Coupe Hood

[burchfieldb]

For those of you that have completed the process of mounting your coupe hood, is there anything on the frame that you have had to adjust? I am in the process of taking everything apart to send the frame to powder coat and I wanted to make sure I didn't miss anything. I do know about the hood mounts needing to be fit to the hood.

[michael everson]

I dont make any frame mods on the coupe at all. working on my 12th one.
Mike

[Bob Brandle]

I'd agree with Mike, nothing chassis-wise.

However, the fabricated steel-plate triangular mounting bracket that actually attaches the nose body and the pivot Heim joint has long had an incorrect angle to it. This requires either a partial break apart of the bracket and rewelding at the correct angle or the addition of a tapered block spacer of whatever material you chose, from dense wood to metal or fiberglass, etc.
Hopefully Factory Five has corrected this angle situation to the mount and it's no longer an issue, but I haven't read anywhere that it has been corrected.

[jgray]

I keep hearing that the angle of the bracket is wrong and it requires building up material to fix it. This is the first time I've heard of cutting the bracket and rewelding - I like the idea - has anyone done this and have some pictures of the result?

[burchfieldb]

I'd agree with Mike, nothing chassis-wise.

However, the fabricated steel-plate triangular mounting bracket that actually attaches the nose body and the pivot Heim joint has long had an incorrect angle to it. This requires either a partial break apart of the bracket and rewelding at the correct angle or the addition of a tapered block spacer of whatever material you chose, from dense wood to metal or fiberglass, etc.
Hopefully Factory Five has corrected this angle situation to the mount and it's no longer an issue, but I haven't read anywhere that it has been corrected.

Yeah, this has not been fixed yet. I do plan on cutting, rebending, and then welding back together with a space plate.

[burchfieldb]

I keep hearing that the angle of the bracket is wrong and it requires building up material to fix it. This is the first time I've heard of cutting the bracket and rewelding - I like the idea - has anyone done this and have some pictures of the result?

I should be getting to this sometime this week and will post pictures.

[LateApex]

Note that the depth of the driving light buckets (to which these brackets attach) may differ as well. I ended up shimming with fiberglass from pieces of the bonnet removed to accommodate the needed radiator clearance. What is more of a pain for me is getting correct lateral alignment of the bonnet. This involved a lot of trial and error with various shims between brackets and Heim joints. Still not quite happy with how smoothly the bonnet aligns with the cowl, but this will stay as it is until I have a need to remove the bonnet for other reasons.

60 degrees here in CO today. Winter! Haha!! Good day for a "spin around the block" :-) Otherwise I would be tackling the list of "corrections" needed to my build of last year.

Happy New Year by the way!!

[burchfieldb]

Note that the depth of the driving light buckets (to which these brackets attach) may differ as well. I ended up shimming with fiberglass from pieces of the bonnet removed to accommodate the needed radiator clearance. What is more of a pain for me is getting correct lateral alignment of the bonnet. This involved a lot of trial and error with various shims between brackets and Heim joints. Still not quite happy with how smoothly the bonnet aligns with the cowl, but this will stay as it is until I have a need to remove the bonnet for other reasons.

60 degrees here in CO today. Winter! Haha!! Good day for a "spin around the block" :-) Otherwise I would be tackling the list of "corrections" needed to my build of last year.

Happy New Year by the way!!

Good to know. Enjoy the weather, we have been socked into gray gloom and rain for weeks here in Ohio. My frame is at the powder coater, so started working on the seats. Still lots to do, hope to be driving next spring 2025.

[michael everson]

I am working on a coupe that was delivered early 2023 and the brackets did no need reworking. This is the first one that didn’t. Maybe they have fixed it.
Mike