Here's my hood that I just finished using only a cutoff wheel, sawzall, grinder and mig welder. I don't have any fancy sheet metal working tools other than an oxygen bottle for rolling. I had been thinking about a hood for some time now but didn't want to tackle forming one from a flat piece. I have a '46 pickup also and a bunch of spare parts including an extra hood. After staring at the '46 hood for quite a while, I could see some possibilities in the old hood. My '33 p.u. cab is set back 3", and channeled 3". The grille shell and radiator are moved forward enough to lower them to line up with the cowl. In all, there is almost 5" extra length for a hood. First I made a template from heavy construction paper, then cut the two sides from the hood, trimming along the bottom of the belt line. I used a length of 1" X1/8" flat to join the two pieces. I chose to avoid warping by just tacking rather than solid welding the center strip. Trying to think how I was going to hide the center strip, I got into the old parts box and found the original '46 center hood strip. I had to lengthen it about 1", but it is perfect and it hides the welding. I actually like the looks of the truck without the hood, but hey, I just can't leave anything alone. Maybe I'll like it better after I make my lakes headers this winter. These hoods are plentiful and cheap. I hope you guys liked this post and maybe this will give someone ideas like I had. I'm off to the louver guy now.
Nice job!! That's what this is all about, use what you got and use it well. I used a wrecked 46 hood to make a splash pan for my "32". Now it hides the rack steering and the embossed (FORD) from the side panel is centered in the splash pan. My story at shows is that Henry made these special to go on the Brewster bodied limos that stripped all the "FORD' identification. I was working in Detroit and found 10-12 of these pans in a corner and I took one. Many more details-you add them. Pete
I'm puttin' the embossed logo in the panel right below my tailgate. Hmmm! What's a good story for that one?
Oh great, now there's a '46 somewhere looking for its hood back ;~) Seriously, well done, came out beautiful.
Here's the finished hood. I smoothed the center strip after the louvers. It just looked cleaner. Spold the truck about two years ago to finance my '40.
Good eye, that turned out sweet. I am building a chopped & channeled '34 pu and have the same dilemma if I wanna run a hood....maybe Henry planned this repurposing....?
Genius. Taking note for future reference. Now I've seen '40 hoods used on the front...and the back. (boat-tail) Hmmm...fill in the middle and you've got a speedster.