First off a re-cap of the hood top. Took one '30/'31 hood, added a '32+ style center hinge, then extended it with pieces of another hood. The hinge flanges are available from Obsolete Ford. Probably Bob Drake too but I don't know for sure. I had to weld a 90 degree flange to these strips so the hood would open properly. Just spot weld all around. Obviously cut the piano hinge out of this hood...when I welded these pieces to my new hinge flanges, I made sure that the hood would stay in line with my grill shell which was about 4" further ahead of the stock one. Extending... Quickie paint.
Held down with bungee cords. Worked, but kind rigged. So the top pieces came back off and I took them down to bare metal. A little metal work got the welds smoothed out and got rid of some slight warping. You probably saw my post a week or two ago on the latches. If not, search my post history. The first attempt, one latch. It worked but not great. Changed it to two latches, worked much better. Also made some inner structure from 1/4" rod for the hood top pieces, which doubles as mounting points for the latch strikers.
Finally, on to the hood sides. Made some frames from ½” x ½” square tube. Bent the pieces with my slip roll…didn’t roll them through but used it as a clamp and bent the pieces by hand. Tons of little tweaks here and there to get the pieces fitting just right. Welded a nut into the frame. Welded a piece of ¼” rod to a ¼-20 bolt. Welded tabs to the hood side frames that locate on these pins. Up top, there are tabs on the hood sides and on the latch bars that a bolt runs through, which all keeps them on the car. Then time to make these louvers fit. ’37 Ford truck. I fit them to the car without the frames in place to figure out what excess needed to be cut off. Added another piece to the frame to give some more support to the sides, as I wanted them to be slightly contoured. Welding. Went ahead and cut the bottom half off almost completely instead of filling in the open areas. I tried out filling the open spots on the driver’s side…it worked just not incredibly well. This was easier. Drivers side….more complicated because of the steering box mount, but not bad. I made the curves around it and the exhaust pipes with pie cuts, and welded it back up. Trimmed the excess, fit them to the car, sanded, primed, done. Should have better pictures of them on the car after this weekend. I also plan to add a bead to the bottom of the hood sides to match the one on the cowl and doors. Just didn't have a way (or the time) to make it before the show this weekend. Thanks for checking it out!
Yep! I actually took it out today and left it there. You may see me pulling it out of or into a trailer, but trust me it was driven there and will be driven home (if I don't break it on the autocross tomorrow )
FUCKIN AWESOME DUDE!!! great work! FANTABULOUS! my computer was taking a while to load all the pics ,but as they were loading i was looking at each one, then the one where the bitchin hood sides were mounted and i was thinking to my self " would be perfect with a bead along the bottom to match the cowl...",then i scrowled down and read were that was your next plan..! awesome work dude,,love the side louvers!,they go really great with the lines in the grille.
Stunning work!What latches did you use for the hood top?I could use those on my trunklid.I admire your vision and skill.The finished job looks so RIGHT! Nick.
Thanks a lot guys! The latches actually are trunk latches. We sell them at work. http://www.sachserodshop.com Direct link to the catalog page....2nd from the bottom. http://www.sachserodshop.com/pdf/210.pdf You can probably find them some place local, but I wouldn't know where to start looking.
Very nice. Not only is this a very informative post, but I rreally like the way your car looks post-change.
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