Anyone weld in louvered panels?

I have a hood that has been a real pain to get straight so it's not a good candidate for louvering. Much work with a shrinking disc so that may affect the stamping of louvers. Yes, I can find a better hood and get that punched but I have done alot of work on this one so far so I'm considering using it. Does anyone have experience with hammer welding louvered panels to their hood? Pro's and cons? Thanks!

 

Hi Erik,

I would not hesitate to have a panel louvered that had extensive shrinking disc work on it. The disc will not damage the metal. Unless the hood is a big mess, it would probably be less work than welding and metal-finishing the welds. Any pictures of the hood? If you are dead set on welding in a louvered panel, stay at least 1/2" away from the louvers, more than that if you do not have confidence in your metal-finishing.

John www.ghiaspecialties.com

 

John nailed it... I'd say you're better off work wise to fix the hood then louver over how much work is involved in putting the panels in.

 

Hey,

By hammerwelding in louvered panels I'm guessin' we're talking gas welding, no? Yeah, one could ''squirtgun'' weld in these, if so I'd use the .023 wire with tacks well spaced, with alot of cooling time between passes. Use wet shop rags at the edges of the welded areas to check heat build up. I'd rather gas weld these in with a OO tip and 100% "Extra- Virgin" coat hanger. The coat hanger forges , files & grinds well, and is much softer than any squirtgun weld. A squirtgun weld is much harder than the parent metal, and where the two meet at the seams will crack. '53-'56 F100 hoods flex a bunch, as there is no reinforcement in the low crown areas of the hood panel, even with the factory swage line runnin' down the center, and with louvers. Heat build up from the engine will also take its' toll on any filler used for the repair, and over time will crack. It's for this reason I'd suggest you metalfinish the panel.

"Meanwhyle, back aboard The Tainted Pork "

 

I don't exactly know how to say what I want with this, but, to an extent a Well laid pattern can do wonders to hide imperfections in a hood. I don't advocate punching badly deformed panels and calling it good, but if you are used to metal finishing to 100% fanatically, you really can get away with about 85% IN MOST CASES. I know that doesn't sound very professional to state, and I have turned away several panels over the years as "too rough", but putting several louvers in a given area will go a long way towards Disguising a wavy panel. On stretched out or oil canned panels, it can be a help too. Going through a stretched section has the effect of pushing the stretched thinner metal into the shape of the louver, thereby "tightening" the panel up. Once again, I know this doesn't sound very professional, but I definitely know what the limits of my equipment are, and how they can help a bad situation as well.

 

Great advise. thanks! I was wondering about the work hardening of shrinking and hammering was going to affect the louver forming but it sounds like it will work. I didn't want to get into a lot of paint prepping around the louvers if I had it punched. Seems like someone stepped on the hood so it took some work to get the stretch out and stop the oil canning. The shrinking disk did it's job and that was rather amazing how well that worked. Since I'm in a somewhat rainy climate I was considering an inner panel to keep water off the engine but allow air flow to keep the louvers functional. I may end up floating something off the inner support rods so not to witness any welding to the hood. It's going to be black so you know how perfect the hood needs to be to look good. It seems like I have it down to just a little oil canning when I put pressure on it when sanding so it sounds like louvers will solve that issue. A mid fifties F100 hood is a big hood without a lot of support.

Should the area be left bare metal where the louvers go? Thanks again for the info.

 

Prep the area to be louvered for paint....kind of a bitch to work the area between the louvers afterward

 

what do you mean prep it for paint? if you mean strip it to bare metal, then yeah, otherwise it needs to be stripped both sides anyway.

 

Yes, always strip both sides of the area to be punched. It will make your louver guy happy! As far as "prep", i always like to ask the painter what finish he likes to apply primer over, and finish to that. I.E. one guy sands to a 180 finish, I do that. If another prefers 220, that's what I sand to before layout and punch. Oh, and for inner panels, some of my customers have gone to sign shops and had strips of the flexible magnetic material cut just a bit wider than the louvers, and stick them to the inside on rainy days. Then just pull them out for the days when you need the function.

 

I cut the louvered sides out of an old plasma cutter and welded them into the hood on my 50 chevy fleetline. It was pretty simple and I was really happy with the turnout

 

need louvers? is absolutely right louvering will tighten up the panel to a certain degree but not more!

I turned lots of panels back over the years as too rough as well.

If you straightend it up with a shrinking disk you were the one that stopped working it when you thought it was good enough if now you think it isn't go to work again.....

Mario

 

These were done with a combo of JB Weld, Spot Welder and some Bondo.
Very simple.Tom ( Tired Old man)

 

It's pretty straight but it oil cans very easily so it would be nice if the louvers helped cure that. I'm not really wanting to use the shrinker disk anymore and I've worked it out with the slapper so since I wanted a louvered hood anyway I hope the louvers will also take care of the oil can issue. I guess there is one way to find out.

 

These pannels between the bed and running board was rotted out so i welded in some louvers from a old school locker

 

i tried to weld in some strips of louvers in my deck lid and it turned into a big mess!!! i had to get a different deck lid and have it louvered. if your putting in more than one row it gets real tricky especially if there's any curves to it.

 

I sold pre punched louvered panels through Eastwood a while back. I had a few different styles that would work on hoods and trunks. I left a 2" edge for welding and finish work. I had 3 row panels ready to weld in. Doing single rows side by side would not be fun. I only recomended them for use on unrepairable parts because it does require a lot of work and talant to make them work right. I punched them on a computerized punch so i could make them fast and fairly cheap on flat panels. I have some left but use them for my own projects. I thought it was a good idea but was wrong. Shipping and middle man mark up and needing the talent to make them work killed me. Good luck, Ray

 

LOL, I sold some on eBay, panels with 10 louvers, with the cost of metal and the time involved, it just wasn't worth it...