Hi All,

I recently purchased a used hood and unfortunately when it arrived, it had both corners (windshield end) broken. Since there is a possibility that I might not be able to get a refund, I am wondering about repairing the damage. The broken (and missing) pieces are fairly small - approx. 1/2"-3/4" long. I can use my existing hood to create a mold so my question is; should I insert small pins to anchor or reinforce the new built up corner to the existing hood. To cast the new piece, should I use a mat or fiber thread to strengthen the new corner? After the new piece is bonded, do I put a layer on prior to priming? Would the Eckler's book on fiberglass repair help? I have done other fiberglass work in the past so I am not intimidated, I just want to make sure the hood will hold up to use.

Many thanks........once more!

Ken

 

My solution to repair the damage you describe would be to cut fiberglass cloth into small strands about 1/2 inch long. Lay the strands on a piece of plastic sheet and keep them crossed-up in a bunch. Wet the small bunch with activated resin, then transfer it to the damaged area and dab into place with the blunt end of a small paint brush. Evercoat is a popular brand of fiberglass resin and fiberglass material. You will need to be sure all air bubbles are removed before your repair resin hardens. It would be wise to tape and plastic sheet surrounding hood areas to avoid contact with unwanted material. Build the small areas up in this fashion then shape and finish as needed. Your corners will be good as new.

 

Taper the edges of the broken corners back about one inch. With damage as small as you indicate you can probably just use a couple of pieces of 2" wide masking tape and stick it to the underside of the hood to bridge the gap where the damage is. I've also used a bondo spreader clamped to the underside to conform to the original curves of the panel. Build up the missing areas with 3-4 layers of fiberglass mat overlapping where you've tapered the edges back. You don't even have to be neat here, just make sure all the air bubbles are worked out before you add the next layer of mat and resin. You may want to build the repair up slightly higher than the rest of the hood. After the glass has hardened you can cut the edges of the patched corners back to their original contour with a hacksaw blade and then finish shaping the contour with a sanding block and 80 grit paper. Then smooth the repair over so that it matches the rest of the hood's surface with fiberglass filler. I like Evercoat's "Glass-Lite". It's green in color, hardens strong and hard, and sands easily. It's one of the newer generation of glass reinforced body fillers and sands easier than the early glass reinforced fillers.

If this is a correct '69 hood it should be polyester based fiberglass (dark grey) in color. If by chance it's a later hood like '73-newer, it may be SMC, so you'll have to make sure that you use SMC compatible resin and fillers.

 

LemansBlue68 and Red69,

Thanks for the input!

I will be starting this renovation in the next week or so. I am also going to modifying the hood (L-82) to increase the height of the raised part.

Thanks once more!

Ken