Hoodwinked

I finally got serious about repairing the hood.

It had been dipped in citrus stripper along with the car body, but sitting without rust treatment for a few years, it acquired a moderate coat of surface rust. The dip treatment also revealed numerous pin holes that needed backing material welded in.

Naturally, the worst damage was hidden by structural bracing that is not accessible with any kind of tool, so I had to rely on pouring rust treatment between layers and then flushing the excess away.

I welded small strips of metal backing in areas I could reach, and then sprayed a coat of Rustoleum Rust Reformer over everything, but I’ll have to trust body putty to fill the remaining pin hole areas I couldn’t reach to weld.


I had considered using the hood from the Fury parts car, but suspected it would also have  pin holes hiding under the three layers of paint that would need to be dip-stripped to reach the inaccessible areas. As least a hood is a bolt-on part, so it could be replaced in the future if the Bondo patch doesn’t do the job on this one.

I set the reworked hood aside and started fabricating a pair of brackets to tie the inner fender to the outer fender. Like so many small things, the original brackets disappeared somewhere, but replacements are easy to make.

I also did some final tweaking and tightening on the doors and fenders and got them to fit a little better. I’m still not totally satisfied with the driver’s side door, but to make it better would require cutting and rewelding sheet metal to create more clearance, so I’ll live with what I have. I keep telling myself it’s intended to be a driver, not a restoration,.


Since the weather turned cold again, I’ve decided to stay in the house this week before Christmas and work on completing the wiring diagrams. I will also need to create continuity checklists so I can verify  circuit redesigns and workmanship. It will be a welcome change to do something different again.

Mostly Invisible Progress

Despite a lack of updates to show with pictures, I've actually been working quite diligently. All the little things that require time and attention aren't often visible or impressive, but they have to be done sometime and I've been taking care of them before attacking bigger issues.

I finished fabricating and installing the door latches on the driver's side and discovered a problem that didn't exist with the other door. There wasn't enough clearance for the panhead screws that hold the latch to the door frame and they interfered with the door closure. Like so many other times fit issues arise with the less-than-precise production process of the fifties, it was a buildup of tolerances. The width of the door opening at the top was about 1/8' less than the passenger side, and the door had a 3/16" bulge in the same area, and that was enough to cause a clearance problem. It was resolved by countersinking the screws along with the Neanderthal answer often used by desperate rebuilders..."If it won't fit, get a bigger hammer!"  A couple of good whacks with a mallet finished the fix.

Once the door was installed and adjusted, I was able to reinstall and adjust the fender. It required Jerry rigging an anchor bolt setup to attach the lower fender. The stock sheet metal had rusted out and I missed seeing it when repairing the area and before installing the inner rockers. I still have to make a bracket to secure the inner fender/splash shield, and that will be welded to the bottom edge of the fender as there is not enough room to use bolts.

Next opportunity was dragging the hood down from upstairs storage and doing repairs. Removing the surface rust with a wire brush revealed several places where the metal had thin areas and more-than-expected pin holes, so I spent half a day repairing them. I plugged and rust protected the worst areas , but still have to weld backing material in two more places that will be hard to access. I considered using the hood from the parts car, and though there were fewer pin holes it would have required stripping three coats of paint, so it was a toss-up.

Phil, who owns the nearly finished stock '56 Fury I mentioned several months ago, stopped by yesterday to get a few trim  parts from my parts car to replace the ones he was missing. His plan is to sell it when finished, but is having the same parts availability problems we all face when working on '56 models.

Since I have nothing to show from my car, I'll post a few of his as it was last spring at the Goodguys show. As usual, I was having camera problems that day so none of the front and full side pictures turned out.