The paint job is moving along....slowly... We repaired the grabber hood that I got from Robert Raney. (Thanks again Robert!) Has anyone ever fixed one like this? We cut the front piece out of the grabber hood and welded in a piece from a donor. I hated to do that to a perfectly good hood but I have 2 others. Anyway, how do you think this will hold up? This seemed easier than welding a bunch of little pieces in.
and another...Donor hood and the rusted lip of the grabber hood. I thought this lip was the only rust on the hood but it was rusty on the inner skin of the hood also but it had been repaired with bondo so you couldnt tell. They did a good job of shaping it and it hadnt chipped, cracked or rusted on the inner skin. I probably have reduced the weight of the car by another pound!
Ok..not the best welding in the world but it will do! Heres how they shaped the cut out. I was going to try and modify mustang hood springs to fit the mav but now I'm not. I dont want to add any more stress to the hood when I am shutting it. Has anyone else done this type of repair and if so, how is it holding up? Thanks.
I had often thought about it cause at one time i had 3 rusty grabber hoods. But since I like the stock hood better, I couldnt bring mysely to cut a good hood up. But that is the way I would have done it. When I get a replacement hood for my Comet, I'm going to try grafting the nose of the old Comet hood to the front of a Grabber hood. Should be interesting.
Looks like you did a really nice job with it. Thanks for posting the pics. I have heard of people doing this but had never seen any pics before. I think this is probably the best way to repair hoods of that type damage. Only bad part is finding a hood to donor out of. Looks like you did fine. Dan
Dennis... ...are you still looking for a hood? I am trying to reach a guy who owns a 76-77 Comet 2 door. It has been sitting for a few years but appears to be rust free. I am only interested in the doors to save for later and the factory disc brakes. If I get it and the hood is good are you interested? Seth
I like the idea of grafting on a comet hood! That would be pretty unique. Have you ever seen one like that? Why are all my standard hoods rust free and all the grabber hoods I have found have been rusted out??? Who got all the good ones???
When John and I went to somerset last fall I met a guy (Tony Hahn) who did this exact thing to a Gabber hood. He did a real nice job and it is holding up great as far as I could tell. He finished the inside also so it looked real good there also. He is the brother of Terry whos pics are in the newsltter.
Good job J. The hardest part is gettin the Shaping right. For some reason we had a difficult time gettin it just right from the lip back the first 8" or so. It was just dents and dings we were filling. Fill, sand and prime, Fill sand and prime Its still not perfect but will do till I get it to a pro
You did that to your car too?? Damn you put that thing together fast!!! I think I have had mine much longer. It looks great...and thanks, I hope it will turn out as good as yours. Jim
I plan on doing it a little different when I try this is. Instead of cutting a couple of inches off straight across the front, I will leave about 1/4-1/2 inch of the ends on it. That way I will have something to align the new piece to.
Good Idea...I didnt think of that. I put the hood on the car and then aligned the new piece to match the fenders. I will know how well it went after it is all put together. It will be a little late to make changes at that point.
