I got a small block hood I'd like to cut to fit my blower. Would like to do a nice "professional" type job that you see... where there the hood just barely clears the blower and every thing is tight.

Only problem is I've never done anything like this. Any pointers or how too's?

This is what I'm looking at covering...


Thanks.

 

your best bet is to get alot of cardboard and make a pattern first..... cut to fit the cardboard around the blower/pulleys and take reference points from the sides of the opening/hood left/right/up/down.......or just mock up your entire hood from cardboard and cut that up to fit.........


b

 

Done the same thing recently myself, different car though. Had to get it right the first time as getting a replacement out to Australia was 'gonna cost me around a gorilla.

All my measurement were taken with out having a scoop. When i did get my scoop i did have to re cut a bit from the front and back to clear the scoop.Worked out alright though 'cause i just opened the hood, put on the scoop pushed the hood down to the scoop and marked the front(and back if needed), took the scoop off shut the hood put the scoop back on , opened the hood till it hit the scoop marked and re cut to suit

I did not use any templates, over three days i measured...procrastinated.....measured.. ...procrastinated some more then decided to mark out and cut.Like the old chippies say "measure twice cut once"
I measured from the back, front and two spaces on both sides. Remember it's better to be smaller rather than larger(tell that one to the girls )

My hood was already painted and i did not want to repaint, so i put down a heap of masking tape roughly were my hole was going to be,marked out my hole from the measurements that I'd taken and penned them down on the tape.

When i was satisfied that my measurements were correct i pulled the tape and penned the lines directly to the hood.
When i was marking the holes i was careful to stop short of the corners by 10mm as i was drilling the corners to get a nice round corner and did not want to scratch the paint right on the corners.

Then on the corners i measured 5mm back from each side side of the 90 ,where the two lines crossed is here you drill for the corners. I started out with a 2mm,5mm,7mm and finished of with a 10. You can get into it a bit with the first two but go fast enough with the 7 and 10 but don't press to hard or the drill will hook up and you'll rip the glass.

Then where I'd ran all the straight lines i used a utility knife backwards and scrapped along the lines using a large steel straight edge careful not to slip and scratch the hood anywhere else. I done this so the paint would not rip where i was cutting.
Then i ground down a hacksaw blade to around an 1\8" about 3" long on one end of the blade and started cutting from the corners and kept cutting,.Once going try to keep the blade at 30 degrees or less(helps to keep a straight line). There are probably a ton of easier ways of doing this but i was not buying any tools as i may never do this job again.

And most important of all GO SLOW because you only get 1 go at it. Go slow and the reward will be in the finished product. Also lather yourself up with heaps of baby powder prior to cutting as it will help to keep the glass particles from itching the chit out of you.

Good luck with the cut.
Jim

 

With all of the above

 

Nice i'd love to be able to do that to my Vette.

 

Thanks for the advice! Much appreciated .
Hope my hood turns out looking as good as yours. Nice job!

 

Man I would try to find an old hood or buy one But keep the original, They dont makem like that anymore!!!!

 

Agreed, I'm not cutting up my big block hood . Found a small block hood in rough shape for cheap perfect for the job.

 

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I used the hood latches and hinges as reference points since they are on the car and hood. Stretch a string from all four points (both latches in rear & hinges in front) to make a box for measuring all directions. Dont have hood on in pics , but it fits great. Your car is gonna be awesome!
Tim..

 

If you need another one for practice, I have a 75 hood with no hardware for $50. Needs just a touch of work on 1 corner.