Gentlemen,
Im clueless, I have a spare stock hood for the camaro, I wouldnt dream of cutting up the cowl hood. The spare flat hood is painted(laquer), how do you cut it and retain the paint. Are there templates for this kind of stuff? What is the prefered tool? And is there some type of material to finish off the cut edges? As you can see I have no idea. I thought about a body shop but around here no one wants to do small jobs, especially if it involves shooting laquer. Appreciate any advise or suggestions.

Lacquer paint gets hard and chips very easily so cutting the hood without chipping the paint is going to be tough.
Measure the outline of the blower using strings tapped to the fenders on the sides and header panel and cowl screen on the front and back with the hood off. Mark the places where the tape was put on and transfer it to the flat hood after you put it back on.
Lay 2" masking tape over the part of the hood that has to be cut.
Hint: It's easier to cut the hood braces first and then the top sheet metal. You will have to take side to side and front to back measurments from the top of the hood and transfer them to the underneath. If bonding material is in the way of where the cut must be made, enlarge the hole on the braces so they can be cut without touching the top skin.
Note: If you use reciprocating equipment to cut the hole in the top, it will heat it up and burn the paint.
If you would like, email me and I will try to walk you through your project.

I did a similar project, the only thing I would add is I used a die grinder with a cut off tool. I maybe a little longer cutting time, but I was able to produce a more controled cut and was able to cut radii into the corners of the cuts.

The masking tape suggestion is dead on! I used that method and he is right!

I've done it in the past, I used a air nibbler with very little chipping.
Austin

You have gotten the answers on cutting the hole (I would use a combo of all of them, cutting the structure with the die grinder and the skin with the nibbler and die grinder) But I have a trick for the paint chipping. First off, you may want to put the tape down to protect the paint,BUT BE CAREFUL the tape will then be stuck to paint that is possibly loosing adheasion and will pull the paint off!

Use good tape and rub the tape between your fingers to lesson the stickiness.

After you cut the hole, you may want to buy a roll of cheapie chrome door edge guard to run around the opening to hide the edge. I did this on a hole I cut in a Nova hood one time and it looked pretty good, just let it sit in the sun to soften it before you install. http://www.camaros.net/forum/smile.gif


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Fan of anything that is interesting and moves human beings.
1965 Buick Gran Sport Convertible
1965 Buick Skylark H/T
1948 Chevy PU with 401 Buick

By the way, measure the opening CAREFULLY, as you close the hood onto the blower the hole hast to "move" because the hood is moving back as you close it. Measure MANY times from the fenders and cowl, transfering this to the hood.

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Fan of anything that is interesting and moves human beings.
1965 Buick Gran Sport Convertible
1965 Buick Skylark H/T
1948 Chevy PU with 401 Buick