well after searching and looking on the web on this topic and not finding a whole lot of info, i decided to just go at it and pie cut my hood, the goal is to remove a section 1 1/2 wide from the hood,

-step one, is preparation, make sure your sheet metal all ligns up, hood gaps are correct or at least pretty close, grab a marker and make a lign on your cowl and hood (center of hood) this will be used as a lign up mark later on, you can also put 2 marks on each side of the cowl and hood, remove hood suppory rods, rear hood support hoop, you need to remove the welds from the hood angle iron onto the support, this is located at the center of the hood, remove top fender mounting bolts as fenders and skirts need to be removed, when hood is all ligned up tack bottom half of hood to the cowl so it wont move, remove fenders and install a support across the hood side to side in the centerto keep the hood sides from moving in or out.

-step 2-grab a measuring tape or one of those fabric tapes and measure horizontly from the end of your hood ,(cowl end) as shown on the tape below)each side of the hood and put a mark, this will be a reference point to measure.

 

Next you measure up, fabric tape works best for this,make a mark on both sides at 4 and 8 inches, you can also measure from the center of the hood to these marks as a double check


Grab your 1 1/2 masking tape, apply tape as straight as possible with both sides measuring the same front and sides of hood

 

-step 3- This is the Scariest part, grab your grinder and cut the hood, cut along the bottom tape line only


once done remove the top section of the hood and cut off your rear re-inforcing brace or hoop
re-install the hood and lign it up to your allignment marks at the back of the hood


then lower the front section of the hood down until you cant see the masking tape on each side, front only, make sure hood is straight by measuring your hood side marks, drill a hole in the front center of the hood through both steel layers, fasten the rear of the hood each side with butt clamps and install a screw to hold both hood layers at the appropriate height in the front.
-step 4-closest side to the front of the hood is where I started, push the metal together,if you have to make relief cuts so metal can properly be ligned up, mark the excess and cut off with grinder, use butt clamps to lign up steep and start tack welding

I did both front sides first so nothing on the hood would shift, continue doing this process until both sides are done

the front is a the most difficult part, a series of relief cuts and a bit more bending is required



once your done welding/grinding, weld in your rear hood brace, remove your side tacks and your hood is done,

 

Good detailed thread! What did you do with the top metal that was dropped in side the hood, was it cut off or just left and if so what does it look like. I sure like the mods you are doing to your truck, keep us posted!

 

very cool.. thanks.. I want to do this too..

could you edit post 1 and change
"measure from the end of your hood to approx 104 inches each side of the hood and put a mark,"

to the right number..

Sam

 

also, anyone try one of those tripod mounted laser levels for the cut line taping?

sam

 

if you look at step 4, when i ligned up both metal pieces i made a mark on the top part of the hood metal, cut that metal off and then clamped it down with my butt clamps, so there`s no excess metal on the backside of the hood.

 

done!,Thought of that, Lazer level would work, just level off the truck and shoot your line, mines broken so i couldn`t use it

 

I knew you'd been up to something since you've been rather quiet lately. Looks like it turned out nice. You keep doing that kind of stuff and they're going to be calling you a darksider. Great job

Drew

 

I swear its stock, got tired of working on the darn cab so i moved to the front of the truck! next on the list is the rad cradle, and a custom hood lift on the Darkside!

 

I prefer the stock body lines myself but you are doing some nice work on your truck.

 

I also like the stock body lines but with all my other mods it almost becomes a challenge for me to make sure all the panels have been modified to some extent.I wasen`t sure if i wanted a sectioned hood or not but now its done if i look at all my other pictures to compare it enhances the body lines and seems to flow better.

 

sorry, after looking this over, this measurement has me completely baffled.

104 inches is almost 10 FEET.. the hood ain't that big, and having a mark on the bed doesn't seem to make any sense.

then you said 'measure up'.. up to me is from somewhere lower.. and the hood line is not 41 inches off the floor, and might be different for everyone, depending on tires, engine weight and suspension..


IF, what you meant to say was,

to insure the cuts are symmetric on the hood (same size pie on each side), you need to mark the very back edge of the pie cut..
to do this, mark a spot near the back, by measuring from the front of the hood, using the front center ridge as the common point, 41 inches.

sam

 

Nice job. Your hood is more difficult than mine was. Like Drewski said, be carefull you might be drawn to the DARKSIDE.

_______________________________________
46 Ford Tudor - Street Rod
48 Ford F1 - Darkside

 

I'm glad you did this. I will be putting this post in my favorites. I've been wanting to do this every since I watched the overhaulin when they re-did Chip Foose's truck...