Customs Decking Hood question

I really like the look of a decked smooth hood. Not wanting to warp the hood or my 51 Chevy, I was thinking of filling in the center seam with JB Weld and then doing body work over it prior to paint. I know, get someone who knows what they're doing to weld it. But I'm out in the country and need to get this going. Do you see any major problems with the JB?

 

Probably crack like Bondo after a while.

Sent from my Moto G Play using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

We always called doing the hood "nose" and doing the trunk "decked". But I also think it might crack if you ever slam the hood too hard. Fibergl*** mat might adhere better. Or you could learn leading. Eastwood has a starter lead kit.

 

remove the joint and fab a strip to take its place
**** weld both sides
hammer and dolly
run a shrink disc over it

this was thinking about a truck hood with the wide step for the trim
the cars can have the lip ground then **** welded together
some filler pieces will still have to be made
a nice time to hammer a peak into it

 

Lead.

 

hoods like to vibrate
this will cause fillers to crack

 

I'm with Don, I've always referred to a smoothed off hood as being "nosed" and the trunk would be "decked", "nosed and decked" sounds right to me.

If you look at products like Lord Fusor which is body panel adhesive, they're not made to be used in the center of a panel, only on outside seams or they will leave a shadow after a while.

On my girlfriend's '51 Chevy we got an extra chunk of a hood center strip and welded it in the gap left by removing the original hood ornament, that cleaned up that area nicely I thought and no risk of warpage if you're worried about your welding skills.

Removing the front emblem brought up another issue, there's little recessed dimples there with a rivet in each one that hold up part of the hood latch bracing. To weld the brace directly to the hood would probably make a stress point there, so we welded the rivet to the hood on the front side and filled in the divots, we used kitty hair first, kinda thick for a filled in spot but it kept the hood latch stuff intact, seems to have held up fine.

 

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/welding-a-two-piece-hood.628169/

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/welding-a-two-piece-hood.628169/

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/turning-a-chevrolet-hood-into-a-one-piece-hood.1084946/

this last one looks awesome

 

this is the only way to do it right

 

Filling the seam will certainly crack.
A better solution is to remove the center bead, and replace it with a stainless steel "Bullnose" strip.
These are still available from a number of sources, including the National Chevy ***ociation.
https://www.nationalchevy***oc.com/bull_nose_hood_strip
Then simply fill the holes left by emblem removal.

 

What 'Mo says is right. Bullnosed hoods have been the ticket since those cars were new.

 

Thanks Guys. I knew what was right but was hoping I could go the easier route. Nothing good comes from shortcuts! Thanks for getting me back on track

 

Any shortcut you take on a hood means you get to do it the right way later. I had the center strip on my hood chromed years ago and run the emblem in front on my truck because that is too much blank space of it is all smoothed off but next time around it may just get the bull nose strip. Car or truck the hoods flex and move around open or closed and going down the road.

 

When I was 18, I used fibergl*** cloth and resin to fill the seam on the hood
of my 53 Chevy and finished it off with Bondo so it blended nice and smooth.
Turned out great and never cracked. It was actually easier than welding and doing hammer and dolly work.
Plus, not many kids had torches in 1961?