Welding a 47-53 hood making it one piece

[Ricos54]

Trying to decide if I should try to weld my hood to make it one piece or pay someone else to do it. Has anyone done this and do they have any picture of the process?
Second do you also weld the slots for the strip that go's down the middle and is there any welding underneath on the bottom side.

Thanks

[Donaldo]

The PO before me tried to weld the '51 hood down the middle - well I guess he did, but he also distorted the hood so badly, highs and hollows down both sides. I gave it to a guy building a rat rod. If you can weld and control the heat/expansion, or have an extra hood......try it.

[alaska gasser]

I removed the center strip on my '52 panel and then welded the center joint. As mentioned, if you control the heat you won't have any problem. I didn't do anything underneath and never had a problem with it.

[mr48chev]

You need some serious welding skills and a ton of patience or you end up with a scrap hood. That's probably the number one way AD truck hoods get destroyed outside of orca betties planting their hind ends on them. Over the past 35 years I've looked at a lot of trucks or hoods that guys tried to weld the seam on and failed. Usually they got in too big a hurry and warped the daylights out of them.

[Ricos54]

Will it be ok to weld it with my Hobart 120 with .035 wire? Or do I need a 220 welder?

Thanks

[oldman3]

Rico, as everyone has said, you must take your time and not get in a hurry. Move from one area to another to keep heat to a minimum. If you have to take a ten minute break between weld times. I did mine and I've had no problems. I left the hood on the truck to help keep it in shape. I used .023 wire, I don't like the .035 except for frame work, here's a pic of mine...Jim

[Iceburgh]

Not just the welding...but many of the hoods are warped when the grinding starts.
If you are not sure buy one that is already done....

[Ricos54]

Originally Posted by oldman3

Rico, as everyone has said, you must take your time and not get in a hurry. Move from one area to another to keep heat to a minimum. If you have to take a ten minute break between weld times. I did mine and I've had no problems. I left the hood on the truck to help keep it in shape. I used .023 wire, I don't like the .035 except for frame work, here's a pic of mine...Jim

Thanks Jim, I do have .025 wire I can weld with. I figure I will take my time and give it 2 or 3 days of slow welding to make sure of no over heating it. Then the grinding will have to take another day or more. I do know from other experiences grinding can heat things up.

[Ricos54]

Well it took 12 hrs to weld and then grind my hood but she is done. I ended up welding 4 to 5 places every 10 to 15 minutes and that did the trick

[oldman3]

Looks good...Jim

[lv2tri2]

Thanks for your experience and pictures. I want to do the same and have always thought I could, still had a little fear. Patience is a virtue.

[Ricos54]

So here's a update with my hood. Letting you know welding a hood and not warping is not impossible. Thanks to a few guy's giving the confidence I needed one of them being Jim. Thank you for all your help so far on my build.
So my hood is welded, next I grinded it down smooth (make to take your with grinding you can warp the with grinding just as fast as welding it) I made several passes grinding not staying in one spot. Probably took me over an hour, then the first thing to do is apply some kitty hair some people call it Duraglass it's a fine fiberglass strand that will fill in the little gaps. If there are pin holes where moister may get in the kitty hair will protect because it's waterproof.
You only need to put one thick coat on and press it in to make sure it gets in everywhere. I also welded on the side of the hood where the emblems went and then grinded it smooth then ran a ruler over every part I welded it to make it was flush with the rest of the hood.



Then I block it with 40 grit and then I sanded with 80 to make sure it feather's when I apply the body filler. you don't have to go over with 80, but I like too. This weekend I will apply the first skim coat of body filler.

[oldman3]

Rico, hood looks great, nice job, keep us posted on rest of the build...Jim

[Ricos54]

After many hours of sand, priming and adding body filler here is the finished product.

[lv2tri2]

Looks perfect, I will watch your progress.

[Iceburgh]

Looks great

[oldman3]

Rico, nice work, hood looks great...Jim

[Gippetto]

I hope I can reopen this old thread.
I plan to weld my 47 GMC hood and need to know how much weld to put in the seam. The hood flanges have a pretty large radius. How much of the valley has to be filled?

[vintovka]

Would like to see how it fits after install.

[hogfarm]

it just takes time