Well up untill yesterday I had never heard or seen this done on our trucks before. But when I sketched out my plans for the 70 2wd blazer I picked up this is one of many body mods that I will be doing.
Ok I found the mag today and all I can say is if you are not real good at metal work do not try this on a good hood! First off in the second paragraph they say "this is a very simple modification."
First, You need to remove the entire front structure were your hood brace is located. This is not a fun or real simple task if you plan on re-using both parts. Then you will need to brace the hood back up before cutting your layed out lines other wise this thing will end up all over the place. Have you ever tried to align a hood, not alot of fun but think how much fun it would be if it were to twist even an 1/8" per side 1/4" over all! Those body lines would not endd up so hot.
Second, Once the brace is removed and you have re braced the hood allowing you full access to every part of both the inside ond out side you then get to cut 294" of metal with your tool of choise. Keep in mind once you have finished cutting you want these parts to line back up (ya right).
Third, Now that it is al cut and you push the hood down you will find that the two edges are no longer ligned up very well. Reason is that as the front of the hood lowers down it pulls back at the same time making for two uneven planes. The sides will do this as well but not as bad tward the front and almost not at all at the rear. So now is when your talents at hammer and dolly work get to come out as you move both edeges tward each other so you end up with a nice smooth but joint to weld. Once the front and side are lined up right you still will need to deal with the radiused angled corner that will need slicing in atleast two sections to work out corectly.
Fourth, Start welding in small spots far away from each other. As you do this you will need to hammer the welds to get them to sretch back out since they will shrink from the weld. Note Mig welds do not work and move real well so make sure you get that Tig machine out of the corner and use it for this step.
Fith, Once you have finished welding the entire 147" around the hood with out warping things you are ready to slap that brace back inplace and yes this is not an option if you ever want your hood to latch and stay in shape again. Oh i almost forgot you will need to section the same 1 1/2" out of the brace before you re-install it! Verysimple
With that all being said it is not the hardest thing in the word to do just don't think it is any where as easy as the mag made it out to be. This winter I will be doing this on a spare hood that I have and I will do a full write up on how it is done start to finish.
Why do I want to do this? Easy I have a 71 SWB with great front sheet metal and a 70 2wd (first year and not real common) with crappy at best sheet metal. When I asked the wife what she wanted to do with them she chiose the 67-67 front end (I have a nice front 68 end in the attic) for the 71 SWB and she wanted to keep the 70 looking as a 70. So although it wil look like a 70 down to the 6 lug rims it will have every panel tweaked in some direction or another. Most people would not even pick up on most of the mods unless their was a bone stocker side by side to it. I like the look of the 67-68 front ends but I do not want two alike and I do not want this blazer to be a bolt on queen. That is why, you may like it or you may not but I get to say that I did it
Kevin
LFD Inc.