Advice please - Hood removal

[Chad speed]

Having some paintwork done on my 92 4.3 and need to remove the hood from the body (just below the plastic rear screen) prior to having it done. All I can find is a self tapping screw covered by a black plastic cap on either side just behind the hoop pivot inside the cabin. Had a look in the bible and various websites but found nothing. Any idea's?

[Hoover.]

Theres a handfull of bolts holding the hood in position along the body work line. You need to look under the roofing material.

Good luck removing them, I recently had my hood replaced.... was going to do it myself but I knew the bolts needed to be cut off so got professionals to do it.

I had the rear of my car resprayed without having the hood removed, apparently it involved a lot of masking...... bloomin good job done though and you cannot tell with the new roof fitted either.

[Loubaruch]

Not sure if the hood fixing on your 4.3 is the same as a 96 500.

Assuming it is, the hood is fixed by two self tappers as you have noticed, the two Allen headed pivot bolts and three smaller allen headed bolts that are secured by nuts in the boot. You will need to remove the carpet/millboard in the boot, mine just pulled out.

Not a difficult job just a bit fiddly, a pair of mole wrenches are useful for holding the boot nuts while unscrewing the allen bolts in the cockpit. And of course release the velcro at the front. I replaced with new Velcro, its simply glued to the body.
I was lucky that none were seized, the pivot bolts I understand can be a problem if very rusty.
Best of Luck!

Edited by Loubaruch on Thursday 10th January 00:07

[griffter]

Indeed it's the three bolts under the rear fabric section just in front of the forward edge of the boot lid that are troublesome. You can feel the nuts on these if you reach up and under the rear deck below the hood from the boot. To get to them you need to find them - mirrors and torches come in useful. You'll probably end up having to climb into the boot. Mine weren't allen headed, but normal hex-headed. The problem is that they're held 'captive' by the glass fibre of the rear hood rail. If the nuts are stiff on the bolt thread the heads can slip and then you're into mole grips etc to try to hold the bolt still while you undo the nuts. The easiest way to do this is by lifting up the fabric hood lip above the bodywork to find the bolt thread and gripping there, leaving the nut accessible in the boot - HOWEVER this is also the easiest way to scratch the paint. BE CAREFUL!

When refitting mine I put the bolts back into the hood rail, then used a nut on each bolt to clamp the bolt in place on the hood rail, THEN put the bolts back through the bodywork and secured with another nut. Works fine and should ensure easy removal next time...

Good luck - the 4.3's are the ones to have by the way

[V8 GRF]

Have a look at this Hood replacement tutorial on thegriffithpages.com It's about replacing the whole hood but should illustrate some of the advice given above.

[Chad speed]

V8 GRF said:

Have a look at this Hood replacement tutorial on thegriffithpages.com It's about replacing the whole hood but should illustrate some of the advice given above.

Thanks to all for pointing me in the right direction especially V8 GRF, that link was spot on . I'll let you know how I get on removing the hoop and other bits and bobs prior to the new paint.