Three braces under the hood. Front and middle have padding between skin and brace. Rear brace has none. No staples or staple holes like there never was anything there. About a 1/4 in gap. Is this normal?
Have the same problem. Think this causes my hood to flex a lot. Wonder if the hood needs replacing? Even considered filling the gap with "liquid nail" but don't think this is the way to go. Getting ready to paint the car. Would also like some help.
My '55 has the same type filler above the rear brace as the front two have. It isn't nearly 1/4" though, more like .100 though I can't measure it. It doesn't appear to be compressed between the hood and brace as I can wiggle it slightly with a probe.
This hood was pretty rough and the wise thing would have been replacement, but since they don’t make them anymore I decided to try to save it. I’ve got it pretty straight and to the point of those pads thickness could help or hurt the straightness. I have removed the old stuff and trying to decide between strips of rubber or the more modern expanding foam material used in modern cars. Just trying to figure out if my hood is out of shape in the rear (abnormal gap)
Mine was the same way, roughly 1/4" gap. I put the hood in a mol***es/water mixture for a couple of weeks to remove the rust, afterwards I used a two part panel bond to "glue" the braces to the hood. Sure stiffened up the hood..
Did you do this to only the rear brace or all? Did you do it with hood on car? Essentially you filled that 1/4 in gap?
I can try to look at mine this evening if there is still question on this. Mine hasn’t ever been messed with and is all still in original paint.
That would be great, exactly the info needed. Also, hard to describe, but just how “wiggly” is your hood?
Ok, I’ll check on it. My hood seems pretty stable and not too wiggly. But, I will report back after looking at it closer this evening.
Hey Dave, can you tell me what is the glue you used, and where I can get it? Also, did you do all the braces. Wonder if "liquid nail " would work? Thanks Joe
Mine's a '57, but basically the same ***embly method. Short of pulling the hood skin off the support bracing to lay in a new membrane/vibration dampner, there's not much you can do about the issue. All of the guys I've talked to about it, and myself, have basically ignored it with no ill effects. You do NOT want a glue or anything adhesive between the skin and support. The skin has to be able to expand and contract with temperature changes. If that were not the case, Ford and other manufacturers would have spot welded the skin to the support. Gluing it will cause your hood to develop waviness in short order.
Mine has insulation stapled to the front and rear braces to take up the gap, but not the rear closest to the windshield. And, it is fairly rigid other than it does twist some if lifting by just one corner.
Probably close to 1/4”. I just looked again since I am in the shop and it does appear right at 1/4” measuring it.
Thanks! I guess mine is close to normal. I removed all the old padding and staples and will probably replace with rubber. I have the front brace out to do rust repairs so that one will be easy to replace. The middle might be tough but one way or another it will get replaced. I’ll update this thread when it gets back together. Still have to sandblast and epoxy prime first.
OK, for those willing to go the extra mile, here’s what is under the rear cross brace. 2” wide and .175” thick. I ordered rubber strips for the middle and front which are 1/4” thick. I’ll have to order again for the rear. As you can see half of mine is gone. 24 spot welds to drill and a pic of my drill bit which worked quite well. I think it would be possible to drill only the sides and then you would have enough wiggle room to access the pad. Included pics of hood showing where I cut the front off and replaced it and of course had to fix the inner structure as well.
Dedication - wow! Your attention to detail will lend itself to a very fine ride, my friend. Keep up the good work!
Got my parts clean and in epoxy primer. Attached 3/16 thick rubber to rear brace and welded back onto hood. Did the flex test and very little if any improvement to rigidity of hood. Attached 1/4 thick rubber to front brace and welded back onto hood. Again not much improvement. Used 1/4 in thick rubber behind middle brace. MAJOR improvement! I had previously removed all the old padding and the rubber was quite tight to install. I used a spray soap for lubrication and slowly worked it in. I believe it is as good as Ford ever had it. My advice to anyone would be to concentrate on the middle brace.
Sorry I just seen this.. Some reason it didn't send an email to me.. I bonded all of them. Used a panel bond, same thing body shops use to replace quarter panels. If you do this make sure the hood isn't twisted.. Dave
Man, Im sorry , I just ran across you asking me about this. For some reason I'm not getting notified when someone posts on this thread.. I used a 3M product and I got it from Orielly's Part #8116 and it cost me 86.00. I would not use liquid nail as it is made for wood not metal. This stuff is what body shops use to replace quarter panel with instead of welding. DAve
Braces need to be “flexible “ for vibration Using a stiff adhesive will eventually break free There is a flexible adhesive used on modern door skin to intrusion beam applications I’m going to use On my hood but not on the rear brace, it’s adjustable for figment/ alignment on mercury not sure if same on Ford hood , I will use rubber weatherstripping glueing it to the brace to allow for alignment
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