63 Hood

[Rainer S.]

I am starting to work on the body on my 63 SWC restoration. When inspecting the hood in relationship to the fendors, I noticed that the hood has more of a curve than the fenders, 1/3 from front edge.
Can a hood be re-curved, in other words "flattened", to match the fenders ? (It apears, the car must have had a hit in front, which "buckled" the hood). Or should I investigate a used, original hood ?
Where can I buy a used hood ? I saw one on Ebay recently, but did not safe the listing, it was before I thought I needed one.
If anybody knows, who may have one for sale, pls advise.

Rainer

[Tracy C.]

Re: 63 Hood

Rainer,

The only way to sucessfully reshape a hood is to pop the skin off the under frame reinforcement and rebond it to the shape you need to match your fenders.

Rebonding is done while the frame reinforcement is bolted on and is a very tedious job to match the contours up.

I suspect if your car has been crunched up front and half hazardly patched up at some point, even a "perfect" hood would have fitment problems.

It's probably best to have an experienced professional take a look at the whole deal.

Good Luck,
tc

[Michael H.]

Re: 63 Hood

Ranier,

As Tracy mentioned, it would be very difficult to change the shape of a 63 hood. It's also unlikely that it's bent. I would look into the shape of both fenders instead. If the hood fits properly everywhere but the area you described, the fenders can be raised in just that area. This requires separating the fender top from the top of the skirt and raising the fender line to match the hood contour. Once these surfaces are flush, the fender can be rebonded to the skirt in it's new position. It also might be a good idea to borrow a hood from a friend, if possible, just to test fit and see if the problem is still there.

It's also possible that the core support is incorrectly mounted too high which raises the front headlight support beam and hood hinge area but leaves a dip in the fender in just about exactly the area that you described. It might be a good idea to have a good body man look at what you have before making any major changes. Hope this helps,

Michael

[Kenneth S.]

Re: 63 Hood

If you can get access to Restorer Vol 9 No. 2 Page 44 (Fall of '82) the article titled "Refitting a 63-67 Hood" describes the procedure in detail.
Ken

[Rainer S.]

Re: 63 Hood

Thanks everyone, for such good advise. I would really love to see the article in the Restorer, but do not have access to it. I have been a member for only 2 years. How could I get a copy of the article ?

Rainer

[Steve D.]

Re: 63 Hood

Check the NCRS store on this site for the Restorer CD.