Front hinged hood?

Gavzach

I made my bed tilt and think it would be neat to hinge the hood forward?
Has anyone put the hood hinges on the front of one of these trucks?
Pic of truck bed attached

EmJay

Gavzach years ago i remember someone did a write up on the predecessor forum on this topic. Mitch is right that they used Buick hinges, but they weren’t front hood specific.
I’m a bit hazy on the details, but I remember that the hood needed reinforcement where the hinges were installed and the latching mechanism was (obviously) moved to the firewall.
One of these days I’m going to tinker with mine and try to get a set of Mercedes hinges on mine, that way I can open it straight up if I ever needed.

MazdaMitch

There is a car from the 80's that has a flip hood and that's what most guys use for a Mazda truck.
I think it was an 89 Buick park ave.

OGMB2K

Mitch is right, It was the 89 Buick Riviera. I had used those hinges on several different mini trucks. As I recall depending on the truck you had to reinforce or bracket the hinges to some structure in the front cap. The metal on the front end of the Mazda's is not strong enough to support the weight of the hood.
Also, I would not recommend going straight up piano hinge on the radiator support, the beauty of the Buick hinge was it would also pull the hood forward beyond the radiator support to allow for maintenance. then there is also the fabrication to allow the hood to slide back and lock into the firewall.
Good times, busted knuckles and shattered windshields as I recall tweeking these mods .. lol