cuting a hood???

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chopper tom

Way too young to be a hippy!
Joined
Oct 30, 2007
Messages
952
Location
whitesburg KY
have a 50 chevy truck that i chopped the top on and want to accentuate the look by slanting the hood [looks too fat now]i have a good idea what to do but would like to talk to some one who has actually done it before?
I think about 2'' in front to nothing in the back would be about right!
 
have a 50 chevy truck that i chopped the top on and want to accentuate the look by slanting the hood [looks too fat now]i have a good idea what to do but would like to talk to some one who has actually done it before?
I think about 2'' in front to nothing in the back would be about right!


Hey Tom:
Feel free to email me or call me after 5pm EST (yo can grab the phone number from my website link)- Id be happy to chat with you about the chop.
 
Open forum!

Hey Tom:
Feel free to email me or call me after 5pm EST (yo can grab the phone number from my website link)- Id be happy to chat with you about the chop.

Please note: This is a forum for sharing ideas etc. If you have something to share... please share it in open forum!

Rat Rod Mod
 
Please note: This is a forum for sharing ideas etc. If you have something to share... please share it in open forum!

Rat Rod Mod

Be glad to - I just figured I would offer because sometimes just posting something usually leads to more questions from the person doing the work.

Tom If you have pictures specifically of the hood area-and where you are looking to accomplish the changes- posting them would be great so I can see where you are at with the project.

Also- not sure on your level of expertise -with me being new here I mean- is this a new thing for you or have you done metalwork before (on this scale)?
 
i own TC custom ,a small shop [i work out of my 2 car gararge].
I try to specialize in sheet metal and suspension fab,but i do just about any thing rod and custom related .i have about 20 years experience [still learning every day though].Ive done alot of stuff but havent sectioned a hood like this before.
I seen a hood or two done this way but cant seem to find the info or talk to someone who has done it before.
Im sure that i can figure it out myself just fine but to speak to someone who has done it would be a big help!
i do know that these chevy truck hood will warp easy when there welded on and i do have extras but i want to try to be successful one the first try if possible.
Not for sure how to explain what i want to do but its kinda like sectioning the hood for an unsectioned cab,when i chopped my truck 6'' and shortened the bed 12'', it made the hood look too fat,so i want to take out about 2'' front of the hood and give it a slop [pancake] :D
 
thats it man ,i been driving it hood less for a long time and know i want a hood.
I have to finish with some customer projects and then i can start on it !
I blowed the motor up and when i get time to pull it out i'll try to cut it then so i can get inside and shut the hood and make shure every thing jives right.
the fire wall is my biggest concern?
I wish i could find a good custom car forum [stricly for customizing old school ways ]that was as good as this one !
I have some of the barase brothers books and they have some of this typ of stuff in them but not enuogh info.the cut on the 50 dream truck is kinda what i'm after! but they sectioned the whole truck .:)
 
Here is what I did with my hood. I have sectioned the truck 4 inches and that is roughly what I took out of the hood. It will not be running fenders however, so I am also mounting the hood with a little slope in the front. All I can say is this was a lot of welding. The sides were no big deal, but the nose was pretty challenging for me. I ended up maintaining the rear of the hood, instead of lining up the front and welding a strip in the rear. Here are a few pictures and I have a ton more if you what to see something else.

I forgot, this is on a ford cab, so I first narrowed it about 6 inches. But, if you are making it a one piece hood you will be doing roughly the same thing. I started by tack welding the bottom to the cab and then brought the top down to meet it.
 

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''Finnally!!!!''',some one gets what i wana do ,i;m big time excited over this!!!
the only differance is i have to take out of the front only and keep the back from hitting the fire wall inside .thats pritty durn close to what i want to do though.
your truck is going to be cool .if you dont lose your mind with all that metal work.
what did you do about the rear inner brace???and did the hood worp up real bad when you welded it and how hard is the body work gonna be to do [if you were going to do it]?????????
 
The inner brace and hinge is the next step and I have been killing some brain cells trying to solve it. To start with, I would by no stretch of the imagination call myself a body man. In fact, this is my first major fabrication on body panels. I figured if some other knucklehead could do it then so could I. It just may take me a little longer. The big pros say tig is the way to go, so that is what I used. I weld a couple of inches and then while it is still hot flatten the area back out with the hammer and dolly. I am actually pretty happy with the welds. The roof is a lot better, but I learned a lot on the hood, which I finished welded first. I do have a couple of low spots in the nose of the hood, but am pretty confident I will be able to handle them when I do the finish hammer and dolly work. I am also going to get one of those shrinking disc and give it a try.

I think on your brace, you will be able to get away with just shortening the hinge brace, if you are just taking a couple of inches out. I have attach a couple of pictures I saved while I was researching mine.

Hope this helps, Jeff
 

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''Finnally!!!!''',some one gets what i wana do ,i;m big time excited over this!!!
the only differance is i have to take out of the front only and keep the back from hitting the fire wall inside .thats pritty durn close to what i want to do though.
your truck is going to be cool .if you dont lose your mind with all that metal work.
what did you do about the rear inner brace???and did the hood worp up real bad when you welded it and how hard is the body work gonna be to do [if you were going to do it]?????????
the pics and description above are basiucally what I was gonna say- dont want to duplicate stuff- that guy is right on in how to do it....:p
 

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