Hood pins

[SCCA_racer]

I am installing Hood pins on my 280 (in the steel hood) and was wondering how most people install the discs that reinforce the panel? I was considering sheet metal screws or rivets and was looking for some opinions. (No I am not doing it as a looks thing, it is a race car and I came to hate my hood relase on my last car b/c it would never stay fully closed all race and I swore I would do hood pins on my next car.)

Thanks

Bryan

[Chino 240Z]

Does SCCA require you to latch the hood all the way? I run mine popped open with the hood-catch holding. NASA told us it had to be shut all the way unless it had a safety lease or cable, but the OpenTrackRacing guys say no problem if I think it is safe. Never have the catch release, but I have been playing with some cable & pins thinking of making a secondary catch. I like to think that running with it popped open helps vent the heat?

What is your take on this?

Thanks, Craig.

[SCCA_racer]

I had several grid workers require me to re-latch my hood when it was just riding on the catch. The rules don't say how it must be attached, but the hood pins give me the control I want. If need be I can raise the pins to get the semi-popped effect of the safety catch with the certainty of being fully secured. It certainly was never a safety issue, but tech can vary wildly depending on the person and their mood.

As to whether it helps... I have a later car so I already have hood vents. I would guess that Datsun did this to improve cooling, but I am not sure if the location of the vents versus having the trailing edge popped up in a high pressure area makes a big difference. I know that running the car static with just a large shop fan on the radiator that having the hood up seems to make little difference on the heat in the engine compartment, but aerodynamics are totally different there.

Good luck, maybe a louvered hood is your answer (or a later style hood)

Bryan

[240Zdragon72]

Hey bro, maybe this pic will give you an idea. This will be the way I will do mine. Good luck.

A pic would be nice, huh......

[240Zdragon72]

here you go....

[SCCA_racer]

I have kept mine hinged, but my main concerns is not pin location, but securing the reinforcement disk. It has been suggested that I use small machine screws or bolts. This seems sensible. I located my rear pins in the same location as the car you sent. It allows you to take advantage of the reinforced corners of the hood as well as the lip that already exists makes a good mounting location for the pins themselves. I did have to grind off the bosses where the hood stops had previously screwed in so that I could mount the pins in almost that exact location.

Good luck. I will shoot some pics of mine when it is done.

Bryan

[carguyinok]

I know this is off the track for this post. It is for the people that use hood pins. I have found if you are going with hood pins ONLY. Use some old valve springs. Mount one over each pin. This way your hood stays tight. It takes some work but adjust the main pins so the hood press's up on the clips. Then you just push down pull the clip & your hood will raise just enough to get your fingers under on its own. Plus it will help keeping the clips on and in place with the pressure along with no hood floating @ speed.

[SCCA_racer]

That is a really cool idea!

Do you have your front pins mounted on the upper radiator support? I may give this a try now that I have an idea of how to battle some of the downsides of using just pins.

[carguyinok]

Do you have your front pins mounted on the upper radiator support?

I have not done it with my Z YET. This is how I did it with my 73 vette. My Z is still under way and not that far yet. Sorry.

[SCCA_racer]

Sorry to hear that you aren't " that far yet"!

I looked at my 280 and it looks like the radiator support may be high enough to make a decent mount. That was one concern.

I may give it a go, but want to get the big issues resolved before I start "tweaking".

BTW I used bolts to mount the reinforcing tabs and they worked well. Just need to make sure that they don't align with the path of the pin, or that the heads are short enough not to interefere.

Bryan