hood stencil

JJU9507 · Mar 21, 2022

Who makes the most accurate ram air stencil?

Idaho Chris · Mar 22, 2022

I used the stencil from Graphic Express.

https://graphic-express.com/product...hood-paint-stencil-kit?variant=31404200820835
I did end up shifting it a tad wider to match the dimensions provided by David in this thread below:

https://7173mustangs.com/threads/measurments-for-hood-black-out.32908/#comment-338133
It worked out well for me and I am pleased with the result.

Stanglover · Mar 22, 2022

I would agree Chris. Yours looks very good and yes, use it as a guide.
When I had mine painted and I've said this many times, I screwed up and told my painter 2" (purists will say 1 7/8") from the front of the hood edge, forgetting the 1" trim was not yet on. So, mine is like too many we see and the front edge is now 3" back. However, that has never been called out at shows. I did however retain the width that Graphics Express's stencil gives. Personally, it has better proportions than the Ford layout.

JJU9507 · Apr 3, 2022

Idaho Chris said:
I used the stencil from Graphic Express.

https://graphic-express.com/product...hood-paint-stencil-kit?variant=31404200820835
I did end up shifting it a tad wider to match the dimensions provided by David in this thread below:

https://7173mustangs.com/threads/measurments-for-hood-black-out.32908/#comment-338133
It worked out well for me and I am pleased with the result.

View attachment 61004

View attachment 61003

That looks great!

carguy47 · Apr 20, 2022

Very cleanly done and the proportions look amazing

Mister 4x4 · Apr 20, 2022

Stanglover said:
I would agree Chris. Yours looks very good and yes, use it as a guide.
When I had mine painted and I've said this many times, I screwed up and told my painter 2" (purists will say 1 7/8") from the front of the hood edge, forgetting the 1" trim was not yet on. So, mine is like too many we see and the front edge is now 3" back. However, that has never been called out at shows. I did however retain the width that Graphics Express's stencil gives. Personally, it has better proportions than the Ford layout.

Mine as well - apparently, the painter couldn't read the directions, and had put it on 2" back without the 1" trim being in-place, as well as too far to the passenger side (by almost 3/4") with one of the included straight pieces running off toward an A-pillar, instead of parallel with the hood's side edges (freaken amateur night!). Rather than remove it and throw away another $35, I wound up cutting into the stencil on the driver-side and hand-masking it myself, to duplicate the passenger-side error... which wound up being pretty close (with the exception of being 3" set-back from the front). If that wasn't weird enough, the painter had painted the hood black, and use the stencil as a mirror image on where to mask-off, and painted the entire car with the TuTone masked off - bassackwards - rather than painting the car first and using the stencil as intended.

I'm just happy it came out as well as it did. Even though it's technically wrong, it's not nearly as wrong as so many others we see in auctions trying to pass-off as original paint.

This is what it looks like when it's too far back. Don't let this happen to you - put the leading edge trim piece on and then measure before sticking down the stencil.

Stanglover · Apr 20, 2022

Mister 4x4 said:
Mine as well - apparently, the painter couldn't read the directions, and had put it on 2" back without the 1" trim being in-place, as well as too far to the passenger side (by almost 3/4") with one of the included straight pieces running off toward an A-pillar, instead of parallel with the hood's side edges (freaken amateur night!). Rather than remove it and throw away another $35, I wound up cutting into the stencil on the driver-side and hand-masking it myself, to duplicate the passenger-side error... which wound up being pretty close (with the exception of being 3" set-back from the front). If that wasn't weird enough, the painter had painted the hood black, and use the stencil as a mirror image on where to mask-off, and painted the entire car with the TuTone masked off - bassackwards - rather than painting the car first and using the stencil as intended.

I'm just happy it came out as well as it did. Even though it's technically wrong, it's not nearly as wrong as so many others we see in auctions trying to pass-off as original paint.

View attachment 62545

This is what it looks like when it's too far back. Don't let this happen to you - put the leading edge trim piece on and then measure before sticking down the stencil.

Wow, I think that painter needs GLASSES!! How the F, do you F that up that much. But as you say, you got it looking pretty damn good in the end, but is that gloss black or just the way it looks in the pic?
Again, personally I don't really mind it being back that extra inch as long as it's not passed off as being correct.

Mister 4x4 · Apr 20, 2022

Here's mine after I got it back from soda blasting,, and the soda didn't really do much to the rust. This was factory painted. Hopefully, you can see the difference on how far forward it's supposed to be.

Mister 4x4 · Apr 20, 2022

Stanglover said:
Wow, I think that painter needs GLASSES!! How the F, do you F that up that much. But as you say, you got it looking pretty damn good in the end, but is that gloss black or just the way it looks in the pic?
Again, personally I don't really mind it being back that extra inch as long as it's not passed off as being correct.

Thanks! I went glossy because I wanted to be able to wax it without messing up the finish, as well as not turning chalky in the West Texas sun over time.

I'd actually thought about doing hockey stripes as well (since mine was missing so many pieces of the rocker bright trim), but decided against that after seeing so many cars with stripes & spoilers (regardless of whether or not they had them before). I decided that since mine was an original "no stripes/no spoilers" car (with Ram Air), that I would go back to how it came from the factory. I could literally toss my pizza cutters and sport caps back on and it would 'appear' pretty much as it came from the factory (although I still need to paint the urethane bumper and put it back on).

Stanglover · Apr 20, 2022

Mister 4x4 said:
Here's mine after I got it back from soda blasting,, and the soda didn't really do much to the rust. This was factory painted. Hopefully, you can see the difference on how far forward it's supposed to be.

View attachment 62546

Yes indeed. Actually, that is a very good example of what it OUGHT to be.
I think you (or anyone) could see that front edge would be about 2" from the front of the hood before the trim piece would be installed.

Stanglover · Apr 20, 2022

Mister 4x4 said:
Thanks! I went glossy because I wanted to be able to wax it without messing up the finish, as well as not turning chalky in the West Texas sun over time.

I'd actually thought about doing hockey stripes as well (since mine was missing so many pieces of the rocker bright trim), but decided against that after seeing so many cars with stripes & spoilers (regardless of whether or not they had them before). I decided that since mine was an original "no stripes/no spoilers" car (with Ram Air), that I would go back to how it came from the factory. I could literally toss my pizza cutters and sport caps back on and it would 'appear' pretty much as it came from the factory (although I still need to paint the urethane bumper and put it back on).

View attachment 62547

That's looking pretty good my friend. If YOU like the gloss black-out, why not.
As you probably know, I used SEM Hot Rod Black and it is standing up very well after 8 years now. I found it does NOT get shiny if I used spray detailer on the car. I could have used the semi gloss Hot Rod clear coat and I think that would have given excellent protection. Downside of that is paint thickness at the edges.
Your car actually looks similar to the way my car would have looked from the factory, except Light Pewter, no stripes, no black-out, no spoilers and dog dish hub caps. Ford had an ad that I'm sure you've all seen, with a Light Pewter car, no stripes or black-outs etc., but with the Vermillion interior. The only visual difference to my car would be the black basic interior.
Good job and coming along great.

Mister 4x4 · Apr 20, 2022

Thanks for the kind words. That pic above was actually during the reassembly back in summer 2014 right before I swapped-on the Cragars & Cooper Cobras. I still have a few things to do before it's completely 'done,' but it's been back on the road since 2016. So much for the West Texas sun, however, since it spends most of its time in the garage and going to car shows because I'm too paranoid to park it at work (already have a door dinge from that - can't have anything nice anymore, it seems).

I think mine probably came with the corporate dog dishes as well (the Marti Report didn't specify which wheels covers), but I've always preferred the sport caps, so I scored a set from a forum member years ago just to have some 'from the factory' pics. I wanted mine to be a 'Day Two Restomod,' which is pretty much how I would've had it back in the '80s if I could've afforded one (Cragars, louvers, Lakewoods, and a cool stereo is about all I would've done at the time, but I've also done all sorts of performance mods that don't jump out, like Edelbrock & CompCam goodies, Hooker Headers, Pypes 2.5" stainless dual exhaust, subframe connectors, AOD, power windows, power locks, 3-point seat belts, back-up camera, A/C, etc.). It's a fun little hot rod, for sure.

Having the TuTone being a little off doesn't bug me as much as it used to, as well as not having the urethane bumper back on, but if those are the only real things amiss, I'm good - especially, considering my avatar pic is what I started with (it's from the Craigslist ad when I first bought it). I actually like the chrome bumper a little better, to be honest... especially, since it goes so well with the Cragars.

1973 Mach-1 · Apr 21, 2022

My car is mostly a survivor; 80% original paint etc. Anyway, I decided I like the Air Ram painted hood look rather than a blank hood, since the car has side stripes. So I did some photo research, and eyeballed where the stripes seem to lay, (since we've all determined each is a bit different). So- I layed it out in tape and set to paint. Here's what I came up with. I gave it a little weathered look, since the car has an overall patina!

mrgmhale · Apr 22, 2022

I see a lot of really nice hood blackout schemas in this thread. I (also) used the template from Graphic Express, and later found out it does not comply 100% with the original layout. But, it does look good, so I opted to leave well enough alone.

https://graphic-express.com/collect...hood-paint-stencil-kit?variant=31404200820835

One thing I did opt to use was a paint stencil for the "351 RAM AIR" Call-Out characters, rather than a decal, just because I wanted to be a little different. This way the underlying color paint peeks through the blackout layers. I thought it would look really nice, and I was pleased to see how good it turned out.

https://graphic-express.com/products/1971-73-mustang-mach-1-boss-351-ram-air-hood-decal-set

We used PPG Sunset Orange for the color coat. It is a translucent, fine grain metallic, hot over a base white for the candy effect. The black surfaces were shot in PPG Hot Rod Black Matte, and all surfaces were topped off with a few layers of clear coat. Every coat of primer, base white, color, black, and clear were blocked and wet sanded before the subsequent coats were applied. It was very costly due to the labor time involved, but the final results speak for the quality we wound up getting. The nice thing about the black matte paint is the surface is smooth, so no wax or other compounds will get stuck in a rough texture, yet the matte effect still diffuses reflected light in a manner similar to having used a flat black paint. Best of all worlds. And thus far nobody has questioned if it is an authentic finish compared to the original paint or not. Frankly, I do not care about authenticity as much as I care about how I like the way it turned out.

kevken1959 · Apr 22, 2022

Here are some measurements I took from my factory all original paint Tu Tone hood 1973 convertible

kevken1959 · Apr 22, 2022

kevken1959 said:
Here are some measurements I took from my factory all original paint Tu Tone hood 1973 convertible

kevken1959 · Apr 22, 2022

More hood patch pictures

ponypastor · Apr 23, 2022

JJU9507 said:
Who makes the most accurate ram air stencil?

I painted my own hood and used the stencil from Graphic Express. Happy with it.

timachone · Apr 25, 2022

I used the stencil from Graphic Express, too, and used it to apply it for my painter so he didn't have to make false decisions

I collected all the measurements which were provided by folks from this forum out of original hoods and tried to lay out the template quite in the middle of all these numbers. From what I can say it came out great and I am happy with it. It was painted in a semi gloss black and I added the 351 Ram Air decals. The hood is now waiting for the hood looks and the ram air plenum which will be installed this week

jpaz · Apr 25, 2022

Looks fantastic!

hood stencil

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