I was reading Kustombuilder and Fonzi's posts on peaking a hood. One cut out a strip and welded in a peaked section and the other laid in a rod and welded that. Both methods had a lot of problems with warpage. Is it possible to lay down a rod, like Fonzi, but instead of welding, could you braze it in? Could it be brazed with a propane Bernzomatic(?) torch?
If you think warpage is bad with electric welding you can't even imagine what gas welding will do, if you want to avoid warping, just s***ch weld the metal, about 3/8" at a time making sure to move your weld as far from the one you just finished as you can, keep a rag with tempid water on hand to cool the welds as you go, I did a 51 Ford hood this way and had zero problems, MIG welded without gas
tried peaking a hood once with a 1/4 inch rod but i couldnt get the rod to bend to the same curve my hood had at the front. i welded it anyways and then tried to fix it with fibregl***. it look ok but not perfect. then it cracked and looked like ****. now i run no hood
You could roll that in with an english wheel. May have to temporarily remove some bracing or the whole skin to do it though. 54chop
This sounds like a question for the experts. Try Gene Winefield or Barris. on the experts part of this board. they may know of trick. have you thought about lead?
get the smallest OD brake line you can find it'll bend easier than rod and tube is stronger than rod, if you don't want to weld it go to your local body supply store and get some panel adhesive and just glue it on. then do all your bondo etc, I'd recommend using that kitty hair stuff and then finishing it off with regular bondo.
I think the cleanest jobs I have seen were the one that Hollywood Hot Rods did and Kustombuilder's. There was a magazine artical about the one Hollywood Hot Rods did and it really was ***s. I am really happy with how mine came out but it took A LOT of work. i agree this should be asked to the experts Hellfish! FONZI
Here is the other method fonzi speaks of http://hollywoodhotrods.com/Projects/CustomMetal/CustomMetal1.htm
There is a difference in cold-rolled rod and hot rolled rod...cold-rolled rod is easier to work with, bends easier...we've done the hood, trunk, side scoops and fender peaks on my bro's Caddy with 1/4" cold-rolled..welded with MIG..it wasn't that difficult IF you take your time to avoid heating the whole area...and it's NOT a ten minute project...you must weld it solid, over a period of HOURS with no gaps between welds...no reason to give the bondo a chance to crack. We ground the welds and used Duraglas for the first "coat" of plastic and then used Rage Gold over the top...it's been on the car for four years now and countless miles...no sign of cracking or shifting anywhere. R-
Any welding method for peaking will cause shrinkage and warpage. I think the best way to do this would be stretch a line where you want your peak to be. You could use a ball peen hammer backed up by a firmly packed shot dollie, or a bunch of layers of rubber or leather to absorb the stretch and reduce deformation. Once you have stretched this line, you could control the profile of the peak or bead by making some dies for above and below out of steel that could be hammered together to convince the metal to take the profile that you want. These dies could be on a homemade spring die type arrangement consisting of a piece of flat bar or tubing bent in a log "U" shape to reach into the panel with the dies welded to the ends. This technique would take some practice, but requires no welding and, if you have the patience, no filler. John www.ghiaspecialties.com
John, that method would work great for peaking a one piece hood (or equivelant) but the some of these cars ('49-'54 Chevy's for example) have two piece hoods. The seam is right down the center. The only real choices for peaking those hoods are to weld a rod or tube down the center or to cut out the seam and weld in new metal either handmade or from a donor car. The problem with just laying a rod down the center and welding it on either side, front to back is that you have very little recourse for reversing the affects of the shrinking that occurs during welding. The reason that this method shrinks so badly is because of the size of the welds that it takes to attatch the rod to the hood sheetmetal. A 1/4" rod layed flat on a piece of sheetmetal will have approximately a 1/8" gap to be filled with weld. Not only that but your trying to weld two very different thicknesses of metal together. The method of cutting out the seam and replacing it with new or donor metal will allow you to control the affects of shrinkage (warpage) much better. The two metals will be much closer in thickness (if not exact) and you will have access to the entire welded area to allow hammer and dollie work. Combine this with the fact that welding sheetmetal ****ed tightly with zero gap warps less than sheetmetal with a 1/8" gap and you have a method which allows you much more control over the warpage. Pictures from Hollywood Hot Rods web site:
I have done them with 3/8" angle before. Bend it a little at a time to follow the curve. You can brake some 18 ga. also, but you may have to slot it for the curves. Mig weld in small tacs,skipping it far apart,to start. Cool with a wet rag. Weld in small tacks,until almost fully welded. Scuff it with 60 grit disc(watch the heat) I like to use bondogl***,or Kittyhair for the first coat. 'Smush' it in really tight to the metal. Finish coat with Rage,and good primer.Sparky
I don't see why nowadays, if you're gonna use some sort of rod, you couldn't epoxy it on...Some of the stuff they have nowadays is unbelieveable Hell, some of your most expensive cars have their ch***is's glued together....And the tiles on the space shuttle should tell you something
sorry but kustombuilders method seemed like too much work for me.. I peaked the hood on my olds with cold rolled 1/4 inch round rod.. just as others have stated.. I welded (tacked) with a mig every inch or so, then ground and applied a minimal amount of plastic to complete the smoothing.. I know that TIG welding would be a bad idea (we tried it and the tig actually caused the diameter of the rod to decrease..)
nice work loogie , after you bent the piece in the brake, how did you bend the piece around in the front without distorting it ? also , what was the method for the point? thanks, gary
Uh, no, that's not my handywork. I posted the pictures off of Hollywood Hot Rods web site. I added them just to demonstrate one way of doing this. As far as how to make the curve, that could easily be bent over an OXY bottle or similar with distorting it. And the peak would be formed by good old hammer and dollie work.
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