The New Project: Part Deux!

[njsteve]

I brought the hood to the Tuesday evening Votech class and had some fun. I used the Bondo Fiberglass Resin Gel repair compound which is a fiberglass resin mixed with fiberglass powder in it.

I made a tracing of my good hood on the car, locating the template at the last molded alignment bumper about 5 inches from the back of the hood. This way I could align the tracing with the damaged hood in the same spot.

The repair compound works great. I ground down the leading edge of the break by an inch or so so there would be a longer mating seam for the compound. I taped some cardboard underneath to hold the goop and applied it "liberally." I also used a small piece of fiberglass mat and mushed it into the mixture for added strength.





I then did like Michelangelo did with his sculpture of David: When asked how he could sculpt something so realistic, he said &quot;I simply remove everything that isn't my subject.&quot; So I followed his guidance and I carved away everything that wasn't the hood. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/grin.gif[/img]

Here's is the preliminary view with the stencil underneath. Still have a ways to go.





After getting to this stage I then used a Dremel tool and ground grooves across the seam area and reapplied the firberglass gel. I will also do this from the top as well so it gives two sepearate layers of &quot;finger joints&quot; above and below the seam, strengthening the bond so it is not just a flat surface to surface bond, but a sandwich of several bonds overlaying each other.

[njsteve]

I can definitely say the repair is pretty strong. I enlisted one of my kids to help me move the hood out of my truck this morning. As I was getting inside the truck, facing the &quot;pointy end&quot; of the hood, when the hood shifted forward. One of newly constucted tips slashed me across the bicep, cutting right through my shirt and leaving one helluva welt across my arm. So I guess it passed the &quot;Slash Test&quot;. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif[/img]

[Xplantdad]

Looking good Steve!

[njsteve]

Since everyone's pet peeve on the 70-72 cars is the wrong style fender support structure on the 73 and up replacement fenders, I decided to convert the passenger side fender that was installed a year or so after this car was originally built. I have an original-owner engine compartment shot that shows the replacement fender in place with the brace mounts sticking out like a sore thumb.

I was able to obtain a donor inner fender support structure from a 70-72 fender thanks to another member of the Performance Years board and brought it all to the final night of the votech class yesterday.

Here is the passenger side fender marked, preliminarily cut and the two spot welds cut, where the incorrect raised brace mount is:



and this is the original driver's side fender with the correct flat area in its place:

[njsteve]

Here is the donor inner framework that was removed from a 70-72 fender. It is thick heavy gauge steel, not sheet metal.

[njsteve]

I used a cut-off wheel to carefully trim up to the upper wrap-around area of the fender sheet metal and then went underneath (after removing the inner fender), and cut the remaining portion away. I also used a spot weld cutter to detach the fender flange from the inner brace (the two holes visible in the photo).



Underside view:

[njsteve]

I then marked the same sized section from the donor frame and used the cut-off wheel to remove it. After some final trimming, grinding and sandblasting, it primed with weld-through primer and clamped into place.