What is involved with replacing the hood skin on a maverick? Due to the scarcity of the grabber hoods I thought it might interesting to have one made. What looked good was 97? Mustang cobra hood. Could you graft the outer metal from that onto the structure of a maverick hood? What might that work cost, in addition to finding the cobra hood?
Well now! this is something that You might want to ask "76 MAV" because a few months back He was going to make a Grabber hood from a flat one for the cost of $50 to $75 bucks max.I have not as yet seen this "repilca" But I'm sure if You ask Him He'll post pictures of the step by step process and the finished Grabber hood,at least this would give You a idea of whats involved to do the job.
Nothing is impossible, but in my 33 years of painting cars, I have never seen this done. Heard about a guy here in town that took two 59 chevy hoods and cut them down the middle ( both were bent on opposite sides) and then brazed them together. A tinner or sheet metal fabricator could possibly create a hood skin, but the cost involved would very high. Custom bike builders like Jesse James, get the huge bucks out of those bikes cause they have the talent to form plain sheet metal into pieces of rolling art. I did make a skin of a lower section of a door on a 66 chevy pickup. Was about 1/3 the size of a mav hood. It worked out well but was mostly flat with just a bit of a roll between the bottom of the door and the middle of the door where there is a body line on that particular vehicle. In fact, I still own the truck which is RIP, but that section is still in good shape. I would be all ears to learn how to reskin a hood though. Could be done with enough patience, tools and money. Dan
Ive been to several local shops in the last few months trying to get an idea of the cost of a skin replacement ... No one would touch it unless i could provide a sample hood to go by ... Well duh if i had a hood i wouldnt need one made ... But a ballpark price would be $300 and thats for a "rough " fab. Tom, I WILL fab a grabber hood before i pay top price for an original, I thought about a glass hood but i just dont want to go that route ... Earl offered up his grabber so i can get some specs... I think $50 to $75 is a fair estimate for materials, Not for a finished product mind you but for a rough fab . Heating and "Rolling" sheet metal can be a pain especially on a grabber hood which has a compound type roll . It starts off high then tapers down to nothing ... Itll prolly have to be done in several sections. I havnt decieded if i should mould in the inserts or simply try to find a pair to install ... Moulding in the inserts would be much easier however you would spot it a mile away... Another idea i had was to use the rear side vents from a newer mustang and mould them in inplace of the grabber scoops for a custom like grabber hood ... Either way , Unless i can find a nearly perfect grabber hood for about $100 bucks (which is very unlikely) Ill be atempting this job very soon ... And just for you Tom ill take some pics ...
Hey Jerry, Dave Moore has a grabber hood that needs some work on the front it has the typical rot that most of them seem to get. I think it would be cheaper to fix that one than fab one myself but that is up to you. Good luck on your mission. Here is a link to his site MaverickGrabber72 Just drop him a line if you are interested in the hood I know he is wanting to get rid of it and would treat you right on the price. Neal (squeal1)
I didn't realize the cobra hoods were fiberglass. I wasn't expecting to have someone do a complete fab of a hood, forming new metal etc. I was expecting that you could take the outer steel skin of an existing cobra hood and weld it onto the underlying structure of a maverick hood. I had seen an article in one of the mustand mags about them doing this with a door. Seems like the principle would be the same with a hood.
