Hood Removal

After repeated frustration with the hood getting in my way during all this engine work, I decided to bite the bullet and remove the hood myself. All told, it was a pretty straightforward job.

I started off by laying down some towels across the cowl and fenders and covering the engine block with a disposable tarp. I gave the bolts a good dousing with WD-40 just in case they tried to give me any guff.

First, I removed the 5/8" bolts holding the lever arms to the hood. I tried propping up the hood with a 2x4, but that proved too precarious, so I closed the hood instead, resting it on the fenders and a couple of 2x4s sitting on the fenders.

I was then able to reach between the hood and the cowl and undo the 1/2" bolts holding the spring arms onto the hood. Once the bolts had been removed, I carefully slid the hood down to the ground. I could then carry it around to rest it in the bed.

The rest of the photos are here.

I then went back to cleaning out the bolt holes, one last time. This went as follows: fill hole with Gunk Engine Brite, vacuum out, tap, wipe out with Q-tip, repeat. A few repetitions let to less and less crap coming out on the Q-tip, so eventually I gave it one last tap, wiped off the debris from the top of the block and the cylinders, and gave it all a wipe down with engine oil before putting Peanut away for the night.