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hood rod rubber

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sp53

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I have a question about the location of the hood prop stick rubber holder on the hood. Does the rod face the passenger side or the driver side when it is hooked in place? Mine faces the driver side and kinda rattles at an idle. Thanks in advance for looking.
Sp53
 
On mine, the rubber is open on the driver's side; I, too, get a rattle. I'm thinking it could be from the front, where the hood stick mounts to the leading edge of the hood. Or, from the circular washers under the Dzus fasteners on the hood.... I got some rubber fender mounts from TRF a while back, but have yet to install them; guess the rattle hasn't bugged me enough yet!
 
I believe they originally opened to the left.

On my TR3A, the biggest body noise at idle is the spring-loaded plunger. The hood flexes enough to allow the plunger to move just a bit, and it squeaks where it goes through the brackets. One of our local club members modified his to put nylon bushings into those brackets ...
 
On my TR3A it had the rubber clip open towards the driver's side. I agree with Randall that the noise comes from the spring plunger. Mine vibrates between 700 RPM and 1200 RPM. Above and below these speeds, there is no vibration. But it always happens when I'm stopped at a traffic light. Everybody thinks my beautiful TR is about to "EXPLODE". You can verify this with the engine idling and the hood "drumming". Then press your hand down on the hood (bonnet) just where the plunger is. The noise will disappear. Take your hand off and the vibration is back. I don't think it's the rod.

Give it a try and let us know.

Randall - I've planned for a long time to put nylon bushings into that thing but never got a round to designing it so TRA judges wouldn't be able to see the mods. Can you provide photos and/or sketches from the owner who did it ?
 
Don Elliott said:
Randall - I've planned for a long time to put nylon bushings into that thing but never got a round to designing it so TRA judges wouldn't be able to see the mods.
Click to expand...
Not sure if a judge would notice Bob's modification or not. He's not into strict originality, so took no precautions to hide the mod, but it doesn't exactly jump out at you, either. Just disassembled the bracket, drilled the holes oversize and stuck some appropriate "top hat" bushings through the holes. Then paint the whole thing, bushings and all, to match the body. I wouldn't have noticed except he pointed it out to me.

If I get a chance, I'll take some photos; but I haven't seen his car in awhile. Not sure if he's going to TRfest next month or not; he's had some pretty serious family problems.
 
Aloha All,

The slot in the rubber keeper on my car also faces the driver's side.

I have had the same rattle. I my case the hood lift rod running through the spring had over time been eroded by the bracket and had a slot worn into it. I had to weld it up to fill in the groove. I have also added small nylon washers to were the stay rod is mounted to the bracket to isolate metal to metal contact. Another thing I did was add a small bit of rubber to the bonnet where the hood lift rod touches it.

Don, I think Randall's suggestion of a top hat type nylon bushing could be glued on the underside of the bracket and then cut flush with the top would be unnoticed. Painting it would further camouflage it. You may have to drill the hole a bit larger to add the bushing.

Another Bonnet rattle I get occasionally is caused by loose hinge nuts.
 
Thanks all. You have got me thinking about top hats and bushing. My opening is to the driver side also, and when I was trying to figure out the rattle, I thought perhaps the rubber opening was wrong and the tip of the rod was hitting the hood when the rod was in the rubber and the engine was running. I am glad to hear that you all have experienced the same problem because like Don, the rattle would sometimes come at the weirdest times.
Sp53
 
Here's a solution to the rattle problem on TR3's hood prop rod, mentioned about 2 months ago:

IMG_0680.jpg


I wrapped about 6 inches of dental floss next to the hood prop rod. Hopefully in the pic, you can see where I applied it. I wound enough to where I couldn't squeeze in anymore. Instant transformation! No more rattle!
 
And yet another use for dental floss, besides flossing your teeth.
 
Pedro worked wonders with Bazooka gum.

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