Technical Making holes for trim in a new panel

[4 pedals]

I have a barely on-topic 64 El Camino I don't talk about much on here because it's built much more muscle car style than custom. It has a BBC 427 that has given me nothing but problems for hood clearance. I finally broke down a couple of years ago and bought a glass hood, but when I installed it I just did a quick throw on and left the trim off. It always bugged me but I was intimidated to drill the needed holes. Another point I had was most times guys seem to leave the CHEVROLET letters off above the trim. So last week while driving home one day I was thinking about it and said to myself, "I know how to work fiberglass! I can fix it if I screw it up!" Picture a Homer Simpson Doh! moment. So with that in mind, I came up with a plan. I'm not a body man in any way, so if this is wrong, or if this is the correct way to do this I don't know. If you have a better way it's too late 'cause I'm done. I did learn a few things along the way that I'll pass on as we go.

This is my subject:

[57ford/60thunderbird]

ok and? id just pick up a drill and a bit and drill holes.......

[55 dude]

Originally Posted by 57ford/60thunderbird

ok and? Id just pick up a drill and a bit and drill holes.......

x2!:d

[4 pedals]

Ok here we go again. I keep getting kicked out for some reason.

The first step was to pull out an old steel hood I had sitting on the side of my yard.

I had already removed the trim and lettering by the time I took that pic, then proceeded to clean off all the grass trimmings etc.

[liljonny]

Get a tape measure and get happy with a drill!
Not too happy or else u can't cover ur mistakes with the trim!

[4 pedals]

Next I laid out masking tape across the front. It covered not only the front trim holes but the letter holes also.

I was going to use my kid's sidewalk chalk to mark the holes, but the masking tape was too heavy for it to transfer visibly.

I ended up just using a regular #2 pencil to punch out the holes which caused me a couple of problems later.

[oldolds]

Make a template from some aluminum flashing. Index it off of the body lines and hood center.

[jcapps]

Get a six pack of beer. Get some card board, non corrugated. Make a cardboard template, lay it over the steel hood. Pick two landmarks so you can put it in the same place on the glass hood. Open a beer. Drink the beer. Mark the holes from behind. Remove the template. Punch the holes. Open another beer. Then lay the template over the glass hood in the same position, mark carefully and drill. Now finish the six pack

[4 pedals]

As you can see in the previous pic I had already marked the center and the edge of the front where it transitions from vertical to the front of the exposed sheetmetal. The transition turned out to be a critical mark.

Next I removed the tape from the hood, but my problems arose. I found that by punching a hole with the pencil the tape had then stuck to te inside of the hole, and wanted to tear out as I was removing it. I also found that since I had been using the underside to locate the holes for the letters I had missed 1/2 the holes. GM used 1 pin with a zip nut, the other was only to locate it and wasn't drilled all the way through the underside of the hood. I caught this as I was removing it and made them as I went along.

[4 pedals]

I went inside and measured for center on the glass hood, and marked it with some white-out, which came right back off. Works for some things, not so sell for this.

So on went a small piece of masking tape.

I then started laying on the tape I ws transferring from the other hood. That line I marked to transition from vertical ended up being my major reference point. The glass hood didn't have the lip at the bottom the steel one does, so that combined with center gave me enough refernece to put the tape on.

[4 pedals]

After being sure it was as good as I could get it, I started drilling. I did the letter first because I figured they would take longer and I didn't know how much ime I would have. The front trim allowed for quite a bit more slop.

[4 pedals]

Next I did the holes for the front trim.

I removed the tape, letters and trim, thinking I was finished, then looked at the underside of the hood. I discovered I needed to create openings in the underside of the letters to allow room for the zip nuts. I sarted with my 1/2" drill with a 1/2" but, but found I really needed an oval due to the shape. I ended up using my die grinder with a carbide bit.

Got it all buttoned up and here's the finished product.

I also found that when those little pins for the zip nuts even think about being tight, that's tight enough. I now have 2 broken "C"s. I ended up gluing this one on. I'll see how long it lasts.

[4 pedals]

The only other thing I learned was that it's not a good idea to be grinding on fiberglass in my garage while there is clean laundry just a few feet away. My washer/dryer is located in my garage, not my preference, but the way my house was built.

[metlmunchr]

If you used 3M trim and emblem adhesive the glued-on ones will stay on just fine. On my 69 Vette all the emblems are just glued on from the factory, with the exception of the crossed flags on the gas cap. Never have had any problem with any of them coming loose.

[Moonequipt13]

I like the tape for a template idea, although I would just use that pencil to scribble around the holes without punching through, like the old penny under the paper trick