In search of NASA Hood

[Parkka]

I need a new NASA hood.  I would prefer an OEM in good shape, but if need be I'll take an aftermarket.  I'm up in the New England area.

There are a few websites to get a new hood (not OEM) but i don't know which one would have a quality part.

NPD

Goodmark

Carid

etc, etc.

Can anyone point me in the right direction? 

Thanks,

dan

 

[Bentworker]

Here is my aftermarket hood story.

I went ahead and ordered up a Scott Drake hood (I normally avoid Scott Drake brand products) from Summit Racing.

I ordered from Summit because they have a warehouse less than 300 miles away from my house and have good customer service.  Also helped that the hood itself was inexpensive.

Hood arrived packaged pretty well in a large cardboard box.  Where the hood trim gets applied on the front edge it was bent a tiny amount on one corner.  About a minute later with a hammer it was back into shape. 

I fitted the hood and had to do a couple things to it.  First I had to remove a tiny bit of material from the nose of the hood in a couple spots so the trim would sit perfect.  Where the hood is spot welded together under the front trim it had a bit of material sticking too far forward.  Easy to fix, and undetectable once done.

2nd thing I had to fix was the curvature of the hood.  In my case the hood had to be flattened a bit from front to back to make it match my OEM fenders.   This was more caveman like to fix.  I had to support the hood and give it CPR in the middle along the drivers and passenger side edges.   Took some hammer work too.  Honestly I was a little chicken at first and had to drink some liquid courage to apply enough force to do anything.  This left me with some very small imperfections along the edge that will have to be addressed when it is time for paint.

Overall I was happy with the hood, but like any repop piece of metal it is close, but not perfect.

 

[c9zx]

So, a 2 x 4 and a dead blow hammer? The fit looks real good. Chuck

 

[Bentworker]

I didn’t take any pictures when I fitted the hood and I wish I would have.  
 

With the hood fully mounted I would close it and use a marker to indicate where I wanted to flatten it a bit.  I would then open the hood, and place a sawhorse on both sides near the tip of the fenders.  I bridged the sawhorses with a piece of 1 1/2 x 1 1/2” box steel tube.  I positioned the box tube so when the hood was pulled down the nose of the inner hood frame of it rested on it.   
 

Also ripped up some 1 1/2” wide plywood shims that I would place in between the rear inner hood frame and apron / fender mounting to support the back of the hood when it was pulled down onto the support bridging the sawhorses.  That way I wasn’t trying to murder the hinges while tweaking the hood.

So with the hood pulled down to the front and rear supports the CPR, drinking, and hammer blows began.  I’d work on it a bit, open the hood, remove the plywood shims in the back and  the box tube in the front.  Close the hood, check on fit and remark the areas that needed work.  It took a lot of working followed up by checking my work to get it.  
 

Some pretty hearty blows with a dead blow hammer on the edges were required to get it flattened out.  Fine tuning was done with a flat face hammer.  

 

[c9zx]

Great solution. Chuck

 

[rio1856]

Hood looks good in the picture. You did a good job! Have an adult beverage on me :beer:

Here is my aftermarket hood story.

I went ahead and ordered up a Scott Drake hood (I normally avoid Scott Drake brand products) from Summit Racing.

I ordered from Summit because they have a warehouse less than 300 miles away from my house and have good customer service.  Also helped that the hood itself was inexpensive.

Hood arrived packaged pretty well in a large cardboard box.  Where the hood trim gets applied on the front edge it was bent a tiny amount on one corner.  About a minute later with a hammer it was back into shape. 

I fitted the hood and had to do a couple things to it.  First I had to remove a tiny bit of material from the nose of the hood in a couple spots so the trim would sit perfect.  Where the hood is spot welded together under the front trim it had a bit of material sticking too far forward.  Easy to fix, and undetectable once done.

2nd thing I had to fix was the curvature of the hood.  In my case the hood had to be flattened a bit from front to back to make it match my OEM fenders.   This was more caveman like to fix.  I had to support the hood and give it CPR in the middle along the drivers and passenger side edges.   Took some hammer work too.  Honestly I was a little chicken at first and had to drink some liquid courage to apply enough force to do anything.  This left me with some very small imperfections along the edge that will have to be addressed when it is time for paint.

Overall I was happy with the hood, but like any repop piece of metal it is close, but not perfect.

View attachment 53663

 

[Ryunker]

I need a new NASA hood.  I would prefer an OEM in good shape, but if need be I'll take an aftermarket.  I'm up in the New England area.

There are a few websites to get a new hood (not OEM) but i don't know which one would have a quality part.

NPD

Goodmark

Carid

etc, etc.

Can anyone point me in the right direction? 

Thanks,

dan

I have one, some rust (fixable) on the underside by the latch. Located in northern Illinois. I did find a new now hood for mine. The new now hood needed a ton of repairs, found out after I received it. I could no longer find a repro hood anywhere.

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

I have couple down in N.C. but shipping would be horrible and packing also.
I think there is only one set of tooling for the NASA hood owned by Dynacorn. Drake makes pretty much nothing just puts stickers on.
It is common for the arch to be high crowned and probably done that way on purpose. Chevy, Pontiac and others are the same. They do not spot weld the inner and outer panels together down the length like OEM. That is to allow you to change the arch. The way my friend does in his restoration shop is to put 4 equal height wood blocks on the four corners on the floor. You then cut a gauge block to limit the amount you can flex in the middle. Say cut the center limiting block 1/4" shorter. Place the block under the hood and actually stand on it. Measure the change and cut the block shorter and shorter until you have reduced the curve where you want. Do the other side. Put on car and check. If good then you tack weld the hem in a few places to keep the inner and outer in same place then seal the seam.
You should also remove the black E-coat from any panel Ford or repo. Raw steel panels can rust in one day sitting around and it they do not have great phosphate pre treatment there will be light rust under the paint. The pic is an original Ford trunk lid that still had the Ford OK stamp on it from inspection. When I stripped it there was rust everywhere under the factory paint.
If you were to find a NOS Ford hood it will have been hauled, loaded and unloaded going to swap meets and will be beat to H and back. Probably worse than repo.
I was talking with an AMD rep at Carlisle this year and they are doing some Ford panels now I think falcon and fairlane since Mustang has lots of tooling done. He had panels there that were marked up to send back to Taiwan to make changes. The do mainly GM and Mopar now.
This is the trunk lid I was talking about that has been indoors for 25 + years. You can see the paint inspection stamp on the end of the trunk but look at all the rust that was under the factory paint. A soak in molasses and phosphate will remove that the epoxy prime. I had to quit working on the car due to disc in neck. Lifting and sanding will put me in bed quick.
 

 

[rio1856]

View attachment 54005

Rust worms

 

[Fabrice]

I was a little chicken at first and had to drink some liquid courage to apply enough force to do anything. 

ahahaha, liquid courage!! Reminds me I'm gonna need some this weekend, as next on my todo is putting back my coil springs  

 

[timachone]

ahahaha, liquid courage!! Reminds me I'm gonna need some this weekend, as next on my todo is putting back my coil springs  

With a good spring compressor tool it's nothing more than changing a wheel. Keep the liquid better for the end of work  :thumb:

 

[Fabrice]

With a good spring compressor tool it's nothing more than changing a wheel.

almost! Received a central one yesterday (was chickening using 2 external macPherson compressors ), that would pass thru the tower opening, but a quick test showed for the amount of distance to compress, the screw was going bellow the base of the coil, and as there is no hole in the saddle, I need go plan B and inverse it, where I need unscrew it after with a flat wrench. I'll get there even if I need liquid courage before, during and after

 

[timachone]

I have this one 

Hesselink FS-3000 

and it works perfekt! Without fear and enough compression distance  :thumb:

 

[Don C]

I think I have 3 spring compressors, trying to find one that doesn't make my palms sweat when I tighten them up, so far no luck. I'm thinking I'll build my own the next time I need one. Then I can really make my palms sweat  :classic_tongue: .