Fitting Front Deck Lid

[Tedredamphi]

Does anyone have tips as to getting front deck lid to fit properly? I have new upper and lower seals from Gordon Imports and when installed the lid doesn't seem to close as far as it should. I know that closed cell foam rubber works good to seal the rear deck lid. Do most people use the seals from Gordon Imports or ?????
Thanks,
Ted

 

[SNOWBIRD]

Hood Fitting

Hoods should be fit(Tested) before the dash and glove box is put in.
I use Gordons rubber seal on the bottom(Body) but I use a softer seal on top(I stock it) Set the hood on car without bolting 3(2on early) bolts to the hinges.If all looks good you can reach in threw dash, glove box and set bolts. If not fitting good after this you know the problem is in the hinges,
they have no Ajustment other than the egg shaped holes so you may have to take off car and bend twist etc. till they are right.
Once you are happy with fit. ID. the exact spot the bolts are in for proper fitting at a later date. One friend sujested when fitting doors to drill a 4th small pilot hole for final marking that you can put a temp. pin in when setting back on.
GORD S>

 

[jfriese]

I have found on two of the 3 Amphicars that I've restored the front deck lid had somehow been bent over the years and the curvature was now wrong to get a good fit with the fenders. You can tell this quite easily by looking at how the curve of the hood lines up with the corresponding lip on the fenders. The curves should match and if they don't the hood should be bent to get them to match. Of course this is much safer and easier to do before final paint is on the car but minor bends can even be done after things are painted but it's dangerous to the paint. In both the cars I had to do the hood had more curve than the fender so it needed to be flattened out a bit. One car needed this only on one side, the other car needed both sides done. I did it with the hood still mounted on the car so that it was fairly easy to check things as they went along. I used two padded 2x4's that were a bit longer than the length of the hood and clamped the boards together to flatten out the hood.

John Friese
67 White
67 Red

 

[canitfloat]

The best thing you can do to keep front hood alignment (once you have good alignment), is to NOT use the original prop rod! Whether you have a steel or fiberglass hood, the prop rod will make the hood bend out of shape. Keep it there so it looks correct and all, but use something else to hold the hood up when refueling etc. I have used a wooden dowel in the front hood edge to hold it up. If you dont care about originality a gas strut on each side works great too!

 

[jfriese]

I've left my original steel hoods open on their original prop rods for days at a time and, although it's a very lopsided support, haven't found any deformation of the hoods in over 8 years now.

John Friese
67 White
67 Red

 

[Ed Price]

Does anyone have info about using a pair of gas struts? Perhaps a strut part
number, and a location for drilling mounting holes? Obviously, not for
purists, but then a purist couldn't install a steering box support either.
To each his own.


Ed Price
Membership Chairman
International Amphicar Owners Club
El Cajon, CA USA
WB6WSN
1961 Amphicar 770
1987 MB 420SEL





_____

From: canitfloat [mailto:]
Sent: Monday, October 04, 2010 11:02 AM
To: edprice@cox.net
Subject: RE: [General Amphicar Discussion-t-20898] Re: Fitting Front Deck
Lid


The best thing you can do to keep front hood alignment (once you have good
alignment), is to NOT use the original prop rod! Whether you have a steel or
fiberglass hood, the prop rod will make the hood bend out of shape. Keep it
there so it looks correct and all, but use something else to hold the hood
up when refueling etc. I have used a wooden dowel in the front hood edge to
hold it up. If you dont care about originality a gas strut on each side
works great too!

 

[canitfloat]

From my experience, the original prop rod doesnt bend the hoods side curve, but bends the hinge mounting area on the hood and maybe even the hinge to some degree, which causes the rear drivers side of the hood to sit too high.

 

[jfriese]

I watch for problems like that too but no such thing has occurred to my cars. I suppose some damage would occur if someone pulled down on the hood without unhitching the prop rod but that hasn't happened here.

John Friese
67 White
67 Red

 

[Bilgemaster]

While on the topic of trunks, and just for the record, I think one of
the cleverest improvements I ever saw on an Amphicar was our
hugely-esteemed German colleague Rene Pohl's replacement of that bottom
hood seal with a narrow inflatable tube, kind of like an extra-long
super-narrow racing bike inner tube, fitted with a little european-style
Presta-Valve to inflate it just enough to get a truly watertight seal.
He'd also devised a very tidy racing-style outside gas filler neck
mounted flush on the upper fender of the body, near one of the
windshield wipers, AND fashioned his own donut-style spare tire by
welding the cut out centre of an original Amphicar wheel to the cut out
rim of a Mazda's or something's spare...Maybe not what you'd choose to
go too far on, but far enough to get you off the side of the road and on
your way or maybe home. The sum of all of these improvements: the dry
trunk, with its extra space not reeking of accumulated gasoline drips,
is that Rene and his lovely family can haul REAL luggage on a trip, and
all their clothes won't smell like Goober from Mayberry's zerk rags down
in the lube pit when they get there. Just a superb bundle of sensible
mods, and "concourse originality" be damned, I say.

Regards,
"Bilgey" (like my polo shirts after a long drive)


On Tue, Oct 5, 2010 8:39 am, canitfloat wrote:

> From my experience, the original prop rod doesnt bend the hoods side
> curve, but bends the hinge mounting area on the hood and maybe even the
> hinge to some degree, which causes the rear drivers side of the hood to
> sit too high.
>
>

 

[SplitPersonality]

We are still up in Pennsylvania, having attended the Carlisle and Hershey
shows with better than average luck with the weather at both places this
year. Rene's suggestion for a quick fill for the fuel sounds like a winner.
Have I missed out on the details of this idea Bilgey ? Vic Nelson normally
near Dayhtona





In a message dated 10/5/2010 7:48:54 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
writes:

While on the topic of trunks, and just for the record, I think one of
the cleverest improvements I ever saw on an Amphicar was our
hugely-esteemed German colleague Rene Pohl's replacement of that bottom
hood seal with a narrow inflatable tube, kind of like an extra-long
super-narrow racing bike inner tube, fitted with a little european-style
Presta-Valve to inflate it just enough to get a truly watertight seal.
He'd also devised a very tidy racing-style outside gas filler neck
mounted flush on the upper fender of the body, near one of the
windshield wipers, AND fashioned his own donut-style spare tire by
welding the cut out centre of an original Amphicar wheel to the cut out
rim of a Mazda's or something's spare...Maybe not what you'd choose to
go too far on, but far enough to get you off the side of the road and on
your way or maybe home. The sum of all of these improvements: the dry
trunk, with its extra space not reeking of accumulated gasoline drips,
is that Rene and his lovely family can haul REAL luggage on a trip, and
all their clothes won't smell like Goober from Mayberry's zerk rags down
in the lube pit when they get there. Just a superb bundle of sensible
mods, and "concourse originality" be damned, I say.

Regards,
"Bilgey" (like my polo shirts after a long drive)


On Tue, Oct 5, 2010 8:39 am, canitfloat wrote:


Quote:

> From my experience, the original prop rod doesnt bend the hoods side
> curve, but bends the hinge mounting area on the hood and maybe even the
> hinge to some degree, which causes the rear drivers side of the hood to
> sit too high.
>
>