Not Another Rebuild Thread....

[McMurphy]

So I wanted to change the profile of my hood.
Not radically mind you, but enough to not be stock.

The plan was to raise the center section of the hood (the contoured arrow area) a half inch, and the middle section of the hood a full inch at the body line.
I got as far as raising the center section, and have paused as it did not turn out 100% the way I wanted.
In typing this post just now, I realized how I should have done it, and may go ahead and pull the trigger on the middle section with this better plan in mind...

Here is the hood with my landmarks drawn in, getting ready to cut:


The cuts made and the fill pieces tack welded on:



And the area after all the welding was done. In this photo you can begin to see what I am not exactly pleased with, the trailing end of this mod seems to slope up like an Evel Knievel ramp:


This shows the slope better:


I could learn to live with it since it is symmetrical and slopes evenly across, but I was wanting more of a straight line wedge look than the slope. I know now I should have used some half inch angle and welded it in from the inside of the hood, and filled the outside as needed....

Which is why I may yet pull the trigger on raising the middle section of my hood, using the angle iron idea. (and yes, the angle iron laying on the hood in the first picture is what gave me the idea of how this should have gone...in case you figured that out too. LoL )

One of the reasons I want to raise the middle section of the hood, is to be able to mount 350 emblems on it....

[TJ's Chevy]

Good work!

[duallyjams]

What's the fun in just doing it once.

[Ta2Don]

Diggin' the Evel Knievel ramp...

[Low Elco]

wonder if you can buy a standalone cowl hood scoop in metal for the sides, then graft your skin with the distinctive center peak to it?

[Jeff La]

Another great Murphing, subtle yet different, you really have to look for it. I like

[International Texan]

Great work man. Always doing something just a little different, you have a great eye.

[chad64chevy]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

wonder if you can buy a standalone cowl hood scoop in metal for the sides, then graft your skin with the distinctive center peak to it?

this is what I'm going to be doing this summer, I also got a new lmc book the other day and there a a section called share your truck journey, they have a website page to: it's called lmctrucklife.com, they guys truck says they used a center section from a 68 Camaro cowl hood, his hood and section from two other hoods! looks great, I just got to buy the cowl hood and get after it, lol!!

[Modges'66]

Murph!
You are truly a glutton for punishment!
To mess with the biggest panel on the truck is really aggressive.
I admire your determination, but dude, you're kinda insane!!!

[flips72]

where do you come up with all these ideas?, must be the pizza cant wait to see the hood, stay warm.

[Bomp]

All I can say is that this modification of yours has influenced me to go ahead with something that was tucked away in the back of my head.
Very Motivational.

[McMurphy]

Originally Posted by T.J. MCCAULEY

Good work!

Thanks TJ, obviously the days of hauling wood are behind my truck, unlike your worker! I appreciate your taking a look though

Originally Posted by duallyjams

What's the fun in just doing it once.

There is some hidden truth to that, I am usually much more satisfied with the 2nd or even 3rd attempts. This may yet turn into one of those times...

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

Diggin' the Evel Knievel ramp...

I am still not 100% sold on it... though I think I am going to go ahead and to the middle section next.

Originally Posted by Low Elco

wonder if you can buy a standalone cowl hood scoop in metal for the sides, then graft your skin with the distinctive center peak to it?

I think I have seen what you are talking about done already, though I did not care for it myself; which would explain why I did not save any photos of it.
(I have a huge collection of stolen photos in a folder of stuff I liked on one level or another)

Originally Posted by Jeff La

Another great Murphing, subtle yet different, you really have to look for it. I like

I like how Bomp puts it, the type of mod that you really have to know what you are looking at to realize what was done to it....

Originally Posted by International Texan

Great work man. Always doing something just a little different, you have a great eye.

Thank you sir, that same thing has been said about my photography, and some of my art.

Originally Posted by chad64chevy

this is what I'm going to be doing this summer, I also got a new lmc book the other day and there a a section called share your truck journey, they have a website page to: it's called lmctrucklife.com, they guys truck says they used a center section from a 68 Camaro cowl hood, his hood and section from two other hoods! looks great, I just got to buy the cowl hood and get after it, lol!!

Cannot wait to see how you pull it off buddy!!
I bet you are going to rock it

Originally Posted by Modges'66

Murph!
You are truly a glutton for punishment!
To mess with the biggest panel on the truck is really aggressive.
I admire your determination, but dude, you're kinda insane!!!

Kinda... LoL
I have found that enough determination can get you through just about any situation.
Even if you dont come out of it smelling like a rose.

Originally Posted by flips72

where do you come up with all these ideas?, must be the pizza cant wait to see the hood, stay warm.

Hmmmmm pizza !!
I dunno where the ideas come from man, just the way my eye looks at stuff and the creative side of my brain that says, "Man, I could do something with that!"

Originally Posted by Bomp

All I can say is that this modification of yours has influenced me to go ahead with something that was tucked away in the back of my head.
Very Motivational.

Just do it better than I did bud.... lets see what you got up your sleeve !!

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by McMurphy

Hey guys,
We are nearing the completion of all my "Face" mods so you are going to see how all this came together.
Back in post #1306 I mentioned how I had set up the grill with its ability to have its attitude adjusted as needed on both ends. It is the expectation, with it being soild mounted at center, to be able to adjust height and twist to match the headlight doors on either end. I used nylon expansion nuts, body trim screws, and vacuum hose to supply back pressure for the grill that would be adjustable. Here are the photos of its final test mounting, being controled from the headlight switch:
Attachment 1192261
Attachment 1192256

Here you can see the fog lights mounted behind the screens below the headlights. They still have masking tape across them in this photo, but you get the idea:
Attachment 1192258

I did end up intalling the full sets of strip LEDs behind the cutout letters.
With camera flash:
Attachment 1192259

Without camera flash:
Attachment 1192260

I laid down first passes of grey in the beauty trim around the grill support last night. I will finish that off today. I plan on getting photos of the horns and fog lights, do the final mount of the grill, the head light doors, air horn compressor, and shoot some photos and vids.
So if this mod has gotten your attention, please stay tuned....

Well Mike, seems like I have a spare grille for £25.00 and got a bent one thrown in for free......

Once I see the bent one I will know what I have to work with, but your backlit grille really did it for my head.

This is the good one, which will possibly end up painted silver and fitted to my truck, as my ally one is damaged to an extent I do not have the heart at this point to try repair.

[McMurphy]

I saw this on your thread, cannot wait to see what you do with it buddy !!

[McMurphy]

The Army became a lesser institution today, as 1SG Quinn; a friend and mentor, relinquished his "Command" (for lack of a better and easily understandable concept word) in preparation for retirement.

It has been an honor to work with him this past year, and he is going to be sorely missed.
(Gotta give the man props, as he reads this build almost religously!!)

I have to give this shout out, because as a parting favor to me, his lovely wife took the upholstery scraps I had from getting my seat done and made me these awesome steering wheel wraps !!


THANK YOU ma'am, I am sure to put them to good use !!!

Now about that hood of mine:::::::::::::
I have been wrestling with this sucker for a few weeks now. I have come to the conclusion that I do not have the Skills, the Tools, or the Facility to do a job on it worthy of my heros like Alan, Astronaut, and Jmorales (and a few others who are gods with a spaygun, you know who you are !!)....
Funny how one can lead into the other. No matter how much skills I have, or tools I buy, you just....cannot....do good work in a shythole of a garage that produces more dust than is reasonably possible.

So after days and days of Bondo, filler putty, sanding, high build primer, sanding, more filler putty, more primer, more sanding and....and....and....
I had to admit my limited ablities, add it to the list of things that I want to revisit at the 10 year rebuild when I will have my own (new) shop with a paint room, and succumb to the defeat of the moment.

This is the photo of my moment of surrender, when you consider all the hammer and dolly work I did, and how beat up it was to start with, I am actually very pleased with as good as it came out, but talk about hanging an ivory gate on a mud fence, well....


Here is the underside:
I SO wanted to Herculiner this, but then the image of hot sticky gunk dripping onto my engine came to mind and I decided to wait until someone else does it.


Today I installed my support braces, you will note that I added one as well, and emplaced the shock pads too. The hood underbelly is flat black, with all the bracing a semi-gloss.


Then it was a bit of creative masking, and I started to lay paint!


In the next couple of days I am going to sand out the lint and crap that got into my paint, then add the other two colors before I do the final turn signal install and mount it on the front of the truck.

Thanks for looking guys !!

[Grizz1963]

Morning from Bimingham where it was just starting to snow lightly when I pulled up earlier.

I really like the underside and contrast of the Flat vs Satin or gloss paint finishes.
It always shows extra attention to detail.

The slots up front are coming together too.

I may give you a ring soon in my weird accent to chat a bit.

[ZouchaR]

Lookin good Murph!!!!! And remember, we ain't buildin Ridlers!!!! Do the best you can.

[jlsanborn]

I feel your pain. My bedsides are kicking my butt. I'm no doctor but I'm running out of patience. It's gonna look great on the truck Murph!

[Ta2Don]

Looking Good Murph...
And as Grizz said, I also dig the contrast of the underside and supports...

[McMurphy]

Originally Posted by Grizz1963

Morning from Bimingham where it was just starting to snow lightly when I pulled up earlier.

I really like the underside and contrast of the Flat vs Satin or gloss paint finishes.
It always shows extra attention to detail.

The slots up front are coming together too.

I may give you a ring soon in my weird accent to chat a bit.

Any time I am awake is a fine time to call buddy !!
Would love to shoot the breeze with you agian, and answer any questions you may have.

Originally Posted by ZouchaR

Lookin good Murph!!!!! And remember, we ain't buildin Ridlers!!!! Do the best you can.

True... it may be a spell before this rig rolls across the Jackson-Barrett stage.

Originally Posted by jlsanborn

I feel your pain. My bedsides are kicking my butt. I'm no doctor but I'm running out of patience. It's gonna look great on the truck Murph!

I wish I was there to help you man !!
I forget, did you build that shop of yours, or was it there when you got the house?

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

Looking Good Murph...
And as Grizz said, I also dig the contrast of the underside and supports...

Thanks Don, the photos make it look half presentable and hides much of the stuff I see that drives me batty !!



Today just sanded out the junk that got in my wet paint yesterday in the grey with some 400 and 1000 grit, then resprayed in the grey.
As soon as that was dry, (it was a light coat) I masked it off, and laid down the first pass of the black on the hood.

Saturday I will sand and respray the black as I did the grey today.
So no new photos until this weekend fellas, sorry !!

[piratexpress1369a]

that is a hell of a job on the hood ..are you going to take a closer pic of the raised section ..from what i see it looks great ..how much height were you looking for on the cowl

[McMurphy]

This is my turn signal assembly, I decided I needed new and uncracked lenses and since the gaskets were inexpensive, I got those too. These are fitted with 2057A bulbs (amber of course) in the turnsignal sockets from the 85 Sierra. I had to have these sockets in order for my side markers to work, evidently they act as a grounded relay for the turnsignal system and the side markers won't work without these.
So some adaptation was needed.
It only entailed using a small visegrip to bend one side of the socket hole out, and the other side in, to create a semblance of a spiral for the socket to twist up into. I added a rubber grommet to the socket to add some firmness to the seating, and the weather seal seems to seat perfectly well, so I am going to run with this set up:


Here is a view of the "cowl" mod I did, you can see it did not come out exactly level, but ..... I am going to force myself to live with it, or else I am going to have to buy a house here in Alaska and retire here to finish it, and that has a zero likelihood of being approved by the wife.... LoL
This opening is going to get a strip of mesh as well, to match the rest of the build.


A glam shot from the front:


And a couple more of the grey for you photo junkies out there:



Headed down now to get some more done on this, so more later I hope

[Ta2Don]

Easier to post this ? Versus digging through here.., yep I be a bit lazy at times... Where did you pick up the extra hood support?

Hood is Looking Great!

[McMurphy]

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

Easier to post this ? Versus digging through here.., yep I be a bit lazy at times... Where did you pick up the extra hood support?

Hood is Looking Great!

Thanks Don, I pulled an extra support from the junk yard on one of my many foraging trips, then I picked up the GMC hood and it had 2 of them as well.
If you want one I can toss it in the mail for you .....

*******************************************************************************************

Finished my paint on the hood today, mostly.
Just like the rest of the rig, the smoke grey is seperated from the flat black by a pinstripe of charcoal metallic fleck.
At the bottom of the air intake the pinstripe splits direction and follows along the body line around the sides of the hood.
There is also an "eyebrow" above the turn signals.
The intent is for these to be more noticible in the sunlight....




Here is how I did the cowl section...
Personally I like the hell out of it.


And again with the screen mesh in place.


And with the mesh in the turn signal wells...


I got started on wiring it up for the lights tonight but the dinner bell rang....
So hopefully the hood will get mounted tomorow, wont that be fun ??

LOL
thanks for looking guys !!!

[jlsanborn]

Nice work on the striping! The shop was here when we moved in but it was more of a "barn". Half the back wall was cut open and there were animal stalls inside. I've put quite a bit into it to get it where it is now.