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I was feeling real good about my accomplishments since I had gotten the frame complete ( except for the frt. disc conversion) cab, doors and hood blasted and somewhat primed for protection then I started working on the cab corners. Got a little frustrated that the replacements were not fitting to my liking so before I threw a big hammer at them , I decided to work on the hood. I had to weld up the hinge braces on each side that had broke loose from the hood edge. I Patted myself on the back for a job well done then went inside to get a cold drink. When I came back out the wind had picked up and knocked over the hood and it landed on the top front edge.
I'm at a loss as to which way to address this and any guidance would be greatly appreciated. I have some Body hammers and dollies and even a stud welder but to be honest VERY LITTLE experience in this repair. As you can see from the pictures it caused a double wrinkle in the front crown of the hood and on the top center. I'm working this alone an any step by step by the experts on this forum would be greatly appreciated
My hood suffered similar damage while it (along with the rest of my truck) was at a shop for priming after water blasting. The owner didn't say anything about the damage--almost like maybe I'd just pick it up and not notice. I did of course notice, and the shop did fix the damage at no charge. It looks great now. Where the damage was, is the best looking part of my hood. I should have had them do my whole hood.
Sorry I can't give you any tips on "HOW" the work was done, just encouragement that it CAN be done.
If you are set using the original hood I understand but I would recommend looking for another hood that is in somewhat better shape. I have hard time finding the time to work on my project so it is becoming easier to find parts that are in better shape then mine. Im in So Cali so original parts are somewhat easy to find. IMHO.
Whoa, what a major bummer!!
I'm a complete novice at bodywork. Most of the time I'm completely broke but I occasionally have some time. What I would do is to start searching for another hood and then start tackling the damage. The way I approach that kind of stuff is try and work out from what direction the damage occurred and then try and reverse it.
I then try and figure out how to pull and/or push the metal to get it to move back where it should.
Hi Smitty, unfortunately I was forced to do the same repair on my 50 hood, With the help of the some gifted FTErs I managed to do a repair that I m quite satisfied with. There is a legnthly thread which Ill post here https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-the-body.html that should give you a fairly decent Idea of my step by step repair. I also have a small album #29, in my albums that have some pics and comments. Basically by following the lead of others I worked around the dent in reverses from how it got there(in my case I ran into my work bench) then used hammer and dollies and anything else that may fit the shape of the metal I was attempting to move, or smooth the metal outward, then used heat , to shrink the high spots, rechecked and did again, the closer it to normal, I switched to guide coat to slowly improve the high and low spots. Finally I used very thin coats of filler followed by glaze. I just went slow and moved the metal very slowly and tried not to over do it. I'm an amature and this was my first time at a curve like this, so use what sounds like it may help you, forget what dosnt and ask questions, there is no question to small to ask, the pros on here are very helpful, and the only reason I was successful on my hood. Best of luck Smitty, I would start by reading the entire thread that helped me, then go slow, and ask questions. Oh and I learned that quenching heated metal will make it brittle, so let it cool naturally.
Wow! Sorry to see that. I'm not very experienced in body work either, but I've worked on a few of my own vehicles and Anything around a crease like that is going to be tricky. I wish you the best, wish I could help!
I want to thank everybody for the replies. I'm not in a monetary position to purchase a New at $800 plus shipping and from the used ones I've seen posted, they seem to have their own issues also so I'm going to buckle down and see if I can tackle this myself. At least I can't make it any worse than what's present ( I HOPE ). I'm sure with Jim's and Charlies description of Jim's repair to his hood, I can go slow and accomplish the results I need. I assume since this fell on the top surface that I should start with the lower creases and work up?
Thanks again everyone , I'll try to keep the progress posted.
A buddy had the exact same thing happen to him...wind caught the hood and threw it against a retaining wall in his back yard. He was convinced that it was not repairable but I tried to console him and let him know that it wasn't near as bad as it looked. He didn't believe me until about an hour later when the hood peak was once again straight. The beauty of a dent like this is that the hood has two curves that give it lots of strength...the peak and the roll. I set the hood up on a workstand just the way it would sit when mounted on the truck. Using a wood block that I sanded to match the contour of the hood peak, placed it under the hood in the peak and then I worked the high areas down from the topside and let the metal find its way back to it's original shape. Once the contour of the hood is fairly well restored then you can move on to the finer high/low work. Give it a try, I think that you will be very satisfied with the results. A slap hammer works better than a body hammer so if you have one now is the time to put it to use. Good luck...
That's how I would go about it. Gotta start on the ridge and get that straight. The contoured wooden block is actually a good idea. Once the ridge is straight or really close, then start on the larger curve. Slow and steady and lots of stopping to check that you don't push it out too far.
A buddy had the exact same thing happen to him...wind caught the hood and threw it against a retaining wall in his back yard. He was convinced that it was not repairable but I tried to console him and let him know that it wasn't near as bad as it looked. He didn't believe me until about an hour later when the hood peak was once again straight. The beauty of a dent like this is that the hood has two curves that give it lots of strength...the peak and the roll. I set the hood up on a workstand just the way it would sit when mounted on the truck. Using a wood block that I sanded to match the contour of the hood peak, placed it under the hood in the peak and then I worked the high areas down from the topside and let the metal find its way back to it's original shape. Once the contour of the hood is fairly well restored then you can move on to the finer high/low work. Give it a try, I think that you will be very satisfied with the results. A slap hammer works better than a body hammer so if you have one now is the time to put it to use. Good luck...
We got to work on the front of the hood yesterday and feel we're at least making a little progress. Still a few high spots we're not satisfied with but we're not looking at the wrinkles anymore
