Hood Replacement Options

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Joined
Jan 12, 2017
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Location
USA - Florida
My Car
1972 Mustang Mach 1
2011 Mustang GT
My original hood is terrible.  Sounds like there is so much rusted out metal rolling around inside it every time I open/close it and rust falls out of every hole.  LOL  

So my question is how can you really be sure a used hood someone is selling is for you?  Surely any 40 something year old hood probably has some form of rust on the inside so why not just buy a new repro?  For example this hood pictured below is for sale near me.  Would I be better off buying it than a repro?  $400









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You can buy a new one for relatively cheap over there for +-250.

Tho the most damage I see on your pictures are on the engine side, where condensed water goes and stays.

You could save this baby for $1 worth of cleaning vinegar and replace a few bits of metal here and there.

Currently busy with my deck lid that was deep orange full of rust, its now rust free inside and will be doing the hood in similar condition as yours very soon.

Once corrosion is gone, if you protect it well, it will do fine for many years to come.

 
You can buy a new one for relatively cheap over there for +-250.

Tho the most damage I see on your pictures are on the engine side, where condensed water goes and stays.

You could save this baby for $1 worth of cleaning vinegar and replace a few bits of metal here and there.

Currently busy with my deck lid that was deep orange full of rust, its now rust free inside and will be doing the hood in similar condition as yours very soon.

Once corrosion is gone, if you protect it well, it will do fine for many years to come.
Thanks for your reply!  The one pictured above I can buy for $300 and it is original from a '71.  Looks much better than my original hood off my 72 which I most likely would not even attempt to save.  So even though I can pick up a repro for around $300 or so it's probably a much better option to have an original Ford piece that I can save.  Like you said if I do it right it should last for a long time to come.  Hopefully there is no hidden rust that is bad inside like mine has.

 
If you can find one original and in good shape, you are probably better off, at least based on the ones I saw, made with thinner metal.

Unfortunately, I don't have the luxury to get one here for a reasonable price and chances of finding a used one here that is not/less corroded is near zero.

Look at this fake checkout from rock auto for a +-$300 repro. Add to this some nice fat import costs and its here at say $2200 (probably more).

So vinegar and welding it is! :)



 
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If you can get a good factory hood, get it! The reproduction hoods are much thinner and require a lot of work to get to fit right. Then once you get them to fit right you need to spot weld the seam underneath so it don’t move again. They are thin are dent and deform easily.

 
If you can find one original and in good shape, you are probably better off, at least based on the ones I saw, made with thinner metal.

Unfortunately, I don't have the luxury to get one here for a reasonable price and chances of finding a used one here that is not/less corroded is near zero.

Look at this fake checkout from rock auto for a +-$300 repro. Add to this some nice fat import costs and its here at say $2200 (probably more).

So vinegar and welding it is!  :)

Hi Fabrice , there is one on the Dutch Marktplaats for €524.00 if you are looking for a new repro!

 
Hi Fabrice , there is one on the Dutch Marktplaats for €524.00 if you are looking for a new repro!
thx JD79, went looking more in detail after this guy. 

Looks like they import loads of parts per container, very handy.

I'm gonna first look at saving the hood as its an original. If not to be restored, I'll contact him.

But where i'm very happy you posted this, is that he offers the floor pan I'm after for a normal price.

thx very much! This will save me tons of work!



 
I heave the guys across the pond using Vinegar to clean the rust off. I use feed grade Molasses. Trunks and hoods are tough to clean soo long. You need to stand on end to get the air out of the reinforcement so it cleans the rust off. My tank is not tall enough to get the whole part in. Using something like a kids swimming pools does not work you just cannot get the air out.

You go to feed store and get feed grade molasses and mix 9 parts water with it so 5 gallons of molasses give you 50 gallons of solution. It costs $18.00 here might be cheaper in Florida where they grow more cane.

I started out with a Brutt garbage can and ended up with a 275 gallon bulk chemical tank. Go on Craigslist can usually find them for $50- $60. I cut the top out and hang the parts. It will not do anything if parts have oil or grease on them. Will not take paint off unless it has rust under it.

When I take out of tank I pressure wash and you have to put Phosphate solution on immediately to prevent flash rust.

I just did the filler panel from a 72 convertible. I have a Q code vert that PO had just filled the holes in with bondo between the rear window and trunk. I had bought a crashed 72 vert that had a totally rust free filler panel even though it was from Michigan. I say rust free. Inside the panel between inner and outer there is always rust. So I soaked in the molasses, pressure washes. Wiped down with phosphate poured some inside and worked it around the joints. I dried the part in the sun and use heat gun to make sure very dry.

I poured POR Paint Over Rust inside and got into all the cracks and corners. Used paint brush to brush where I could and bent an acid brush to get the back side of the reinforcement. Looked inside with mirror. Part is ready to go back on my neck just will not let me do anything, SUCKS. Wanted to be painted by now.

They do sell some kits for spraying inside the hood and trunk reinforcements to gain some protection. Even if you get a new one with e-coat it will not be inside between the inner and outer. You need to strip that junk off before paint at least on outside.

I have done fenders, trunks, dashes, wheels, chrome pieces, cast iron, headers, heads. Anything with rust goes into the molasses.

Never sand blast an exterior panel. Maybe floors and frame rails but go easy. The sand is like millions of hammers and distorts the metal to make scrap. If you soda blast it is very difficult to get the soda residue off the metal and has causes many people lots of pain when painting. Plastic media seems to be the best right now.

I stripped the paint off this part with liquid Aircraft paint stripper brushed on. If it dries up too fast put a sheet of saran wrap or stretch wrap on the area. Use razor blade scraper and wear gloves for sure and googles. Will eat you up.

You can also take and have put in a tank to strip it but that removes all the sealer and the dabs of sealer they put between the inner and outer to keep it from flopping in the wind, lol. If you tank strip only deal with some that can dip in phosphate tank after or you will have red rust in minutes.

Here are a few pics of the filler panel I just did.

I do have several NASA hoods two with locks to without they are Ford.

Like Kevin stated the repo parts are made from some really soft CR usually IF material and very low carbon so it dents very easily. Mustangs today use a material in doors that is a high strength material and you will see very few door dings in them. But if crashed you cannot do much body work the material is so hard.

The work bench I am using is actually an old drafting table. Has electric height adjustment and tilts to any angle that works. I use it all the time got for $10.00 at a Goodwill store still had the drafting head on it.

Getting this panel back in is a pain. Original had the reinforcement put in and then the skin panel added but you cannot do that as an assembly. So I will probably braze some of the areas.

Areas you see not coated are mating surface and have to weld or braze there but will have seam sealer applied.

The Gold Glow vert had been in Grand Rapids Michigan all of it's life and absolutely not a spot of rust in the convertible top drain. I have California vert that had lots of rust there.







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I heave the guys across the pond using Vinegar to clean the rust off. I use feed grade Molasses. Trunks and hoods are tough to clean soo long. You need to stand on end to get the air out of the reinforcement so it cleans the rust off. My tank is not tall enough to get the whole part in. Using something like a kids swimming pools does not work you just cannot get the air out.
You got that right David!

I have just de-rusted my deck lid and I needed shake/turn it to go everywhere because of its L shape (which makes you feel and look stupid, who shakes a trunk lid??? )

I did tapped/closed all the holes and it worked like a charm. I've been able to see while patching here and there that the rust is totally gone. Tons of crap came out of it.

[When I take out of tank I pressure wash and you have to put Phosphate solution on immediately to prevent flash rust. ]

I did similar, heat gunned before and after and even poured a sort of primer for metal that is almost transparent, ment for heavy duty machinery.

The outside that wasn't treated where the metal was exposed showed indeed flash rust within 24 hours, I should be doing the exterior this weekend.

It will get epoxy primer and later on (once colour will be sprayed) a sprayed wax treatment.

The hood is from what I saw, more easy to treat than a deck lid using same principle (making it watertight) , as it can be filled up almost to the neck (up to latch), the most front can be treated in a second pass or by having the hood on stand with a different angle and let go the fluid from one side to the other every 1/2 hour. Prolly gonna build some "rocking" thingy to move the fluid easy from one side to the other.

I'm using this cheap brand cleaning vinegar for a while now and saved already tons on hardware.

 
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If you can weld, its not that difficult but not super easy.

Busy as we speak with mine, I'd first cut a rectangle on the lower fold. Just below the line above. You should then be able to restore the curve of the panel above. You probably have to free the double fold on the side to free it enough to go up. I'd make a wooden template of the other side to verify the correction and help you during the hamering session. The front lower strip can then be cut out/replaced, keeping just the center for the latch.

You look at 2 weekends work. (The time the amateur me would need )

So here, as this is not only about treating/stopping the corrosion, if you don't see yourself doing it, I'd say get a repro if you can.

 
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