Tech Request - Rounded Hood Corners / Custom

Help!
After searching both the regular and the technical archive forums, I was not able to find a 'how to' of how to round hood corners on a custom.

Can anyone help me with this?

My initial thought I guess would be to tack weld the hood closed, and then make the cuts. But then on second thought, maybe it's easier to cut the corners off of the hood, and then weld the corners to the body??

I am an <b>amateur</b> body man / metal worker at best - so ANY tips, hints, or direction is very much appreciated.

Below is a picture of the custom grille I have inserted (hood is not done yet!), followed by a picture of the desired hood corner result I am looking for

Thanks!
Jake

 

Use a 4" or 6" grinding disc as a template and use it to mark the corners of the hood to the desired radius. I wouldn't take the hood off to do this. Weld up the resulting uglies.--restore the edges of the lip, etc. Close and latch the hood against the stops as you normally would. Make sure that it is aligned properly with the top of the fenders, the way you want it to end up. Cut filler peices to weld into the gap, and tack them in with the hood closed, to maintain the proper gap. Open the hood and build in the rest of the corners. Keep closing and latching hood to check gap. When happy, get out the bondo and finish for painting.---Brian

 

wow, thank you... that actually sounds pretty simple....

anyone else?

 

if you're good you can use the pieces you just cut off as your filler pieces. brianangus hit it with the grinding disc idea. i use 4 1/2" discs, seems to be a pretty good radius. it's hard to cut the shape out smoothly, but it can be done. here's a 48 ford door i just did. It's not a hood, i realize, but the principle is the same. i added a thin piece inside to fill the space in, if that makes sense. That way there wasn't a "hole" underneath.

 

you can use a hand held skill saw to cut the corners from the hood. and then like ace brown said, take the pieces you cut off and weld them to the body. good luck!

 

here ya go boss

not s hood though but you get the picture

 

For the hood. I marked the hood at radious I wanted then took a saber saw and cut along the lip to edge of rad. then cut out the rad., bend lip around and weld it back to rad.. Then like they say use the piece you cut out to weld to fender and top of grill. Seen that in a mag. article, worked for me.

 

Here is the link to radis-ing the trunk corners on Big Olds (same principle)
Unfortunantly the photos were hosted here on the Jalopy Journal and have since been deleted. I have uploaded the same photos to my photobucket but do not have the engery to put the words and photos together BUT I think you are smart enough to open two windows and view both the photos and words and figure it out. If not, perhaps you shouldn't be using power tools.

Word link
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=36543&highlight=big+olds+trunk&showall=1

Photos link
http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y1/MotorCityHotRodder/BIG OLDS/Truck Radis/

 

Jake the Shoebox looks good. Do you miss the Lightening??

 

Hey Tyler!

ha ha- I just saw a Lightning the other day and laughed a little bit to myself...

THANKS for the suggestions and links everyone

"Jake from Wisconsin"