Mopar Muscle Association UK

We've paint strippered, scraped, wire wooled, parafinned & white spirited our hood hinges, ready for a repaint.

Just wondering whether to go to the extent of removing the spring so we can do some more cleaning and paint the areas not visible when the spring's attached. Or would this be above & beyond the norm, seeing as the hinge assy is only seen when the hood is up and in the 'extended' position with the spring attached?

I imagine we'd need to clamp the hinge in a vice to remove the spring but cant see how to do this without damaging the paint when it comes to refitting the spring?
I guess we could just paint the areas revealed when the hinge can be moved, then refit the spring and paint the remainder of the hinge assy, but if we have to do this for primer then top coat(s), I'm sure we'll end up damaging the paint at some stage

Anyone done anything like this?

Or know how the pro's do it? JPC, for example?

We're not after a concourse finish (as you may have noticed ), just something that doesnt look like we've not bothered cos they're awkward!

After cleaning/stripping put them back on the car, open the hood, and spray them in that position.

just hung them up and painted them in fully open position , mine were already in bare metal , as had rebuilt ones from SMS
only do a couple of thin coats of primer /paint , as the clearance of the hinge when closing is small & will rub/crack off thick 2k paint !! don't ask how a know

I took my springs off to clean them and the hinges with wire brushes and then put them back on and hung them up and painted the hinges with the springs on.

steveo wrote:just hung them up and painted them in fully open position , mine were already in bare metal , as had rebuilt ones from SMS
only do a couple of thin coats of primer /paint , as the clearance of the hinge when closing is small & will rub/crack off thick 2k paint !! don't ask how a know

Thanks steveo, yes the paint that was on there was quite thin but I thought that was just cos the previous sprayer did a bit of a rush job on them

Some good advice there guys, I'll let you know how we get on

Take em off Rob its easy, and you know it will be better in the end

Take 'em off and paint everything separately, then put em on again.

You want an easy way to remove and reinstall the springs? With the hinges and hood on the car, put some rope around the hook at the near end of the spring and just pull with both hands - you'd be surprised how easy this is. It might help to have someone there to pull the spring over so when you relax it does not go back on the hinge again.
Reinstall the same way, no paint chips or fuss

(If the hinges are off the car you'll have to try and put them in a vice and do this)

Or another way....
I put a large cushion against the windscreen "just in case" then put a large screw driver through the end and pull slowly and firmly and off it comes