Good in the Hood part 1

The hood on my Ford was pretty shabby, rusted out and broken near the hinges. The hoods on the 1949 model often bind and break after years of use.  My poor old hood was not an exception. The damage from rust and from use had left my hood in a pretty sad state.

These pictures show the rust in the front edge of the hood after I sand blasted the old paint away. Swiss Cheese!

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I cut out the worst of the rusted steel and made a patch to fit. There were also two small holes that had been drilled in to fit an emblem that looked like nostrils to me.They had to go, so I welded some little plugs in. I filled in everything but the Ford letter holes.  The holes that bolt the hood to the hinges were all torn out so I tried to weld them up as straight as possible.

No more nostrils

Vicegrips keep everything aligned before welding

I am not an expert welder by any means. This was a long and sometimes frustrating process for me. It  is a really good feeling tho when you get it right. and you can get the steel to do what you want it to.

There were stress cracks and fissures all over the hood that needed to be ground down and welded closed.  No part of the hood was more evidently damaged than the support brace that goes across the back of the hood near the cowl under the windshield. 

Brazed side

Hood and Brace separated

busted side

Both ends of the brace had broken. One of them broke long ago and was brazed back together in place. This means that it was also brazed to the hood and had to be surgically removed with a cut-off wheel. The brazing resembled chewing gum and they added a fender washer for strength. 

By brazing the end of the brace back on in place the previous owner had stuck it back together with a bit of a twist in it. I had to cut it apart to put the end back on nice and square. During this process I learned that you can not weld onto metal which has been brazed, it must be re-brazed.

The other, non-brazed, side was completely busted off. It was easier to deal with because I was able to just clean it up and weld it back.

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