Paint and Body New project ,hood for 69 -70 Mustang

[horse sence]

Ok ,i have a lot of projects going at the moment ,but i have wanted this one for a while . It is a 69 -70 steel hood with a 71 73 top skin . I took some measurements and a 71 73 hood is around 8 inches longer ,2 inches wider on each side at the rear and around 3 inches wider on both sides in the front . The objective will be to remove the top skin from the 69 underbrace ,toss the top and cut the top skin from the 71 73 hood and fold the edges over the 69 70 under brace ,and also use the ram air chamber for the 71 73 in the 69 underbrace .
Got a new Dynacorn 71 73 hood and a 69 hood with a perfect under brace .now this will take a while because i will have to build some simple jigs to keep the form of the 69 hood while attaching the new top skin . Here is my starting point

 

[dennis112]

That looks like a pretty ambitious project--not that you haven't taken on such things before. I'll be following along and am anxious to see how you tweak and crimp the skin to the frame (and of course all that you do in order to get to that point.)

Good Luck!

 

[horse sence]

I peeled the top off the 69 hood today ,i used a small angle grinder to grind through the edges ,it had about 8 spot welds in the peak that i ground through and the top just fell off . The fold over only had 3 spot welds and 2 didnt hold ,the glue thet ford used had let go a long time ago .
The under brace is very straight with a rust film inside ,i blasted a small spot to see how it would clean up ,and it did with no pitting . I will finish blasting it then epoxy prime before it goes together .

 

[horse sence]

If anyone has a 71 73 with ram air ,i could use a measurement from the center mounting screw to the center of the ram air chamber so i can position the 71 top skin on the 69 underbrace

 

[horse sence]

I ground the edges of the 71 73 hood ,the two pieces didnt fall apart like the 69 hood did ,Dynacorn uses a rubber type glue ,i used a strip of 16 gauge sheet metal and sharpened one end and it cut right through the glue . The 69 under brace sets in the 71 73 top panel good every where except the front ,i will have to split the top panel about 18 inched to allow the sides to pull down then weld the seam .

 

[horse sence]

That last pic ,i cut the ram air part out of the 71 73 under brace and set it in the hood top ,i over laid the 69 underbrace and after measuring several times i cut through both under braces at the same time with my body saw . I was surprised that the sides will be just about a perfect fit ,with a little hammer and dolly work the front will be also .the back is going to take some fab work though,but with the cut away pieces from both underbraces that shouldnt be a problem . I will have to remake the ram air chamber though because the correct one will no longer work ,but i will start with the correct one and modify it that make a new one from fiberglass

 

[02 281 GT]

And here I am thinking that what I'm doing is complicated. This will be awesome when done!

 

[horse sence]

The work has only just started on this one .once it is done i will make a mold and make them out of fiberglass

 

[02 281 GT]

Just out of curiosity, how much would you probably charge for something like this if someone asked for a one-off? I imagine it's incredibly labor intensive.

 

[horse sence]

I am already in this for 600 . Labor would be off the chart . After i do this one i plan on doing the same hood for 65 65 and 67 68 ,but they will be all fiberglass

 

[horse sence]

I tack welded in the 73 air chamber in the 69 underbrace . The passenger side just simply stitch welded . The driver side will be tomorrow . The rear of the air chamber is going to take some work ,the front will not be a problem . A little hammer and dolly work on the weld joint and it should smooth out nicely

 

[horse sence]

I got a chance to work on the under brace today . Lots of cutting ,splicing and tack welds ,this metal doesnt like to make smooth tack welds. I plan on welding from the back side for less clean up . It doesnt look like it in the pics but it will take very little filler after i grind and hammer and dolly . I still have to finish in the back of the air chamber and do a little blending with sheet metal ,but i think you can see where it is going

 

[horse sence]

I got the rest of the air chamber filled in this morning ,only tacked now so there is a bunch of welding to do ,but it sure is blending in nice !

 

[horse sence]

I got the last of the air chamber pieces welded in ,i still want to fill in all the holes so i have some welding left to do . I did all my welds from the back side and ground down what i thought may hit the outer panel . The front side is only blisters from weld penetration so that should be easy to grind .

 

[dennis112]

Damn that's a lot of work! You certainly are committed to this project. Good Job!!!

 

[horse sence]

The welds are ground and the holes in the back end are filled ,still have some to fill in the front and then i can start on the top

 

[horse sence]

I started making the poplar wood forms to form the top skin in . I made a top and a bottom so the will sandwich the skin between them and hopefully prevent any warping as i fold the sides of the top skin . I made the wood forms off a flawless 69 Mach 1 hood i have been saving . I have a lot of bracing to do the the wood forms ,they cant deflect as i make the folds or the whole thing is screwed

 

[horse sence]

I made the two forms for the top panel . I laid the top panel in the forms and i can clamp them together with out denting the panel . I have to trim down the top panel so i will have 1/ 2 inch on both sides and at the rear ,the front fold over is 3 /4 inch . I dont have any thing to trim the panel that will not warp the outer edge so i have to figure out somthing here .

 

[2Blue2]

This is really neat, my mind is now awash with new possibilities.

Heck yeah!


Now shush, be quite there be genius at work.

 

[horse sence]

Oh crap !!! Its going to work ! The edges are folded down and the bracing is clamped in place