thinking about making an aluminum hood for my roadster.what gauge/type aluminum should i use?any pics of homemade hoods would be great. i'm still on the fence but i could use a little more room for my flathead mech. fan.
Made mine at home 30 yrs ago. Nothing fancy. I think it was 16 guage or so. Made a pattern out of poster board first making it 1/8 larger than i needed for final filling on the gaps. Folded it over a oxygen bottle to get the round. Aircraft cam locks to pin it to the body and rad shell. Option side panels latched with lunch box style latches to keep it snug.
I have used aluminum grade 3003-H14 on my track roadster. I started out with the belly pans and hood sides .0625" thich (16ga). I found it hard to bend for the hood so I bought a half sheet of the same material but .050" thick (18ga) which proved easier to form. I ordered mine through a local sheet metal fab shop. Charlie
Made the one on my Track T with help from a friend. Bolted a piece of angle iron to the side of a piece of heavy wall plastic water pipe that had the right radius for the curve. This was spaced with washers so the aluminum would slip between pipe and angle iron. That worked good for the curved part. Did the 90 degree bends where the top and sides meet with a borrowed brake. Got the material from Frank Parks, who builds dragsters. Pics in my albums.
hood top and side panels are both aluminum. Side panels have been flanged and locator pins installed to align hood which is held on by oval head screws (4). Side panels are removable from the inside (4 bolts through body-mounted brackets). dj
Here's a photo from Burnout Media of TMoney's roadster with a full aluminum hood, that was built by another member of Thee Inland Emperors. PM him I'm sure he could give you all the details.
The Jalopy Journal
