Has anyone experienced hood "lift" while traveling at freeway speeds (65+) in their RX-2? Mine tends to lift about 1/2" and bounce up/down which is somewhat annoying. Originally I had suspected the hinges were the culprit as my originals were fairly loose, but I replaced them with a very tight hardly used set and it still lifts. The new set did help reduce the lifting a little but I am perplexed as to what could still be causing it. The only thing I can think of is my '2 is missing the chrome strip that goes on the hood.. does this produce some kind of downforce that I'm not aware of? My '2 never had this strip on it, so maybe someone else with it can shed some light on this theory.

What's odd is if you lift on the front of the hood by hand it's hard to get it to lift at all, yet while going freeway speeds it does with easy.

Matt's post about wanting hood hinges reminded me to ask you guys about this.

I have my old really worn out set if you're interested in them Matt.. but I was going to try using them as a template to make/buy some really heavy duty hinges to see if I could correct this problem.

Mike

 

Mike,

I have had one seperate on the freeway at 120. Very scary. Check and see if the yours is starting to seperate. That is, the metal is seperating from the frame of the hood. If it is you should have it re-welded.

 

or glue it down to all the under hood braces with something like windshield glue.
I have seen this happen as well and I solved the problem with urathane.
matt

 

Hmm, thanks I hadn't thought of that. I don't think that's the issue (I hope), but I'll check it out tomorrow.

I bet that was fun @ 120.. did it completely come apart?

Mike

 

Mike,

My 73 does the same thing.Last week coming back from Rotorfest doin about 70 The hood just like you said kept bouncing up & down.Yet, when its at a stand still if you pull up on the front of the hood there really isn't any play in it.My 73 is all stock and there are no missing pieces around the hood.The only thing Iam missing is the Foam on the inside of the Hood which I blew off when i was steam cleaning the motor.All My RX2's that i have owned over the last 30 years though have done that.Never been able to figure it out.

 

My hood used to do that...when I got the car painted the body guy tack welded a few places....no more lift....especially at 120!!!

 

I just did a quick inspection on mine before heading to work today, and notice that the hood does seem to be separating a little from the frame -- well not really separating, more like flexing. It's not really coming apart in a "critical" way, but I noticed that it will flex a little right at the front but you have to really pull up on it. I'm guessing the combined airflow @ 70MPH ='s that much force. I pushed up on the frame part where the brackets are and it won't budge at all so it's not the brackets.

I may try to tack weld some reinforcement welds or some type of brace, but I don't want to ruin the paint on the hood at all.. or maybe I'll used some type of adhesive as now suggested.

Mike

 

That definetly sounds like the problem I and several others have had. It will lift off eventually. I had mine tack welded and repainted, and never had the problem again.

 

I knew that my hood was gonna do the same thing, but I'm nowhere near ready to drive it. I used 'great stuff' expanding foam (also very adhesive) and sealed the skin to the frame along most of the cross-member air gaps. If you fill it, let it expand, then go back with a rag and clean up the edges, it paints over VERY nicely. Something to think about if you paint later.

 

ya i get alot of that as well, but i figured it to be my hinges. so with my hinges only hold about 50% of what they should i probably should cut back on my 100+ speeding then.

 

What's the name of this foam? Gorilla Glue?

 

lol

 

It's called "Great Stuff" and it's expanding insulating foam, like when you run A/C lines in and out of the house.

 

does it stay flex able? i heard that there is a new expanding foam that is soft
once its set and is flex able like rubber

matt

 

you might as well just get it tack welded. but how long would it take to foam it? drying time? overall cost would be less, and it would probably turn out about the same quality wise huh?

 

Takes half an hour, totally dry in one hour. The reason I used the foam is that I didn't want to risk warping the hood, which would happen in a heartbeat, and because there's already a similar filler on my original hood, which I would think came from Mazda. It's anybody's call which way to go, but this was quick, easy, and seems like a great fit.

 

someone used a glue white in color on my rx2, before i got it and when it
dried it pulled the skin down a little so i can see it when the hood is closed.
i am sure the foam stuff wouldn't have done this.
matt

 

Hell just put a big *** chunck of see throught lexan from the front of your hood to the top of your windsheild that should created some kick *** downforce might kill your gas mileage