Engine lid spring

Mike Schofield said:
...Any way to adjust this??
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I was able to increase the preload on that spring by 'uncoiling' about a half-turn, then re-installing it. I did that by removing the spring, clamping the short ends in a vise, inserting a snug-fitting mandrel trough the coils, and prying up on the mandrel with a crowbar. (I was intending to refine the procedure a bit before posting about it, but time hasn't permitted... Perhaps it'll help anyway.)

Brian
 
lookforjoe said:
there should be a guide washer on either side of the bushing - those can catch on the shaft & prevent removal.
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Otherwise it should slide off the center shaft once the cotter pin is removed. However a lot of plastic parts on these cars seem to actually "rust" onto metal parts, as odd as that sounds. Can you rotate the bobbin? If not then it is frozen and will require more force and perhaps some penetrant to get it off. The spring will also have tension on it, so undo the opposite end of the spring first.
 
Russe11 said:
I was able to increase the preload on that spring by 'uncoiling' about a half-turn, then re-installing it.
Click to expand...
Hey Brian, I'm not completely clear what you did. When you have time please elaborate. And to be sure we are talking about the same thing, it is this part:
hkjhads.jpg

Regarding this spring. On one of my cars it was badly bent up, causing a lot of difficulty in operation. No idea how it got bent but I replaced it and everything worked great.
 
Dr.Jeff said:
Otherwise it should slide off the center shaft once the cotter pin is removed. However a lot of plastic parts on these cars seem to actually "rust" onto metal parts, as odd as that sounds. Can you rotate the bobbin? If not then it is frozen and will require more force and perhaps some penetrant to get it off. The spring will also have tension on it, so undo the opposite end of the spring first.
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Great advice, thanks. Yes, the bobbin moves so that is good. One of the few parts of this car that seems to be free! I guess I work the washer off with a flat screwdriver or something similar?
 
Dr.Jeff said:
... to be sure we are talking about the same thing, it is this part...
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Nope. That's a trunk-lid spring, in your picture. The engine cover spring coils around the hinge pin. I'll try to take some pictures and explain a little better, this weekend.

Brian
 
Humm, on all of my X's they have the same spring on both the engine and trunk. Could be a early narrow engine lid vs a late wide lid? All of mine are the wide later ones.
 
Ye
Dr.Jeff said:
Humm, on all of my X's they have the same spring on both the engine and trunk. Could be a early narrow engine lid vs a late wide lid? All of mine are the wide later ones.
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Yes, Different springs by year.
Early engine covers had spring as posted above.

Later cars - 1500s - had a different set-up.
6906.jpg
'77 - '78 had a much different set-up.
6901.jpg
(Photos filtched from Midwest Bayless)
 
Had a little time at lunch, today.
I've attached some pictures to help clarify what I was trying to describe.

The first shows the parts of the lid-spring assembly.
The second shows the spring, clamped in a vise, at its resting position.
The third, with a piece of pipe inserted through the coils and a crowbar ready to lift the pipe.
The fourth shows the new resting position after unwrapping some of the coil.

Hope that helps.
Brian
 

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What I've done with my spring assembly is remove it from the car, put it in a vice, and bend the spring back (essentially giving it more pretension). I've done this and it keeps my lid open quite well, and that fix lasts a few years. You then do it again when required.

It's a bad design :( - but, it's inexpensive - fairly light, low complexity... I open my engine lid a lot, so I like having a functioning spring! :)
 
Henk, now you are showing off!
I fixed mine inadvertently when I needed it to stay up for a little project I was doing under the hood. I subsequently forgot about my cheap fix,and this thread reminded me. Given that I am OCD about under the hood details and positively cannot stand backyard fixes that aren’t properly engineered, the fact that I forgot means that it must be nearly invisible. Anyway, it has been in place for a couple of years through heat and cold means that it works.

What I did: I used a thick zip tie around the spring rods to keep the rods from expanding too much. It works and took two minutes. I have a slightly different fix for the rear trunk spring.
hood_spring_mod.jpg
 
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