Hey guys, I recentlly purchased a 50 Chevy 3100 that is a running project. I decided to go old school with the build. I want to louver the hood. Does anybody do or know a good place in the Georgia area to get this done? I have been reading archived threads , found a few leads from 2009 and I have made calls on those leads but not word yet. How knows the shops could no longer be in biz, so I thought id throw this out there in hopes someone will say they read my post and has a guy or better yet they are the guy. Thanks everybody
These guys do all mine. Up by Charlotte, well worth the drive. McNeils Body Shop. 1909 W Roosevelt Blvd, Monroe, NC 28110 (704) 238-9920 -Abone.
I need to get my 1939 Ford hood punched - live near Concord, NC - close drive. How much per louver? Thanks.
@Dasheot the link below is a post I did in a thread I posted on Louvers which includes Louversmiths from the Hamb including other threads here relating to louvers and I also encorage you to check out the thread itself as it is insanely full of...Louvers... https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/just-louvers.1028008/page-18#post-12336112
hey I will be wanting my hudsons hood louvered as well at some point. Was once told there is a risk of warpage etc as its done as the metal gets stretched. true/false?
There are many stories of work involved in prepping after louvering has been done most of it not praising the experience. I suppose some distortion is possible which raises the point that you best leave your pristine hood to an experienced Louver Smith. Even then just as most finishing of vintage bodies some filler/skimming of the surface may be just a regular part of operations.
Another vote for McNeil's Body Shop. I had some louvers punched by them and was very happy with the results.
I can't help you with louvers in Georgia but I can offer some advice. If you are paying someone else to sand and paint your new louvers it will be costly. Second, I did my own and my fingers were sore for weeks. I'm not sure I would do that again.
Had mine metal stripped before we carried it to the louver shop. The guy at the metal stripping shop was the one who suggested the louver shop. Hood has to be clean bare metal inside and out where you want the louvers punched with no pookie or dings. As far as warpage I'd say that might come from getting carried away and putting the louvers too close to the curves on the hood. I've seen one AD truck where they punched the louvers out too far to get "more" and you could see a few wowies in the hood. Mine has 120 . Have to excuse the "patina", the truck has been sitting and waiting it's turn for a full redo.
Did something a little different on my Suburban hood, not easily seen in photo but the center rows are inverted and the outer banks are conventional. The louver guy said he had never done a hood this big before, he built a cradle and used a laser also.
Alignment, sure wish I could have watched this whole process, this was his side job done at night and I got the feeling he didn't want distractions, they turned out perfect.