i should have titled this : "another bonehead move"


Getting the car cleaned up for Werks after finishing the mechanical stuff, i had left my phone on the engine deck lid while doing clay bar to the trunk, fast forward 20 minutes , i forget where my phone is, i open the lid to reinstall the drain hoses and heater blower, and upon completing this i go to close the lid, but of course my phone had slid back to the window and into the gap at the window by the passenger side bracket, I never slam the lid i am slow and deliberate but still, it appears that with the phone wedged in there it pushed down the lid bending the bracket( at first i thought the lid might also now have a slight bend/warp to it) either way i removed the lid and found the bracket was bent down about 20 degrees and there is a crack, it looks old like a stress crack at the corner of the bracket.
so has any one else had this bracket bend or crack?? i suppose my only fix will be to have someone reweld and strengthen that corner, or replace it but that would be easy, is there a replacement bracket made by anyone??

Phil

Very Common crack. I have welded a couple myself. I an sure you don't just pull the latch and let the lid fly but I have see some do this. I always hold my hand on the lid when pulling the latch knob to keep it from flying up and stressing the bracket.

Just have it rewelded. Sux but it happens.

Rick,

Yes, i am very careful i always place my hand on the lid for sure, but with 4 DAPO's who knows, its a 48 year old car . i thought about disabling the torsion bars so they dont put as much downward pressure on the bracket but my phone getting wedged into there worked like a fulcrum and forced it down bending and cracking it.

I thought about getting a GT lid but then you dont run the rain tray which might not be a good idea in our region of the world

- hope all is well in MN, that new place of yours is awesome.

Thanks, It has been a long road to get here. Anyway. My GT lid on the Alien is lighter and flies up harder than a stock lid with the rain tray. Just an FYI on that one.

I just welded those cracks (on both sides) of mine. I'm going to add a small gusset to the sides as allowed by clearance of the lid.

i was thinking about that, wondering if adding some thickness to that would be possible with out interfering in the lids ability to mount and to close. Unfortunately i think i bent the lid slightly too, its hard to tell, and i dont really have time between now at thursday to get that done for me( currently i dont have a welder or access to one).

I had to replace both mounts on mine. They had already been welded in the corners AND screws were used to attach to the firewall. They had a hard life. It sounds like you can get away with just some minor welds.

Check post #48 here. Includes a clearance study

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...49463&st=47

I made this modification to make the engine lid easily removable for working on the engine. Less stress on the hinges and better access:

Click to view attachment

Yes, exactly...Thanks, you took all the work out of it.

Click to view attachment

Wow thats great, hopefully i can find someone local that can do this for me, but thats a great write up and will be very helpful in directing someone else doing this repair!

If the other one is solid, make a template so the one to be fixed can be matched. The picture of the hinge arm that’s slotted. Makes R&R the lid a easy one person task.

thanks, will do!

Restoration Design sells replacement brackets. They come with the nut on them as well. Just about to weld mine in as the old ones were trashed ...

When I put the GT lid on my big six, I found the factory torsion bars held the right rear corner up way too high even with the lid latched. So I took the torsion bar out on that side. Now it won't stay up at all.

My plan is to take a torch and heat the torsion bar up to lower the spring tension in it so the lid will open but not hold it up on the right side.