About The Author
Dan Starnes
Active Member of the Maverick Comet Club Message Board.
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Step 1
As promised, pics and instructions on my repair of my hood. As you can see just an old grabber hood, black marker marks are reminders of areas that I have found very minor dings or low spots. Hood was blasted clean on both sides, then I immediately primed it with a self etching primer. Then I used a primer surfacer on top of that, and that is what you are looking at in this pic.
Tools Used
Here is a shot of the main tools I used, some tin snips I believe they are right angle. Cutoff wheel, (highly recommend) and a angle grinder.
Getting Dirty
All weak metal has been cut out. Then dress the metal up with the grinder and get it level and uniform so you can cut some sheetmetal to patch it with. Good idea to wear gloves and always wear safety glasses when doing something like this.
At this point I have cut a piece of sheet metal 16 gauge I believe. Good idea to cut it just a bit large and then even it out with the grinder. Also I have tack welded it in. Using a mig welder, I moved from one end of the patch to the other in order to keep heat to a minimum. Heat warpage can ruin all your hard work, so it is a good thing to have patience at this point. Working on something else while you do this is what I did. I was wet sanding other pieces of the car so no time was wasted.
More Dirt
Now I have cut a piece of metal and tacked it in place. Grinding of the 2 different pieces will allow me to join them via welding them together. You might want to get really professional and make a patch repair that is one single patch, and welded in at the same time. I prefer it this way.
Now i am done with this side of the hood, you can see each little patch that I welded in. Here is a tip, when doing the areas that have curves or dips, just cut small patches and start in on it. Once you start tacking it in, the metal becomes soft and you can bend it easily, you can also use a small body hammer to aid you in this. Note, you will have to grind all welds level once you are at this stage. Fun HUH?!!
Doing this one side of the hood at a time makes it easier. And by only showing one side of this saves on bandwidth!! This shows you my preferred filler on this type repair, very strong. To get to this point, I dressed all the welds and then applied the filler with a spreader, my fingers and whatever else I could get my hands on. Many different angles here. Doing a nice job of applying the filler now saves you time sanding later. Let this type of filler cure for 24 hours before sanding. You will want to sand with a 36 grit sandpaper and then work down to 80, then I stopped at 150 grit.
Finishing
Other side of hood. At this point I am actually going to smooth it out with just plain ole body filler, to fill the pinholes and such. If need be, you can use the angle grinder to shape the bondo. Be sure to apply it lightly, makes life easy. Once you feel you have all pin holes and things smooth, you can sand it with anything from 80 grit to 150 grit. Then using a GOOD primer, and I will not get into this here. But I like the high build catalyst type. Only bad thing is you need to wait 24 hours before sanding it. Ever see a show car with a bubble on the hood that looks like you could pop it with a pin? That is usually uncured primer that was topcoated and is now failing to bond and heat makes it rise. Only reason it doesnt pop off is the flex in the topcoat. But eventually it will pop.
Finished Product
Then all to do is sand your area with 400-600 grit sandpaper. and wash it. This shot shows the hood done. When I am ready to paint undersides of hoods I ALWAYS use midcoat adhesion promoter. Makes it less likely to peel, or flake off. Then I also always use a sealer. Once the sealer has flashed, usually 15- 20 minutes, you are ready for topcoat. This is actually just basecoat with no clear on it. The pic makes it look metallic, but it is plain ole 99K black from Dupont.
Well here is where we started, a grabber hood, only now it is shiny again! When working on hoods it can be hard to repair due to oil canning of the metal. So it takes a lot of patience and time. I am pretty happy with this repair but am going to redo the top side of it cause I just didnt get it straight enough for my taste. Also I drilled drain holes in the factory drain hole areas, so moisture that builds can have a way out. Time wise I probably have 30 hours in this hood from start to finish. That would calculate to about $1500.00 from a bodyshop. Plus the cost of the hood and materials brings it to about $2000.00. I been ripped off by myself!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
