Since the caliper for the Bolt never showed, I did some more hood work with tunakid 4, and she was fascinated with the heat-weld-quench-heat-quench-grind-heat-quench cycles, though I'm not sure it's getting that much better.
Since the caliper for the Bolt never showed, I did some more hood work with tunakid 4, and she was fascinated with the heat-weld-quench-heat-quench-grind-heat-quench cycles, though I'm not sure it's getting that much better.
Finally got the hood straight. My improv slide hammer works!
I made my own slide hammer for pulling dents like that but had welded a vice grip at the end.
SkinnyG (Forum Supporter) said:I made my own slide hammer for pulling dents like that but had welded a vice grip at the end.
The "keyhole in an old freeze plug" works really well for a standard nail. I indeed modified a vice grip for the same purpose, but I liked the keyhole better.
I had some help with the grill bracket this evening. The amount of effort spent was not great, but the time was.
No pics to show (was on the phone with TunaDad) but I took out the latch support bracket and modified it to fit the hood, then welded some material on and rounded it over and painted it. Unless you had it side by side with the OEM part, you wouldn't know it wasn't factory.
I didn't like it after all, so I removed everything and started over.
I spent an embarrassing amount of time on hood gap.
That's where the grill goes (I'm just holding it). Now I have to decide how best to hold it there, you know, without my hands.
Compared to where you have been, bending up some sheetmetal brackets to hold the grill shell should not be a huge deal. Maybe assign it to one of the helpers to see what they can do with CAD?
Or if you actually like the hand held look, you can do a crafts project with the kids and cast a pair of resin hands that look like they are holding the grill in place from behind.
In reply to NOHOME :
Absolutely, it's just a statement of where I am at this stage. Figuring out how to incorporate the front of the hood latch into the grill bracket is the challenge. Anyway it looks way better with the hood and fender aligned.
Smoosh
I got the grill cleared of all brackets though. Now on to wire-wheeling the back of the grill (and the front. It's honestly not a great grill) and I have half of a plan. I have already bent the grill to be where I want it. I will bolt the brackets (two modified GM and two heavily altered uppers) to the fenders, then tack them to the grill back. I still will need to figure out something better for the upper middle, where the hood latch is, but I am pretty confident now.
One the bright side, I am super happy with the way the front of the hood is coming along. I think I buy primer in April. I'm nervous.
At some point I need to hand-sand the rest of the truck, too.
Also exhaust. Hear me out. Right now there are just the stubs of downpipes from either side. It's loud and obnoxious. Sometime after paint and everything, some engine work will be done. That's secret for now (PM if you want to chat about it). Do I build the exhaust for the engine I will eventually have, or just throw something together for moving the thing without waking the dead?
I cleaned up some brackets, then decided to clean up the back of the grill. The grill is rougher than I recall. Also, the wire wheel is dead. Wow.
Also, since I wirewheeled this, can I prime and then paint it (white)? Do I need to etch the remaining chromeishness?
No new pictures, but I got some time in and added material to the edges of the new hood section to even out the hood gap. I also fixed an icky leak in the compressor tank. We have a camping trip this weekend (Bored boys in the woods are great for creativity) so I won't get much done. I am looking to April to get epoxy primer started.
I modified the upper and lower corner brackets for the grill. They now appear to be GM but are not. I am mounting the grill much closer to the body, and slightly higher than stock. Last night Tunakid 3 (what a treat) came to help. He dubbed himself "official tool stealer", as he would wait until I set a tool down, and then grab it and run off giggling. He later clarified that it was all in fun, and we had a good laugh. He was lousy at holding the light because he was scared of the grinder and the welder, but we still had fun. He even had an idea which I'll share later.
Here is a picture of the brackets bolted to the fender. Can you tell, without referencing another one, how the brackets were changed?
Here it is tacked into place, though you can easily see that I have another 1/8" of work to do on the passenger side
I ran out of time, but spent a tiny bit straightening the weld which I added material to the new hood profile. This side needs more weld
This side needs more grind
The lower brackets are a bit of an issue. I need to figure out how to handle the lower bracket as it intersects the grill, which of course is not the same side/side
Tunakid 3 recommended that I just weld the bracket and the grill there and face them both, since it will be painted anyway. I think I like this approach. It's pretty simple.
Going to guess the circled bit was cut and welded further inboard (towards rear of truck) then way too much time spent recontouring the nice edge to hide the surgery?
In reply to NOHOME :
OK you caught me. I don't remember what I did to the lower mount, but it was something like that. The upper mount used to be part of the chrome eyebrow thing, and I hacked it off and so only the lower half remains, then of course as you said, I spent way too much time welding a ridge and grinding it smooth so nobody would be able to tell. If you tell a GM truck guy at a car show that it was part of a rare appearance package they made, they would believe you. That's the idea.
I am still fighting the hood alignment. I know this is agonizingly slow.
Can anyone figure out what wheels these are? I think I want them for this truck
maybe VTO Classic 8 in 17x8 deep dish although they certainly look bigger than that
AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:maybe VTO Classic 8 VTO website
That looks very close, but although I want an 18" I think, the ones on the truck look like 19" or 20" and those folks only offer up to 17". A 17" might work fine for me though, so that's a great option for "Big five lug wheel which looks like a Minilite".
In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :
You ninja edited that to include the size caveat, nice!
OK the hood is coming along again. I get very little time these days, but I made some progress on the hood/grill alignment as well as the bracket I am working on for the grill in the center. The pictures tell the tale.
The bracket is going beneath the existing (but modified) vertical hood latch bracket. Right now it's above, because I will have to remove the welded nut from the existing bracket and weld one on the new bracket. I'll also need to slightly length the tongue to add a single bolt in the center of the grill. Note the zip ties holding the grill in the right place. Now the hood latch works, the alignment is good, the hood release has been modified (no pictures, I shortened and recurved the handle on the release lever. If I took a picture of it, you wouldn't be able to tell) and I have an endgame.
You have come a looooooooong way in this game. skills-wise, since the days when you were welding in cab corners! Not to mention a monumental pile of work completed.
The grill bracket is drying.
The center bolt is slightly off center, I'm not sure exactly why it worked out that way but I'm okay with it for now.
Close enough to GM style. Tunadad donated the red bolts. He also donated this awesome ratchet.
A made in us Mac speed handle with a pivot head. It was my favorite growing up as a wee tuna.
I plan on stripping the underside with the triscuit grinding wheels, but the Hood supports are very far away from the hood, separated by a big thick foamy brick. It's a 50-year-old thick foamy brick so it's quite degraded. I will be removing it, but I will need to replace it with something. Is there an easy answer it doesn't involve spending money for resto parts? I'm thinking like insulation for pipes or something like that.
I spent some time sanding and playing yesterday. The hood is pretty much ready. I've ordered hood support pads, to make sanding work. The existing stuff is garbage.
While playing, I tried using my broken wood orbital to sand the rest of the hood. I learned two things: 1, that orbital is breaking and 2: I want a DA or orbital to remove the existing paint in a timely manner. I'll likely also use it for wet sanding later.
This is not an investment purchase. This is something to use once or twice. Pneumatic or electric? Which one?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/165372409656
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