After getting the bulk of the trim pieces installed on the Elco, I was left with one other set of pieces, the front side marker lights. As stated before, these light fixtures are held in place with two cap nuts on the two studs on each fixture. These fixtures are actually installed with the inner housing inserted from the inside of the fender and the outer frame piece, which has the studs, installed from the outside through the fender tabs and into the inner housing, where the cap nuts are then installed behind the inner housing to secure the whole works. After getting these two pieces out of the way, I moved on to the real highlight of the day, installing the second hood hinge and the hood itself. The driver's side hood hinge was already in place but the other was sitting loose in the cab with the rest of the crap. Also missing was the two springs that were supposed to be on the two hinges. I had to use a grade 8 bolt to cut the threads in the hood so the bolts that'll be used to hold the hood will go in easily without incident. After getting the passenger side hinge in place I went ahead and put the springs on the two hinges. These springs pull into tension when the hinges move into the closed position so when the hood is opened, the springs will assist and hold the hinges in the open position. I ended up having to recruit the help of the other half in order to hold the hinge up while I put the bolts in place. After putting everything together, as soon as I tried to close the hood the driver's side hinge started flexing sideways, not giving under the tension of the spring. This hinge is clearly bad. I ended up having to remove the spring to allow the hinge to fold properly since causing the hinge to bend up to the point of being unusable is not pertinent to my reassembly of everything on this car. Having to prop the hood up with a post is a small price to pay to allow me to keep getting things back together until the point I can replace the hinges with fresh specimens that will operate properly. Another thing that I ended up having to do, which falls into the category of jury rigging or Mickey Mouse bootleg work, is having to lengthen the holes on the passenger side hood hinge to allow for more travel of the right side of the hood in the realignment of the hood to allow it to close up and not hit any part of the car's body. I ended up using the die grinder to cut into the hinge, it was a pretty messy job but once I got the oval holes lengthened more, I was able to get the travel needed to move the hood back. Once I tightened everything I was able to close the hood, of course without the left side spring interfering, and have the hood lay down flush with the fenders and the front body trim of the car. With the hood able to close the way it does, the next thing I would have to do is pick up a latch point to bolt to the bottom of the hood in the front so when the hood is closed, it will latch into the the hood latch mechanism. Of course I'll have to check and make sure the hood latch is operable and able to be released either from inside the car or from a manual release under the grille. I'll have to put new hinges on the car before I can fully see what is going on with the hood regarding how it lays when it closes before I even contemplate cutting into the holes to lengthen them like I did the old hinge. I'm guessing possibly the past accident may have knocked something out of alignment to the point that the headlight frame and front body panel over the grille are pushed back some. We'll have to see.
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