It is always good for the ego to share progress and success during a build as I have been doing during this hood project.
However, just when all the components are about to come together for the first time, I have just discovered that even with all my good intentions, that the hinges are letting me down.
In other words I have hit a speed bump in my progress.
I guess this has come about by trying to use a hinge design that was not actually made specifically for my project.
The issue which has come to light, but has been in the back of our minds is the need to achieve enough lift at the tail end or firewall end of the hood as it rises, so it does not bind or drag on the body during its movement.
Today, I did a mock up fit to track the movement of the hood as if it was being opened.
Unfortunately, the tail is binding as it rises out of the closed position and it will not work as planned.
It seems at first look, that I need to speed up the rear lift as well and gain a little more height.
I have trialled several improvements and arm positions and lengths to see if I can improve this situation.
During the initial CAD design work, we did improve the lift from 9mm to almost 15mm which obviously helped.
Tomorrow, I will visit the laser guy and see if we can impose some of my solution ideas into his CAD system and keep moving forward.
I am hoping to beat this issue, but do expect to have to lose something in the process, most likely it will be front lift height from what I can tell...
It is not only a question of lift, but a related rate of forward movement during the lift.
I am still trying to avoid tossing it all into the trash can, fingers crossed...