Hood Repair.

[tkoforpresident]

Well i just got my ram air hood in the mail :banana:

and as i expected it is damaged, and at one point pretty severely.

the two rear corners near the cowl look like they had been chipped during installation so now the white fiberglass material is prelevant in the corners.

also the nose, right in the middle appears to be cracked, to the point where you can't help but notice it. some of the fiberglass is poking through the crack and this is definitely the worst part of the hood, way worse than the corners.

besides that, there is some slight damage underneath the hood, but nothing severe. and the hood looks great otherewise! :tup:


now, i don't have much experience with body work, although i have done some surface rust repairs on my quarter panels.

I was wondering if i could simply use body compound to fill in the crack and smooth out the corners, sand it, fill it, sand it, sand it some more, and then finally paint it.

now it is fiberglass so i'm not sure if this is the correct way to go about this. i know gr8tschlotzky knows alot about body repair and so do some more of you.

help me restore this hood to it's rightful place atop my firebird!!

i will have pics up later tonight i promise, as i know it will help.



btw, anyone know where i can get the grill inserts for the hood scoops. it's already functional but one of the black grills is missing, looks like theres a few tabs that hold it in place.

thanks

i appreciate the help.

max

[stevethepirate]

Re: Hood Repair.

Muffinbuster has some inserts on ebay. Good quality, but expensive. He just does the Stainless ones.
Go to a pontiac dealership for the stock black ones.

[tkoforpresident]

Re: Hood Repair.

Muffinbuster has some inserts on ebay. Good quality, but expensive. He just does the Stainless ones.
Go to a pontiac dealership for the stock black ones.

thanks steve.

doesn't look like muffinbuster is selling them anymore...


found some stock ones..

40$ aint bad for two i guess. http://www.hawksthirdgenparts.com/in...OD&ProdID=1809

[Archer]

Re: Hood Repair.

use fiberglass filler to repair the cracks and breaks. you might be able to fix the damaged areas with the resin itself. post some pics of the damage and I can kinda tell ya what ya need to do.

Archer

[tkoforpresident]

Re: Hood Repair.

use fiberglass filler to repair the cracks and breaks. you might be able to fix the damaged areas with the resin itself. post some pics of the damage and I can kinda tell ya what ya need to do.

Archer

aight, sounds good.

pics will be up as soon as my lazy friend gets off his *** and brings over the dig. camera. :rolleyes:

[Tom Rs]

Re: Hood Repair.

you gotta use something tough. dont forget the hood gets slammed all the time. u dont want it to crack

[tkoforpresident]

Re: Hood Repair.

you gotta use something tough. dont forget the hood gets slammed all the time. u dont want it to crack

ok, can you suggest something "tough" ?

i have no experience with fiberglass.

btw, pics will be up tomorrow, my friend never came but i will have pics tomorrow, prlly in the evening, i'll get some good ones so you can give the best advice on how to go about fixing this.

[Archer]

Re: Hood Repair.

fiber glass and resin is tough enough. all your going to be doing is replacing the existing glass with new. Once I see the pics I'll be able to help you out a little more. Glassing isnt all that hard, just takes time. the finish work is what pisses people... lol
Archer

[tkoforpresident]

Re: Hood Repair.

fiber glass and resin is tough enough. all your going to be doing is replacing the existing glass with new. Once I see the pics I'll be able to help you out a little more. Glassing isnt all that hard, just takes time. the finish work is what pisses people... lol
Archer

whats finish work?

[Archer]

Re: Hood Repair.

Composits are very hard, and very hard to do finish work with. So you would have to use a fine body filler or known as a finish filler to smooth out your lines so you can paint it without anyone knowing there were any damaged areas. the finish work is sanding, thining the lines and making them dissapear, prepping for paint.. FINISH.. lol

Archer

[tkoforpresident]

Re: Hood Repair.

Composits are very hard, and very hard to do finish work with. So you would have to use a fine body filler or known as a finish filler to smooth out your lines so you can paint it without anyone knowing there were any damaged areas. the finish work is sanding, thining the lines and making them dissapear, prepping for paint.. FINISH.. lol

Archer

like i said before, i really don't mind a flawed hood as long as its not a huge crack or chips missing like there is now.

i just bought some fiberglass body filler and some putty knives.

i'm gonna have my daddy help out :)

we're gonna reinforce the back of the crack and then do the front. we might use some fiberglass mesh, we might not.

apparently he knows how to do this stuff so i might post a how to or something with pics.

at least a before and after.

we're supposed to start work tonight and do more tomorrow and then hopefully paint it and be done by the end of the week.

max

[tkoforpresident]

Re: Hood Repair.

started the repairs today. :banana:

we sanded and cut out all along the damaged portion of the nose (about 4 inches long)
we riveted two small strips of sheet metal to the underside of the nose where it is cracked to reinforce it in the future.

then we took some bondo glass, which is a fiberglass putty and filled the crack on both sides, being very generous, especially on the bottom side since it is not visible.

tomorrow we're gonna start the sanding, which may take a few days to get it perfect, and then we'll prime and paint.

shooting for early next week to have the hood on, i'll post updates as they come.

just for reference, here is the ebay link with some pics on the bottom of the damage on the hood.

it doesn't look that bad (especially the nose) but these pics are from far away and the nose was in fact worse than expected.http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...ayphotohosting

for 250$ i'm thinkin i got a steal cuz we should have this hood done in about a week and with only about 25$ in repair materials.

[steddy]

Re: Hood Repair.

I saw the first post on just a body filler and didn't think that the two materials would interact well (one being flexible and the other being rather stiff). With it done and the repair fixed, it will, in fact, be a steal. I managed to get mine from a supplier in Cincinatti and I think after shipment, it was around $370 or something, but still, your should be at the end, roughly $335, so you beat out the best price I could find. Let me know if the front fits well with the nose, if not, I can probably get a pic or two of the cutting I did to bring mine forward. Sounds worse than it really is. A dremel tool and about 1/2 hour and you're golden.

[tkoforpresident]

Re: Hood Repair.

I saw the first post on just a body filler and didn't think that the two materials would interact well (one being flexible and the other being rather stiff). With it done and the repair fixed, it will, in fact, be a steal. I managed to get mine from a supplier in Cincinatti and I think after shipment, it was around $370 or something, but still, your should be at the end, roughly $335, so you beat out the best price I could find. Let me know if the front fits well with the nose, if not, I can probably get a pic or two of the cutting I did to bring mine forward. Sounds worse than it really is. A dremel tool and about 1/2 hour and you're golden.

thanks man i really appreciate the advice.

it would appear, as you know, that the hood must not have fit correctly on a current firebird, hence the chips in the corners etc. i may need some ingenuity adjusting the hood to fit, but that is of course for a later date.

there are also a # of ways to adjust the hood such as the latch and the mounting points etc.

do you want to post some pics up anyhow so i can see what your talking about?

thanks

max

[tkoforpresident]

Re: Hood Repair.

update:

sanded down the fiberglass bondo and then added a bit of regular bondo to finish it off.

i'll sand it down more tonight and get it ready to be primed/painted.