I've been holding out hope that I can just buy something that will work without having to fabricate anything else... If Randy's hinges work as well as they look, something like that works for me.

The big problem with the pivot (Randy nailed it) is that the underside of the nose will impact the radiatior support/forward crossmember before it gets close to fully open. Actually, putting the pivot forward and as low as possible would be the best position, as virtually all the front end movement would be upward, with only whatever portion overhung the pivot moving down.

Bro' FF

The Clip I have now is from the same mold that my Motion clip came from, it has a full chin that ends in an odd small air damn or "lip"
These are I believe the hinges my dad made me from Randy's drawings years back, looks like dads witting on them but I can't recall for sure,

When I had these on the car,
I moved and moved these around but never could get a wide opening without needing to notch into the chin, I never cut the clip so this is as wide as I could get it to open before hitting the chin,

Here is what I mean by notching the chin, as seen in these next pictures,




I have no idea where I got these of an orange clip, but some way was lucky enough to have them in up and down hinge position, the way it cuts into the chin is just horrible to me, but I guess it wouldn't show on a built car,

The only fear I had with the pivot bar set up was the way I want to do headlights, but if anything the pivot bar will play in and help, I have not been into mine deeply but the end caps appear and feel to be ball bearings,

Randy, you mentioned the short tail build uses a pivot, any pictures?

...We Are The Music Makers & We Are the Dreamers Of The Dreams...
Cheers,
P.

"Randy"

I save pictures of cars, vettes customs kits, I have around 50k
I would have to believe I asked the owner ofthat orange clip for the extra shots but who knows,

Here is another wall hanging clip, I have to wonder is it the same one?

...We Are The Music Makers & We Are the Dreamers Of The Dreams...
Cheers,
P.

I too like the concept behind the pivot bar setup but I too wonder
about A. how to build one, B. where it should be properly placed,
and C. will it get in the way of the headlight assembly I wish
to build in the front like the concept car's headlight assembly.

I want the hood to fully open with hydraulic lifters on a switch
for automation but with the ability to open manually should the
hydraulic system fail. I'm wondering with this design how such a
setup would work.

McBrain

Me and you are in the same camp,
I desire the Mako 2 show car style headlights like on the car we seem to be calling "the bomb"
It's by far the best most unobtrusive way to have headlights on a Mako and with careful planning we can do it better than GM did,

We have my clip and 454's for looking at how the single pivot was tackled,
Both are great starting points, mine will yield more when I have it on a car,
But in the would of custom both perhaps could be done better , because someone always comes up with a better way to build the mouse trap,

I have done several lifts for hoods, trunks, truck beds, even the top on my Sterling kit car,
In the case of a tilt front clip IF it can be done with one linear actuator in the center that is always best,
A bar coming off the center of the pivot bar and attaching the actuator to that could be the answer,
The Sterling had a double moment hinge, the top had to go up and forward,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8qxzGT3ZC8
Not my Sterling...

In this case we had to use one lift for each side the first problem in that is you have to make a set up that cycles the lifts so to speak because the never runs 100% the same speed in the case with the Sterling after about 4-7 times of running the top up and down, one actuator had to run a second longer to adjust,
It's no big deal but with the way double moment hinges mount and work on the Mako it could be asking for binding,
Making it manual in case of a power failure some times is as simple as pulling a pin from the actuator mount,

I believe with careful planning that a Mako front clip could open straight up and need only a single pivot placed right to do it, but of that the only hang up might be the chin hitting the frame in the front, I am not willing to notch the chin on mine.

...We Are The Music Makers & We Are the Dreamers Of The Dreams...
Cheers,
P.

When Silva and his guys built these cars, they slapped them together as quick as possible.................. the cross bar on mine is crooked. (Don't guess it mattered much........ its under the car and can't bee seen). Its higher on one side and they just welded the brackets on the front of the radiator support at different heights and angles to compensate. The headlights were a much tighter install on one side !

Hope this helps ! Rick

Bro' FF

"Randy"