Hey folks! I'm new to this board and I'm sure I'm asking a question that's been asked a hundred times before. My last project was a 23 T-Bucket and has very little in the way of body pieces. This has left me with very little experience in body panels. Now I'm trying to rebuild my '55 F100 to be a daily driver.

My hood has a few small cracks along the cowl edge that I could mig and grind back into shape, but I have what I think to be a bigger problem. The hood doesn't follow the shape of the cowl. Is there a trick or method used to get these hoods to take the correct shape and hold it?

I'm not using the standard hood hinges, and I'm not using the Tilt style either. I'm using hinges off a '50 Buick. The hood tilts side to side from either side, or just lifts completely off. This may have caused part of my problem.

As another option, I've considered a fiberglass hood. Do any of you have experience with glass hoods and if so, where's a good place to spend my money?

Thanks in advance for the help!

23TNT55

 

Welcome to the board. These guys have had me in the driveway at 3am working on my truck, and I thank them

I would get the right hinges, and an owners manual. I know that the hinges on a 55 are very finicky. Get the right hinges, and start from there. My 55s hood was a nightmare, but a little coaxing got her pretty close to being just right. Read the other post on hoods, and you can see what you have to look forward to.

 

TNT

I am sure you probably found the other hood thread by now. Your old stock hinge may have caused the damage, who knows for sure now. The back lip damage often occurs with binding stock hinges. You can fix it but it will need reinforced from the backside. Once they get tinny back there, they are too thin to just MIG the crack and bend it back into shape. A fiberglass hood is very unlikley to provide a bolt on instant fix. Every piece of glass I ever bought needed work.

'fenders

 

Yes, I did see the other thread and that just sent me further into question.

I don't think I want to go with the stock hinges, but would consider the forward tilt kit. The '50 Buick hinges provide a very unique opening, but it's not cool enough to deal with these problems.

I understand that reinforcement via fiberglass/wood won't work because the fiberglass will crack away from the metal because of the vibration and flexibility of the hood itsself.

Should I shape a piece of heavier steel and tack it to the underside of the hood?

Thanks for your input!
TNT

 

"Should I shape a piece of heavier steel and tack it to the underside of the hood?"

TNT

That's exactly what you should do. Play around with something heavy enough to hold the lip still, otherwise the hood will just conform it right back.

Fiberglass certainly offers some advantages. An entire front clip that never rusts. Now that's a beautiful thing to a guy from Iowa. I have just never enjoyed the grief that comes with it. When I buy something new, I would like it to be shaped correctly. Glass never is.

'fenders

 

"When I buy something new, I would like it to be shaped correctly. Glass never is."

fenders,

you certainly are getting picky in your old age... and I thought you enjoyed a challange

if it was easy...yo mama could do it...

now... where is that cutoff tool??... we can make this fit... if we just cut here... and here... and glass this back... and put a strap around this and you sit on this till it dries... now... that's all better

and EVERYone knows if it's easy.... it just ain't cool !!!

john ( do it the hard (coool) way )

 

Ok, so now that I know what was causing my hood to take an odd shape (50 Buick Hinges), I've decided to go with the ol' tilter. I sure did like the way those Buick Hinges made the truck take on a little different look, but there's plenty of room for a different look where it won't be such a problem down the road.

My question is who should I deal with in purchasing my parts? I've found two dealers for tilters, but what I have in mind is a hood that pops up in the front, then the front slides forward and down in front of the grill while the rear of the hood raises up.

Soooo, is this available? Who has it?

TNT

 

TNT,
Welcome to the board! Lots of good help and good guys here.
Regarding the tilt-hood question, I recieved good advice and good support from Mike Chesser in Georgia (www.chesserbuilt.com). They have a link to an article that was in Truckin' magazine on how to install their kit (Trick Truck Nose Job). I did not use his kit because I have modified my radiator support to use a cross flow radiator. But I have since helped a friend install one of his kits on a '53 and it turned out very nice.
Kent
56 F-100