Wow, thanks a ton Pablo, i'll let you know, and i be careful, i might just take you up on that offer.

i popped the hood so there's no stress to keep from damaging the hood (ty 1971BB427), and once my brother or bro in law has the time i'll remove the hoods and swap out the springs...however, just looking at the 74 and 78 springs, although the 74 closed nicely, the springs look the same, and feel the same. I'll have fun taking those springs off.

 

Don't kill yourself. Hoodsprings scare me more than front coils.

 

Maybe the springs are trying to open the hood, and the latch is holding it closed, that would cause it to bow in the middle right?

 

^ The hinge pulling on the hood was already mentioned in an earlier chapter.
To get the springs off, take yourself a piece of nylon twine and tie it into a loop so that it's long enough to reach from the spring to the front of the car. Put the one end around the spring hook and wrap the other end (with the knot) around your hand a coupla few of times, a glove on the hand may help. Now pull on the twine to stretch the spring forward and sideways off the tab of the hinge.

 

As far as looking at the springs they will look almost identical,when i put my factory springs next to my new harwood springs they look the same just different tension.Another way to remove the springs is to use a long flat screwdriver and pop the back of the spring that way it flys away from your windshield,just watch your face,they come off with a bit of force haha.

 

^ And don't worry about the runaway spring hurting the cars paint job, you'll probably want to repaint it someday anyway!

 

There's actually a very easy, safe way to remove springs. Just get a piece of 3/8" threaded rod long enough to cover the opened length of the spring. Then turn a nut on each end of the rod and spin them down a little. Insert the rod inside the spring while the hood is fully opened. Now put a washer over the nut and slide a end wrench through the side of the coils above the washer on each end. You can play with the position of the nut until the washers sit just right. If you start to close the hood the washer and wrenches will stop the coils from compressing and the spring will just fall off when it gets partway closed. You can then lay it on the floor and safely wrestle the wrench off one end with your shoe on top to hold it down.

 

Mental note. Thank you.

 

Haha yeah i forgot about that part,besides i never said there wasnt any repurcussions from doing it that way haha.When i did mine like that the car was still in need of bodywork and paint so that wasnt an issue at the time,although i like the way 1971BB427 suggested,sounds pretty easy and alot safer than the way i did mine.

 

Not trying to knock this technique, but how were you able to get that to work with the hood on the car? When the hood is up, the spring is collapsed down (relaxed), which is why it isn't too hard to pull it forward and off the hook with a rope. The spring is stretched out when the hood is closed, but that makes it kinda hard to lock it in the stretched position when you can't get to it.