See the Project of the Week entry on the Kustomsledd at http://hotrodders.com/projects/002/01.html ...
I recently started back in on getting the body and paintwork done on the '54 Ford 'Kustomsledd' project. I started in on the stock hood.
I had to make up a new piece of 16 Ga sheet to repair the rotted out 'bullnose' front peak of the hood, just below where the stock Ford crest would go. To smooth it out some more, I made the filler piece tall enough to eliminate the crest mounting holes. I also filled some minor dings and ripples after metalworking out all damage I could reach.
I still plan to fill the 2 small holes at the upper front hood peak, where the stock 'jet airplane' hood ornament goes, and also fill the original windshield squirter hole at the rear center of the hood.
Very little plastic filler was used, partly because of careful use of the MIG when tacking in the patches, and partly because of metalworking out all the minor dings. Of course, with these older pieces of sheet you have to hit quite a bit harder with the hammers and dollies, simply because of the thicker metal used. I would suggest anyone wanting to learn metalshaping repair practice on a late model car, simply because thinner sheet is a lot easier to get the dents out. Once you learn to hit where you are aiming with a pick hammer, consistently, then step up to the older sheetmetal, where it needs to be hit harder just to do the necessary forming. I still practice on late model sheetmetal.
Once all the metal was sanded clean I hit it with Ospho to neutralize any rust in the metal surface, then filled and primed over that. I have decided after doing the priming that the 3 remaining stock holes need to be gone, but it'll be easy to get rid of them with the MIG.
No recent pics tonight, I'll shoot a few and get them up shortly.
I also have 2 new front 2600# airbags ordered for the front suspension, as soon as they get here I'll be blowing that all apart (haha) and highlight a front airbag install.
After that I need to pull and reseal/detail the engine/trans, and do all the firewall prep and paint. My old Caddy leaks some oil out of the valvecover gaskets, and both crank seals are also dripping a bit. I'll get pics of these operations as well.
The plan is to get it all back together enough to drive it to Indy in June for the GoodGuys show, hopefully with a fresh paint job.
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