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TR2/3/3A Hood hinges LH vs RH

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Bremer

Bremer

Jedi Hopeful
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I am looking to replace the hood hinges on my 59 TR3. The new Moss parts appear to be of good quality, but they seem to be handed, i.e. one is meant to go on the left side and one on the right. The parts themselves are not marked. The axis of the hinge pin is not exactly perpendicular to the imaginary line that connects the four stud holes, and the off-set goes in opposite directions between the two hinges that were in the box.
Hope my description is not too confusing.
Any advice which hinge goes where?
 
I had the same problem. Here's what I did:
Remove the studs, lie the hinge(s) on a flat surface.
Look at the flat area on the male part of the hinge.
Note that it is not level with the flat surface that its sitting on.
Arrange the hinges so the long section is pointing away from you.
Now arrange them so they are leaning IN towards each other.
The one on the left belongs on the left side of the car, etc.
Frank
 
Sit in the car. Hold the hinges up like they go on the hood. You will see how they lean in to the middle and match with the couture of the hood.

marv
 
One more approach -- you're probably going to replace them one at a time so when you take the first one off see which of the new ones looks exactly like it.

Live large and get new gaskets too.
 
Lots of good advice. The key point is that the hinge pins must be in alignment with each other, or the hinges will break when you open the hood. Or to put it another way, the long side of the hinge always goes to the outside (applies to trunk hinges as well).

FWIW, I used to have a lot of trouble with the studs pulling out. Now, when I get new hinges, the first thing I do is remove the studs and run a bottoming tap into the hole plus touch up the end of the stud if necessary, to get maximum thread engagement. Then clean thoroughly and add a drop of high strength Loctite before lightly tightening the studs into the hinge.

Might not apply to all configurations, but I also have to trim the studs shorter, so they don't hit the body when the hood is closed.

Be sure to leave the nuts a little loose until after you've moved the hood through it's range of motion a few times. That way they can move around a bit, to get the pins perfectly aligned.
 
Thanks guys for the advice. Once I got into it, it quickly become clear which one has to go where since with the hood open there is really only one way they can fit. However, with the hood closed it's probably easily possible to put them on wrong.
 
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