Tri 5 hood

[hotrod1]

Anybody seen this done on a Tri 5 hood?

[Speedbumpauto]

Would be a lot of work but a creative way to solve that awful hood gap problem.

[hotrod1]

Thanks Speedbump for the opinion. Do you think that it would pose difficult issues? Hinges?

You have fantastic work on your truck. I would like to more about your chop.

I think I am liking it. Curious what BAM thinks. He also has mad fab skills.

[Kabwe]

[OrrieG]

Looks like they used the MB firewall, inner fenders and rad support to??? Trying to decide if I like it without the offsets on the stock hoods.

[MARTINSR]

Originally Posted by Speedbumpauto

Would be a lot of work but a creative way to solve that awful hood gap problem.

I dig it, I love mods like this but don't do it simply because of a poor fitting hood. If you can't make the stock hood fit, you sure as hell can't make that modified hood fit!

This is the question I ask people about the poor fit on these hoods, both Chevy and Ford at the time, they did have a funky big hood that you often see too high in the back, you often see people have to walk over to the sides of the hood and push down to them to fit decent after closing the hood.

This is the question.......did it do that on the new car lot when the salesman showed the perspective buyers the engine on that truck in 1956?

The answer is NO, the hood fit. So if it fit back then, why can't it now? There is no reason it can't be aligned properly to open and close just as it did on the new car lot or in the showroom when the guy looking to buy it opened and closed the hood. There is no reason what so ever why this can't be done.

Is the front end "square"? Can the radiator support be pushed side to side (they move a MILE) to make the hood fit? But the biggest mistake made with getting the rear of the hood down is the guy has pushed the hinges down to lower it, that lowers it VERY little, the hinges need to be rotated back to lower it as far as it can go. For some reason this is an odd move that simply goes right over guys heads.

Check out the hood alignment section from the "Basics of Basics" to panel alignment.

Hood alignment: Let’s start with raising and lowering the rear of the hood. If the car you are working on has a hinge that sits on top of the cowl, your only options are to shim or bend the hinge. Bending the hinge slightly is one way to move it. If you need to come up in the rear you can put a small block of wood or other item on the hinge, to bend it. When you close the hood down (NOT ALL THE WAY) it will get in the way of the hood closing and bend the rear or the hinge up. If you need to bend it down, the only option may be to remove it and bend it a little. You can also shim the bolts between the hood and the hinge, more on this later.
If you have a hood where the hinge mounts on the side of the fender or the side of the cowl like with an older car or truck, you want to "rotate" the hinge on the fender. Just pushing the hinge up and down will give you very little movement on the top of the hood.
This is the strange little trick that you have to remember, if you raise the back of the hood on the hinge or raise the back of the hinge on the fender the hood will go up. If you raise the "front" of the back of the hood ON THE HINGE or the hinge to the fender it will go down. What you have to remember is you are working with a pivot point in the hinge, not a stationary part.
If you loosen the FRONT bolt on the hood (where it bolts to the hinge) and put a shim, or washer between the hood and hinge, this will LOWER the hood on that side. If you put that same washer under the rear bolt it will RAISE the rear of the hood on that side.
So, if you loosen the bolts from the hinge to fender and close the hood, the hinge will rotate on down in the front right? This will raise the REAR of the hood like putting a shim in the back bolt between the hinge and hood!
What you need to do to lower the back the hood is to loosen the bolts (only slightly) and PUSH UP on the front of the hood. This rotates the hinges back, thus raising the front of the hinge and lowering the hood in the back.
If the hinges are warn out it won’t change how high the hood sits when the wear, not by more than a fraction of an inch. And I have never seen a car with these style hinges that you couldn't put the hood a half inch LOWER than the fenders if you wanted to. The adjustment is HUGE on these cars. That is one of the things that is easy to do on them is align panels.
I recommend you remove the striker or latch from the hood so that you can move it up and down without worrying about the latch grabbing the hood. After you have aligned the hood, take a piece of dumb-dumb or clay or something similar and put it on the latch. This way you can see exactly where it hits when you do install the latch. You bring the hood down till you just tap this dumb-dumb but DON'T LATCH IT. Just so the hood makes an indentation in the clay/dumb-dumb. This tells you where you have to move the latch.
I do this at work everyday, by myself so if you can't get help this is the trick. Always leave one bolt on the hinge tight. If you want to rotate it back, leave the front bolt tight. If you want to rotate it forward, leave the rear bolt tight. When you move the hood forward or back on the hinge, leave the bolts snug enough that you have to tap on the edge of the hood to get it to move. Or if it needs to go back, leave the bolts a little snug, and wiggle the hood up and down and the weight of the hood will make it slide down. Remember it only needs a 1/16" or so to make a 3/16" or more change at the front. To pull the hood forward on the hinge loosen them so they are still a little snug so you have to pull up on the back of the hood to make it slide that little bit. If you loosen it up so it moves anywhere you want it, YOU WILL NEVER KNOW HOW MUCH YOU MOVED IT AND YOU WILL MOVE IT TOO MUCH, GUARANTEED.
Get the hood laying flat first, then move the hood forward or back on each side to make the hood fit the hole between the fenders. If the gap is large on the front right and small on the front left, then the hood needs to me moved back on the right side. As you move the hood back on a side it will close up the gap in the front of that side and open it at the rear of that side.
You may need to move fenders too. Just do each change slowly, move it VERY LITTLE. Look at the bolt and washer as you move the panel, you will see where the washer used to be, the amount is much easier to control if you watch the washer movement.
If you need to move the hood up or down at the front, you have a few ways to do it. First, on each side there are the “bumpers”. The hood bumpers are located at each front corner and look like a bolt with a rubber pad on top. Just unlock the jam nut and raise or lower the “bolt” so it holds the hood at the height you need to match the fender. You may find that the hood won’t go low enough even with the bumper down far enough. The latch may not be down far enough. When you close the hood, you shouldn’t be able to pull up on the hood or push it down. The latch should be tight enough to hold it against the bumpers tight, but not too tight. If you have to apply too much force to open the hood or it opens with a loud POP, the latch is probably too tight. If it is at the right height but you can lift it up some, then the latch needs to be moved down.

The rest of the "Basics" can be found at this link. http://www.camaros.net/forums/showthread.php?p=413681

Brian

[hotrod1]

Originally Posted by Kabwe

I am up for this change. I am not sure about welding the front fenders to the cab though. Seems like an issue should you ever need to replace a fender or need to take it off. Bam, do u know this person and how they did it? I sure dont want to re-invent the wheel.

[mr48chev]

The Ford looks to be sectioned along with having a slight taper put on the pancake hood.
The Chevy's hood is cut pretty high and while looking great wouldn't be fun to service the engine or work on it without removing the nose of the truck.

[Hogger54]

But it's got a Benz engine... It will never have problems.
I like my Benzes but I've done way too much work on them to close them in like that.
Nice body work, and I look the look of the hood.

[akdg87]

This could be easily replicated with a one piece fiberglass front clip, although you really couldnt blend it into the cab, nor would you want to in the event of an accident. this would look sweet

[hotrod1]

Originally Posted by akdg87

This could be easily replicated with a one piece fiberglass front clip, although you really couldnt blend it into the cab, nor would you want to in the event of an accident. this would look sweet

I like the one piece front clip idea but have not seen many look good.

[Kabwe]

Originally Posted by hotrod1

I am up for this change. I am not sure about welding the front fenders to the cab though. Seems like an issue should you ever need to replace a fender or need to take it off. Bam, do u know this person and how they did it? I sure dont want to re-invent the wheel.

No I do not know the person but I did speak to the guy at the brothers truck show a couple of years ago. The truck is on a benz chassis also. The only thing chevy on the truck is the sheetmetal every thing else is completely benz.

Personally the truck is not my cup of tea, but the work is top rate and done very well. It takes all kinds to make the world go round so I just except the truck for what it is great craftsmanship and some very cool mods.

[Speedbumpauto]

I don't think there are any good fitting hoods on these trucks. Look at the size of the rubber bumpers that go in there. A hood designed to close in a V instead of a flat surface just makes the gaps really tough. I worked on mine a bunch, adding, filling, grinding, etc. and most of what I accomplished is getting the gaps close enough where the stock bumpers wouldn't fit because they're too fat and the gaps are still annoying to look at. I have never seen a 55-59 truck at a show where the hood gaps looked good! but maybe I just haven't been around the right people. Mine does stick up in the back slightly, naturally after the paint, etc. On the trial fit when I drilled my alignment holes, it was great. The hood gaps on my truck are better than some but they still suck so I built a killer engine and underhood and at the shows/cruises, I keep the damn hood open!

[OrrieG]

Originally Posted by akdg87

This could be easily replicated with a one piece fiberglass front clip, although you really couldnt blend it into the cab, nor would you want to in the event of an accident. this would look sweet

never mind....

[OneOffStroker]

I think this thread just made me throw up in my mouth.

The Task Force trucks have the best lines of ANY vehicle EVER made...why mess with it?

[Softpatch]

someone said a real truck has a clutch in it..?

Why are the called Tri Five.?
I owne a 59 (second gen,)
why are they not called Five, Five,..?........or Cinco Five chevy
.
I get the cars because they only made that body style for 3 yrs
and the hood mod... not liking it
.
.....Sp

[capnduane]

The Task Force trucks have the best lines of ANY vehicle EVER made...why mess with it?
___________Well said, OneOffStroker!

[mr48chev]

Originally Posted by capnduane

The Task Force trucks have the best lines of ANY vehicle EVER made...why mess with it?
___________Well said, OneOffStroker!

The "lines" on that particular TF truck aren't actually changed. It's still visually a TF truck through and trough with all of it's TF pieces on the outside. If you were to meet it running down the other side of the freeway you would think "wow, nice TF with great paint" and not think a lot more of it. It's when it is sitting with the hood open that the changes become apparent.
Not too offensive to anyone except the most jaded purest.




I don't think slant cutting the hood like is done on the AD trucks at and the F100 trucks works very well with the TF trucks though.