Watch Me Restore a Rusty Hood

[Stumpalama]

About 16 years ago, I did a poor job "restoring" my hood. I had the front media blasted then tried to cover the holes with fiberglass from the backside. As you might expect, it was less then ideal and not a permanent fix. The filler on the outside began to split and the rust began pushing through again. It held up for a good while, but I wanted a "perfect" hood, so I dug back in.
I started cleaning off the filler and tried to do small patches at first, but I quickly realized the rust was so bad there was no good base metal to anchor the welds to and just kept blowing though.

I made a cut through the worst spot and discovered a tremendous design flaw. The front hood support is flared up where it "sort of" meets the front of the hood skin. There was probably some sealant in there at one time, but when that goes, it leaves a perfect spot for water to collect and sit and eat away at the hood skin.
So I drilled through the spot welds to remove the front and center supports. Removing both is the best way to remove the front support, since it is held in at the center by the center hood support. There was plenty of rust under the center support as well.

Removing the front support gave me full access to the hood skin and let me get to all the rust with a wire wheel and see where there is good metal to anchor my patches.

 

[Stumpalama]

I broke out my mini bender and grabbed a piece of scrap FJ60 roof and put a 90* bend in it to mimic the flange.

My 1st repair piece involved making a bend to match the transition to the center hood. That was fun. I didn't take pics of this one, but I will for the other side, when I get to it.

Here is the finished 1st patch

I still have to cut the flange to match the factory lines but that will be done as one of the last steps.
I will have the hood soda blasted to get all the rust under the center support and any rust hiding in any pits. Then I will coat the backside of the hood with bedliner and let it seep into that stupid gap between the support and the hood skin. I am also debating building a new front support out of 1/8 steel, or some other solution.
More to come and I wIill endeavor to take more pics if people are interested.

 

[45Kevin]

Great work. Keep 'em coming.

I have done a number of patches on my truck, and man am I good at grinding.

 

[handcannon]

I'm very interested in what you are doing. My hood has been customized by crunch. I know I'm not the only one to let my forgetfulness create new designs when the hood flies up at 40 MPH. I've just got to get over my leeriness of body work and start repairing that hood. Be good experience for me as I've got several large rusty areas that also need attention.

Don

 

[hoyks]

Thanks for the post, it is giving me the confidence to attack the roof of my ute. I think it will be more patch than roof when I have finished.

 

[65swb45]

Subscribed.

Your finished product will be bionic: better than original. When you pull it off (not if) you should retitle the thread bionic hood repair to help signify it's better than stock.

Good work Mike. Are you using your new fan to cool the welds?

 

[Stumpalama]

Mark,
I can only hope it turns out better.
Yes, I got the fan! I meant to PM you to thank you and let you know it arrived safely. I just need to find/build an appropriate cord to power it...

 

[Stumpalama]

I decided to tackle the 2nd complex piece tonight...
Let me say upfront, that body work is not my forté, it is pretty intimidating and tends to take me a while to get from concept to execution; however, it is very rewarding when done right.
It took me about 45 minutes to get it to the point where I am comfortable cutting out the old portion of the hood and tacking up the bend. It was surprisingly easy to bend the metal to match the curve of the hood piece.
I cut the patch piece just below the 90* flange so as to leave a small lip. I thought this might make it tough to bend the curve, but I figured it was best to leave a little on the flange to make welding the cut back together flush.

By clamping the patch to the hood, I was able to trace the lines I wanted, including the curve and the amount of steel I need to replace the rusty sections and weld to good steel.

These show the bend and the leftover patch material after the cut and bend to match the hood curve. I learned from the 1st patch to leave the steel on the face, then mark the face along the curve and make the rough cut to match the curve.

Leaving the lip on the curved flange allowed me to clamp the piece down, let lip overhang the face and marked the face on the outside this time.

Then I took the piece to the belt sander to fine tune the fit and spacing. It took a few trips back and forth between the hood and the sander to get it just right.

 

[Stumpalama]

More pics of the flange to face fitting process.
This is a pic of the overlap that allowed me to mark the cut line.
I made all the cuts with a pneumatic mini sawzall with an 18tpi blade.

The final fit

 

[Bluegrass40]

Nice work. Keep it coming!

Subscribed (similar project is in my future).

 

[rkymtnflyfisher]

Looks pretty good so far!

 

[77HesterSue]

Nice work!

 

[Stumpalama]

More progress.
Got the 2nd patch welded up and rough fitted. I need to trim the hood cutout to fit the patch. I think I got it pretty close. I just hope it doesn't scream amateur hack job when it's done.