Hot Rod Forum banner

sheetmetal question....

2K views 9 replies 6 participants last post by  Biz 
#1 ·
I have fabricated two hood scoops from 24 gauge sheet. they mocked up fine but i'm worried about the metal being too thin, that it will flex a lot and paint or filler problems will result. They just seem to be a little flimsy.... what to do?
 

Attachments

See less See more
1
#2 ·
I hate to rain on your parade but I do believe you have already answered youy own question. 24 ga is very, very light. Generaly 20 ga is as light as you want to go and I prefer 18.

My suggestion would be to call this good practice and make two more out of a better choice of material.

John
 
#4 ·
And the Honda door skin is made of a high carbon alloy/higher strength steel, not the plain mild steel of the old Camaro door.....that is how they get away with thin sheetmetal on modern cars....they don't expect anyone to do body work, just remove and replace dented/crashed parts instead of hammer and dolly repairing original parts.
 
#8 ·
yah, I thought they looked good until I saw the thinner ones made with the sheetmetal brake. I have some more 18 gauge sheet and I will try to use the brake and make another set without the hammer and dolly bumps. I have been researching fiberglass and agree with you about the cost. I separated the hood skin from the frame and have been cleaning the frame up and priming it. I have to weld in two support rods along each side in the channels between skin and frame so that I can fab and mount tilt hinges to the front of the hood. While I have them apart i'll build the under cowl portion of the ram air set up. I'll use some panel bond to stick the upper edge of those mods to the underside of the skin when I put it back on. Cleaner and stronger that way. A lot of people are going to see the underside of that hood so I want to spend some time making it look great. What i'm going for is the same look that Chip Foose has on the hood of the Imposter Impala, see the two pics.
 

Attachments

#10 ·
I think your right here. I will do some more dolly work and smooth out those two heavy scoops and cut them down to size to follow the hood curvatures. Keep in mind that both have the air dams underneath that force the air flow around to the center and under the cowl so support there and also I will make two screens to place inside the scoop fronts so more support. They get welded along the inside walls to the cowl edges as they bisect the scoops front to back on a rising angle too. Great points Dave and thanks for helping me to thrash this out mentally and visually before I make a final welded up hood.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top