a act of random kindness

[hotrod66]

a older guy(not that old mid 50's) came to the shop(my work) and i noticed he was out there taking pictures of my old ugly truck. so I went out there to talk to him (like any proud parent ) because it takes a special kind of person to like my old truck. we started talking and turns out he moved down here to Texas from Canada. He just hapend to have a louver press and asked if i would like my hood louvered, i told him yes but i would have to save my money to get them. He said no you don't under stand i want to louver your hood for free ,just park your truck out in front of the shop like it is and let people know who did the work on your hood.
that was one of the coolest things i have had happen to me.
so i am trying to spread the word if any one would like to have there hood louvered and you live near Fort worth Texas this is his info (he is out of town a lot)
Will Wilson phone is 724-420-1636
email is ledsled51@hotmail.com
I don't know how much he charges.







they came out strate and even.

[lakeroadster]

Awesome... nothing says cool like louvers... figuratively and literally!

[k1rodeoboater]

wow what a cool dude!!! Smart move for him too, but that's awesome!!!

[jonathan-m]

I'm not a big fan of louvres, just not my style, but I really dig the look of your truck. hope you don't plan on painting it, its damn cool as is

[hotrod66]

Originally Posted by jonathan-m

I'm not a big fan of louvres, just not my style, but I really dig the look of your truck. hope you don't plan on painting it, its damn cool as is

nope no paint planed for this one. Its my truck built out of bad parts i used the good ones off of this one to fix my other 3, just did not have the hart to cut it up for scrap. that and no one in there proper state of mind will pull out in front of me . i do drive it every day back and fourth to work.

[61_FL_Apache]

Lucky you!! Very cool!!

[oldblue1968chevy]

awesome! Lucky!

?What happens when it rains (I have a hole in my hood, not a louver)

[hotrod66]

Originally Posted by oldblue1968chevy

awesome! Lucky!

?What happens when it rains (I have a hole in my hood, not a louver)

every thing gets wet but it don't seam to bother it much except the open air filter but i cut the bottom 5 in off one of the big coffee cans drilled a hole that way i could that fits over the small air filter for the 230 six.

[markeb01]

He certainly did a beautiful job. I had louvers done on my 46 Ford and soon came to realize how many more bad louver jobs there are than good ones. The bad ones really stick out with rows that aren't straight, the louvers are not parallel (closer together or farther apart on one end of each louver), or the dies were dull and "tore" the metal instead of cutting it cleanly. Unfortunately once they're done wrong the panel is pretty much junk and cannot be corrected or repaired from a practical standpoint.

[chevyrestoguy]

It looks like he did a reverse louver, which is something I've been contemplating but was unsure of how it would look.

I like it! The guy did a very nice job, too. The style and spacing is perfect.

[lakeroadster]

Originally Posted by chevyrestoguy

It looks like he did a reverse louver, which is something I've been contemplating but was unsure of how it would look.

I like it! The guy did a very nice job, too. The style and spacing is perfect.

I think you are seeing an optical illusion. They stick up and out, std. louver. Look at the underhood shot.

[steve'62]

Nice looks good! score!

[chevyrestoguy]

I think you are seeing an optical illusion. They stick up and out, std. louver. Look at the underhood shot.

I've got louvers on my '55, punched in the standard style, and when you open the hood, you see the backside of the louver, not the windshield. Check out the shadowing of the edge of the louvers on the first picture, and the side profile across the hood in the last picture. In the last picture, the outer surface of the hood is essentially flat. If the louvers were traditional, the top edges of the louver would be visible in that shot.

[blackedoutharley]

Is there anybody in the Sacramento area that does these?

[ol_skool_chevy]

Im really not a big fan of louvers but WOW. he did a nice job on them....Nice to see theres people like that.......

[lakeroadster]

Originally Posted by chevyrestoguy

I've got louvers on my '55, punched in the standard style, and when you open the hood, you see the backside of the louver, not the windshield. Check out the shadowing of the edge of the louvers on the first picture, and the side profile across the hood in the last picture. In the last picture, the outer surface of the hood is essentially flat. If the louvers were traditional, the top edges of the louver would be visible in that shot.

Hmmm... I don't think I have ever seen louvers punched into the panel on a car/truck in the manner you are referring to. Post up a photo of your '55 if you would.

[Captainfab]

Same here......I've always seen them with the opening towards the rear when on a hood.

Originally Posted by lakeroadster

Hmmm... I don't think I have ever seen louvers punched into the panel on a car/truck in the manner you are referring to. Post up a photo of your '55 if you would.

[chevyrestoguy]

It's funny...I clicked on the link today and looked at the first picture and it was CLEAR that the louvers were the traditional style. When I looked at them yesterday, I was convinced that they were reversed (inset instead of protruding). The shadows in the first pictures were tricky, and I kept looking at them over and over and it looked weird to me. It was kind of like one of those optical illusions that has your mind convinced that it's 180 degrees out of phase. I stand corrected!!

Back to the subject about reversed louvers. My hood was punched long ago before I owned it, but the louver style is the simple single cut, not the flared, rectangular style like is shown in the first picture. I don't care for my style much, and nobody I know has the die set to reproduce them, and I have another hood that I want to get punched with the better style. I'm going to practice on a piece of scrap to see what the louver would look like reversed, where the louver is inset instead of protruding. I think it would give a more streamlined look, and be different from the normal look. It's just an experiment, and it may or may not work.

[aerotruk63]

I went to a sheetmetal course in Fl. years back. The shop explained that they drill a hole first then cut a line, then use an aluminum die to form the louver. Apparently cutting the metal is the hardest part of the traditional Die/ press operation. The cutting edge is where the die wears the most. Therefore by cutting the metal first then pressing the louver, they can make louvers without the expense of expensive machinery.

[lakeroadster]

Originally Posted by aerotruk63

I went to a sheetmetal course in Fl. years back. The shop explained that they drill a hole first then cut a line, then use an aluminum die to form the louver. Apparently cutting the metal is the hardest part of the traditional Die/ press operation. The cutting edge is where the die wears the most. Therefore by cutting the metal first then pressing the louver, they can make louvers without the expense of expensive machinery.

How did they "cut the line"? The process you describe seems like it would take forever to do a complete hood, as opposed to punch - index - punch.

[aerotruk63]

I can't remember exactly, plasma cutter comes to mind but I'm not sure. These guys were great at finding alternative ways of creating stuff. The course was with Ron Covell. He to was impressed with there ingenuity and spoke highly of them. As the owner of the shop mentioned as long as the slot has been cut you can make a die with hardwood or aluminum for a few fabrications to stretch the metal into a louver.
Ron Covell said that he bought cheap tools from places like Harbour Freight, then modified them and if successful would then invest in a higher quality tool if manufacturing
multiple pieces. He mentioned in the course that really theres very little to learn and more to think about how you can do it, with what you've got or can get. If you had a bottomless bank account then fabrication wouldn't be a problem.

[66Z71]

Dang man. I need to find someone to louver my hood before I paint it. That looks great.