Following on from the subject of engine trashings, similar things can be said in mitigation of the hood design.
Again, it was often the manufacture that let it down. Having worked on hundreds of them, I know of a few failings in the manufacture which made them become troublesome.
Bolts were sometimes not properly tightened and came loose. But admittedly, some of the 1/4 UNF bolts were not up to the job, and they broke at the stress riser point. And the use of rounded slotted bolt heads didn't exactly lend themselves to application of adequate torque when tightening - I developed bad tennis elbow trying to do those up!
The other weakness was that some frames are made with soft steel arms which easily bent out of shape. Once that happened, this made the use of the hood erratic and unpredictable, and often led to it being given a good shove which only makes things worse. Come on guys, I bet some of you have been there?
Failures also often occur through lack of maintenance, but no mention was made in the schedules that a little oil on all the pivots would help keep it all moving.
But some cars were fitted with hoods that were well built and maintained and have survived well beyond their design life, so again how can the design be all bad?
Again, it was often the manufacture that let it down. Having worked on hundreds of them, I know of a few failings in the manufacture which made them become troublesome.
Bolts were sometimes not properly tightened and came loose. But admittedly, some of the 1/4 UNF bolts were not up to the job, and they broke at the stress riser point. And the use of rounded slotted bolt heads didn't exactly lend themselves to application of adequate torque when tightening - I developed bad tennis elbow trying to do those up!
The other weakness was that some frames are made with soft steel arms which easily bent out of shape. Once that happened, this made the use of the hood erratic and unpredictable, and often led to it being given a good shove which only makes things worse. Come on guys, I bet some of you have been there?
Failures also often occur through lack of maintenance, but no mention was made in the schedules that a little oil on all the pivots would help keep it all moving.
But some cars were fitted with hoods that were well built and maintained and have survived well beyond their design life, so again how can the design be all bad?
Comment