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DIY Cowl Hood

Mr.Shrek

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Murfreesboro, TN
I've been kicking around the idea for a while on my own version of a cowl hood and finally had the opportunity to give it a shot. It's a bit different then the other ways I've seen on here so I thought I would share it with y'all. Here are a few before shots as a point of reference for you:

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Supplies and Tools:

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Stock Hood
4-5' tubing with the appropriate radius that you desire (I went with the largest I could find 2 3/8") Lowes $12
Right angle grinder, die grinder and/or a cut off wheel
Metal cutting blade
60 grit flap wheel (Sand paper will work, the flap wheel is just faster)
Safety Glasses
Masking Tape
Marker (Sharpie)
MIG Welder
Welder Mask
Body Hammer and Dollies
(I actually don't own any. I was able to use a hammer and a piece of wood as a dolly)

First take your flap wheel or sand paper and clear the surface following the body line. Making sure to clear more then just the body line to give you plenty of bare metal to weld to.

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Then take the masking tape and tape off the body line on each side. I taped on the lower side of the body line to give plenty of metal on the soon to be raised section of hood to weld to. It also adds another 1/2" of height to the hood.

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As you can tell from the picture I have marked arrows on the tape to let me know where braces start and stop. That helped as a small reminder not to allow the blade to go to deep.
I then cut on the lower side of the tape (the edge closest to the fender) as mentioned before.

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I stopped 1/2" short of the front of the hood. Measured and then measured and marked the other side so they would be even.

Next I opened the hood and separated the hood skin from the bracing. The skin is secured to the bracing by an epoxy. I simply took a hammer and screw driver to chisel it apart. Be careful though as it will leave dents in the hood skin. I will go back over those with a hammer and dolly to knock them back down.

Then unbolt the hood and turn it over to give you access to the back edge of the hood. The skin of the hood is rolled over the edge of the rear hood brace. I cut along the first rise in the hood brace for 2 reasons: 1) It gives a more finished edge along the raised portion of the hood. 2) It leaves enough metal to weld in the expanded metal trim.

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Watch out towards the ends of your cut. Where the body line rises it is hard to get a cut off wheel in there with our risking cutting through the other side of the hood. I was able to score the rest of the cut and chisel it out.

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I then flipped the hood back over and blotted it back on to the hinges. Then cut your tubing down both sides to make 2 halves.

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As you can see, once you make your first cut the tube will expand some from it's original diameter.
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I then spaced the hood up with some blocks. Then I slid a long piece of wood down under the hood skin, then butt it up to the body line, and hammered down the edge from a 45 degree to more of a 90.

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I finished up the night with mocking up a piece of tubing to figure out height and shape of the filler panel.

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That is all that I was able to get completed last night. I hope to have the hood welded up by the end of the weekend.
 
I wanted to use tubing so that it had a cleaner more finished look to it, instead of just a straight up and down strip of metal. Using the radius of the tube I have a consistent slope to the body line with out as much work to make it from scratch. Also having the curve makes the section a bit more ridged.
 
Nice dude, i think you just motivated me to finish up my cowl hood. ill post some pics of it this weekend, its welded together and ive started cleaning up the metal
 
I dig how you used the tubing, never thought of that. I think the curve will look good, rather than sharp angles. Hows the welding on the super thin metal? my welder doesnt do very good, i cant turn it down enough (aka...90 million spot welds).
 
With welding sheet metal don't expect to be running a bead. Stick to a lot of spaced out spot welds. For this hood, as an example, I'll be jumping back and forth from end to end and side to side. You want to make sure you keep it spaced out as much as possible and take your time with it. If you rush it even with spot welding your going to build up to much heat and warp the panel. Then your looking at even more time and money at doing repairs to get it right.
 
yes indeed...i found that out the hard way haha. mine did warp a bit, so ive spent some time fixing it as much as i could. Mine wont be perfect, but i think the black paint will help hide some of mess ups ha
 
You could probably set the welder down kinda low and trigger weld it, a few inches at a time and changing up places to keep the heat down. So far I like it. I wanted to figure out how to bend up the sheet metal so it makes a "hump" in the front.
 
That thing is going to be bad azz! I got a friend that did the exact thing to his Sonoma hood. You cant beat somthing that you did and comes out great. And UNIQUE! Great job, cant wait to see it finished.
 
That thing is going to be bad azz! I got a friend that did the exact thing to his Sonoma hood. You cant beat somthing that you did and comes out great. And UNIQUE! Great job, cant wait to see it finished.

I like the radius on the edges, it's a new look.

Thanks guys. Like I said I've been kicking around the idea for a while now and last night, after I had about 6 tack welds down, I stepped back and realized "wow it really worked". Using the tubing is a simple way to get a nice line to it without forming a sheet of flat metal. I'd seen plenty of people just throw in a quick vertical piece of metal, but I was looking for a more finished/flowing look. Hope to have the welding done on the drivers side tonight and get started on the passenger side.
 
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