Progress Thread A Short Shelby Type Hood For A 69 Mustang

[horse sence]

I gel coated the under brace mold this morning .

I then cut 3 sheets of 2oz mat and started laying it up .

The hood hinge area will have a 12 inch x 1 1/2 inch
x 3/16 plate that I embedded into the under brace ,It will be drilled and threaded . The original hood springs will be able to be used .

Tomorrow i will trim out the under brace and see what i have to do to shorten it to fit the short hood ,it will have to be cut in front of the hood latch because both the long and the short hood latch in the same location.
The latch plate will be pop riveted inside the under brace and the factory catch will be used .

 

[dennis112]

Wow Jim, you are a mad man. Very impressed.

 

[horse sence]

I removed the under brace from the mold and trimmed it out .

I then cut the end off where i thought it would be the easiest to bond back together after shortening it

I then removed 3 5/8 inches from the rest of the under brace .

I set the two parts into the mold for fitting ,it looks like it will join together fairly easily .It will have to be done in the mold to make sure it will fit the top so i will have to lay some plastic down so i do not get resin all over the surface of my pretty new mold .

 

[horse sence]

I set some plastic in the mold and put the two pieces back in . I clamped down the under brace so it wouldn't move on me .There were two places on each side that line up very well so i ground down into the fiberglass so i could lay in some tacking strips .

Once the two tacking strips set up i ground the two sides flush down the joint and down into the fiber glass between the tacked places and filled it in with strips of mat .

Soon as that set up i removed the under brace from the top mold and cut the v out in the front of the under brace ,this is for the hood latch to clear .I made a sheet metal filler that fit tight in the opening ,waxed the bottom of it and taped it into the V opening .

I flipped the under brace over and cut two strips of mat ,ground the two joined surfaces flush and set in the fiberglass down the joint and over the V sheet metal and wet it down .

This came out better than i expected it to .After i t set up i pulled out the sheet metal ,it acted like a mold and made the v pocket i needed ,almost no body work needed just a bit of grinding to smooth it out and fill a couple of small places and the under brace will be done and ready to bond into a brand new top.

 

[horse sence]

I finished smoothing out the under brace this morning ,it came out great ,going to make a nice looking under brace .

I made the plate for the inside of the latch area ,bent it up in the sheet metal break and spot welded in the nut plates . I primered the plate so it will not rust and bolted it in place .

I drilled through the under brace and the latch plate and pop riveted it in place with stainless rivets .The under brace is finished and ready to be bonded into a new top .i will be sanding and waxing the top mold tonight and making the top tomorrow morning

 

[dennis112]

 

[horse sence]

I took me forever to wet sand that black tooling gel goat .That is the toughest stuff i have ever sanded ,and waxing wasn't much fun either .I started with 220 and wound up with 600 ,My arm is about to fall off .I could have buffed it to a glassy shine but i found out if you use the spray in mold release a glossy smooth mold may let go before you are ready ,a 600 finish seems to work the best .As it is there is a chance the first piece in the mold may may let go any way ,it has to break in .It is ready to go for first thing in the morning ,i will take pics if i don't get to messy .

 

[Noobz347]

 

[horse sence]

Scwewy Wabit . MMMMMM wabit stew and pan cakes

 

[horse sence]

I sprayed in the liquid mold release allowing it to dry between coats .Soon as the last coat dried i sprayed in the white ISO gel coat .

Soon as the gel coat set up i laid my sheets of 2oz mat in the mold and trimmed it to fit .I removed all but one sheet of mat and started wetting it down ,just half at a time ,and rolled it out .I did the same with the other layers .The top is finished .It will stay in the mold until tomorrow when i will bond in the under brace with it all still in the mold .

 

[horse sence]

I glued up the under brace early this morning ,placed it in the top and clamped it down .
around noon i will have a hood .It will get trimmed out and the scoops will be cut out .
Then i get to make the under brace mold .

 

[horse sence]

Pulled the hood out of the mold .Ground the edges and sanded them smooth ,then drilled and threaded the mounting holes .

I cut out all five scoops .

I drilled the hood molding screw holes .The nuts would not fit because the hood is so thick at the end ,so i took my dremmel tool and cut pockets into the under bracing .The nuts will go on now ,the new under brace will have these pockets ready made .The hood peak fits perfect .

I bolted the hood on my 69 ,the hinges didn't even need adjusting .Fits pretty nice ,could use a bit of adjusting for a really good fit but i am happy with the way it is for now .

I will get a better front pic when the sun gets a little lower .I just need to make the mold for the under brace and i will have all the pieces to make this hood

 

[horse sence]

A couple of better pics . I bolted in the latch assembly and the latch bar on the bottom of the hood and the hood latches perfectly .I thought i had better try a grill also to make sure it didn't hit the bottom of the hood ,not even close Isn't it purdy ? I just have to make the under brace mold .

 

[dennis112]

You make it look so easy! Good Job!

 

[Billm]

Beautiful hood!

 

[horse sence]

I made a long hood from my first set of molds because ...well ,just because .Hey they were there and i was there ,it was something that just had to be done .
Mine is on the right ,the one i started with is on the left ,Mine is heavier I don't have a clue why the pic is distorted ,stupid camera

My short hood compared to my new long hood ,you can see the difference in length .I still have to make the under brace mold for the short hood though .I should have that made next week ,then i will make another short hood with all new top and under brace ..

 

[candphall]

So........are these going to be available for purchase.

 

[horse sence]

That is what i hope to do ,soon as i can find a shipping company that has a reasonable shipping rate ,and find boxes large enough.

 

[candphall]

They are beautiful. Unfortunately shipping is the price you pay to dance.

 

[horse sence]

I finished sanding the under brace in the short hood and primed it today .I will wet sand it then wax it and it is ready to make the mold .I have some other work to do this weekend so if i get that done fast enough i will make the under brace mold Sunday or Tuesday ,I have deliveries to do Monday.It should be ready to use by the end of next week.