Hi fellows. I purchased a 57 Bel Air last fall that was using a broom handle to hold the hood up as the hood springs were too weak to do their job.
I purchased a new set of springs and installed them but they aren't the same size as the old ones. They are shorter and smaller in diameter. Also as soon as I unlatch the hood it raised up fully open by itself, these springs are that strong. The other night a friend told me to be really careful of them as the hood could possibly get bent in the middle.
Yesterday I was looking everywhere for springs the same size as my original ones and it seems that no one handles them anymore.
Then I stumbled onto a posting on Chevytalk about this problem another guy had. What he did was to get some smaller springs at a hardware store and put them inside the larger hood spring to give it kind of assist. He said it worked like a charm but didn't say how big a spring he got.
My question is would any of you happen to know how much strength a second spring would need and me to buy or would it be a strict guess?
Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.