Hood Smoothing

[50Bow-tied GMC]

Any ideas on the best way to smooth out the center strip on a 48-53 hood?

[mr48chev]

It would have to be welded along the seam first but it will be a pain to keep it from cracking out sometime down the road if you drive it a lot.

I've seen a few of them done and to me it looks like a lot of blank space if it is flat. I have also seen a couple of then that had the hood "peaked" and that looks pretty nice but I don't know how they go about it.

[mobileortho]

I looked into it over the summer. The guy I spoke with said that it actually has to be reinforced underneath to keep it from cracking. He was going to charge me $400 to do it.

[mylow53]

we reinforced the top adding a ridge using some round stock. the filler smoothing wasn't easy but i like the look
GT

[drummin89]

^that is really cool, I like the look of that. It gives it a modern GM truck look.

I'm planning on smoothing the hood on my 52 as well. I did not think about having to reinforce the underneath, I will have to look at how to do that.

[mobileortho]

Originally Posted by mylow53

we reinforced the top adding a ridge using some round stock. the filler smoothing wasn't easy but i like the look
GT

That's a good looking hood. Love the color!!

[drummin89]

would you also be able to use a piece of angle iron (like this ^) and roll it so it matches the contour of the hood and weld it in?

I still think this is more than I would like to try, the metal seems thin on these hoods and looks like if you don't fully know what you are doing, you would be burning through easily. I just need to practice my welding skills and get gas from my welder before I try welding on my hood.

[Houston54]

I tried to smooth one of the hoods I have by tacking the seam about every 4 inches and then tacking in a strip of metal to fill the void. Once these were ground flat I used filler to finish it off. It gave the hood a very sanitary look which I did not really care for after awhile. Before I went to paint I noticed the were small cracks showing in the filler evidently from the stresses of opening and closing the hood.

The round bar approach is similar and gives you a neat look. If you attempt either method be VERY careful when welding toward the back of the hood as any heat build up WILL cause warping which is a chore to resolve correctly.

The angle iron method I would not attempt.

I went with the stock center molding on my final hood but am splicing in the side louvers from a 1936 Chevy coupe.