I have a 48 Chevy coupe that I would like to change the hood into a one piece hood. Did a search on this site, but didn't find anything that was specifically about filling a 2 piece hood. I know I have to remove the flanges where the 2 sides are riveted together. Is it better to try and weld the sides together or cut a strip out and install a new strip down the center? Can it be tacked together, meaning not continuous weld, and then body filler used? What if I wanted it to have a small peak at the seam? I just got a second hood so I can try this without ruining my good hood. Brings up another question. The second hood was blasted and then left outside uncovered and has a nice coating of rust. Not pitted yet. What would be the best way to remove this without having it blasted again? Any help would be appreciated.
Here's a thread I did about peaking my hood. It's a Ford, but the principal is the same. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=798412 You can also tack a rod down the centre and bondo it into a peak. Use the search function, there are a few threads about doing it that way.
No reason to cut away the flanges. Just make a filler piece or use round rod and weld up the seam from above. Go very slowly and you shouldn't destroy the hood. If something buckles stop, cut out the welded area that caused the buckle, and keep going. Soak the hood in rest remover in a kiddie pool with a pump flowing the fluid over the hood and it'll derust pretty quickly.
Hard to top Big A's excellent tech post, but if you punch 'peaking hood site:jalopyjournal.com' into google you'll get a shitload of good results. I one pieced my 51 chev hood (no peak) clamped the two halves together, tacked them in a few spots, flipped it over and cut off the flanges, did some hammer and dolly work to get it all lined up and smooth then butt welded the full length reeeeaaaaaallllly slowly, with lots of hammer and dolly work in between to keep it all under control. Worth noting that these halves won't necessarily line up that well from the factory and after years of opening and closing. If you remove the chrome bullnose strip and lay a piece of welding rod or steel ruler across the joint there will often be a pretty big dip, this was one of the main reasons I did mine the way I did Probably the trickiest custom mod I've done (did a two door conversion before this but no roof chop yet) but if a novice like me can do it I'm sure you can. For the rust, any zinc phosphate type rust kill/metal prep product and some steel wool should take care of that (the kind that you brush on, leave for a bit then rinse off, they're more or less all the same stuff) Next time you get something blasted have them prime or treat it for you or do it yourself once you get it home, products like gibbs are another good easy to use option. Lots of people don't realize exposed mild steel can start flash rusting in 6-8hrs though you might not see it, and come back to haunt you later
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