be the idea with the hood as its likely a bit more flexible than the deck lid.
Thanks for the advice

It had a built in six-pac scoop, not flimsy

Pic of the underside of the bracing you have now ?

Dug out the donor hinges for the deck lid and started mocking things up .
The hinges will need to be dearched as they hit the oversized wheel tubs . I’ll fool with that next and get it so the lid can be set on with the hinges in place . Then I may find a small person to put in the trunk to make some marks where the hinges land on the lid.
Is it kidnapping if you let them go after only a short period of time?

Anyhow , Doc this is the underside of the lid. I think I can make the hinges fall on the extruded area

nut... You going to lose the springs and torsion bars ?

Doc , All that stuff was removed when it was turned into a race car.

I have a set of hinges alone that I have been massaging and mocking up and they actually look like they will work out.

Because of how the hinges layout vs the lid I will have to cut into the and remove a section of raised support you see on the underside of the lid . Thats where I will attach a 2x2 piece of aluminum angle to bolt to the hinge.

Ultimately I will epoxy and glass mat the angle in once I have the angle in the correct position.

Is there anything I can use to like glue , or contact cement or???? to temporarily put those angles on good enough to mock up and test position? Something that could be removed to reset the angle if wrong?

Kinda have to see the hinge setup your going to use on each part

Ok let me ask this.
The surface is kinda rough fiberglass with what looks like flat black paint . Any special prep or can I just lay down some resin / glass and good?

any repair on any substance, the surfaces should be cleaned.
that's just basic repair 101.

I would get as much paint OFF THERE as I can