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Steel cowl hood dips and valleys.

1K views 7 replies 5 participants last post by  dhutton 
#1 ·
I searched and couldn't find any answers so if this has been answered before I apologies.

A week ago I took my hood off to get rid of the flat black surface rust look it has had for the 30 years I've owned it and this is not the prep work I'll do when I'm ready to paint the car.

Running your hand over the surface you can feel wavy uneven surface to the metal and seems to be where it's single layer where the under braces are not. Can kind of see it in this before pic.

Tried to get a better pic of it after sanding the surface.



This is the final results after priming and wet sanding, looks ok for now.


Now my question for when I get to the real paint job; This situation won't do with a nice shiny paint job. Need a smooth surface and that usually requires some build up of surface filler. My fear is get it all leveled out, primed and painted and the first time shut the hood or driving down the road the metal flexes and the filled in areas crack apart. So is this uneven surface normal for these hoods and how do you prep it?

Oh and as far as I can tell, this is a GM steel hood, came on the car when I bough it but is not original to the car.

Thank you.
 
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#2 ·
Since the low areas are where there isn't reinforcements, it shouldn't be too difficult to manipulate the skin back into shape. A skim coat of filler will perfect it. If applied properly, there's no danger of the filler failing. It flexes too. Although my GM ZL2 hood purchased over the counter wasn't perfect, it didn't have the broad low areas between the reinforcement like yours. Either way though, yours is very fixable.

How does it match the contour of the fenders and header panel (front clip assembled) ? It's common for the hood to have a crown to it, both ways, which needs to be addressed before paint.
 
#3 ·
I think I would be careful about "manipulating" any hood skin unless you really know what you are doing. If you prep the metal correctly and use filler it won't be very thick and your chances of it cracking are slim to none. I think you are overestimating how much that skin flexes when you shut the hood. The thing you need to be careful about when applying filler to a hood, roof, or deck lid is that if your filler is mixed too "hot" the heat from the curing process can cause the metal to sink. Then you end up chasing filler across the entire hood. If you mix it with a little less hardener it won't get nearly as hot when it cures and should help with the sinking. Also you don't want to apply a bunch of pressure when you are sanding an area like that because you can push the skin in and make it hard to get it straight.
 
#4 ·
Thanks guys! Appreciate the information on the filler. Wondering if part of the wavyness of the hood is due to it being flat black sitting out in the sun. I know it could get really hot. The car is always stored inside as long as I have owned it but previous owner lived in an apartment and it sat outside in the parking lot.

Garth the hood seems to line up well with the fenders and cowl. I believe this was a over the counter hood also, can't find a date code stamp anywhere on it and not where the normal spot is.
 
#5 ·
Make sure the NVH between the hood and structure is not compromised. If it is then reapply it. I've skimcoated entire hoods over the decades and never had an issue. Some were trashed and required hours of H&D work and shrinking. Many who don't know what they are doing end up applying too much filler because they cannot properly do metalwork.
 
#7 ·
Make sure the NVH between the hood and structure is not compromised.
Thanks Scott for the info. I think there are some spots I seen where the NVH is separated from holding the top layer to the bracing. What is NVH material? Is it Seam sealer, I have some of that.

Working and shaping metal I'll leave to someone else, I wouldn't want to make things worse.
 
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