EdwardB’s 35 Hot Rod Truck Build - Well Traveled

[edwardb]

It’s been a while since my last update. Very busy month with family related travels plus lots of Coupe driving events. The Woodward Dream Cruise (http://www.woodwarddreamcruise.com/) seemed bigger and more crowded than ever. It's officially only a Saturday event. But in reality lasts all week. The Saturday turned out nice and we had a good time. I believe the count of cars from the Great Lakes Cobra Club was over 60 for our Snake Pit event as part of the cruise. The Coupe turned 5,000 miles last weekend. Not too bad for its second full driving season. Have I mentioned how much I like that thing? Two more events this weekend. But back to the build.

My goal has been to wrap up my punch list prior to paint. The only items left now are body work related. After fixing the doors (last update) my next task was the hood. Two issues. The gap at the back by the windshield/cowl area was noticeably too wide. About 1/2 inch. I did some very minor clean-up of the front and back edges. But didn’t take any length off. This was how it was received. My original thought was just to leave it. But after staring at it long enough, decided to do something about it. The second thing to fix was the mismatch between the angle of the hood and the top angle of the grill cowl which had a noticeable “up” angle compared to the hood. Not a good look. There’s some variability here I guess. A function of the radiator angle and location. I have the radiator placed at the only location and angle that everything would fit. Which in turn dictates the angle of the grille and cowl. So no chance to change anything there. At least for how I have it assembled and I'm not going to change anything at this point. The engine side covers fit reasonably well. So seems I had things about right. This is a “before” picture I posted previously.



For the rear edge of the hood, I need to add about 1/4". Then slide the hood back slightly so it clears the grill cowl when opening. Resulting in a goal of 3/16” gap. I did what I’ve done a couple times before on other builds with HSRF. First, roughed up the edge with 40 grit paper. Then used the same 40 grit to make about a 1/8” bevel on both sides of the hood edge. Because the hood is relatively thick, I decided to also drill 1/16” holes about 1/4" apart all along the edge. Something for the HSRF to have even more of a grip. I made a dam out of cardboard by tracing the back edge of the hood and cutting accordingly, covered the edge with clear packing tape, waxed the tape, and double-back taped it to the top of the hood. Leaving roughly 1/4" exposed. Then troweled on the HSRF up to the level of the other side. Pushing the HSRF as much as I could into the bevels and 1/16" holes. Worked pretty well. Sanded, put the hood back on the body, used a scribe to get my new gap line, and sanded/trimmed the HSRF accordingly. Mission accomplished. Much better. Now I can stand to look at it.



For the hood/grill cowl, first I adjusted the hood so it was a straight line along the top of the hood to the front of the cowl. Like the above picture. This required a somewhat large bumper under the center. Then, using a straight edge, marked where the filler (again, HSRF) needed to be applied on the grill cowl. Ending up being kind of a crescent shape. Used a DA to remove the gel coat in that area and followed up with 40 grit paper (again) to make sure the bare glass was plenty rough. Side note: It's funny how when you're not trying to harm the gel coat seems like you go right through it. When trying to remove it on purpose, it's like iron. Oh well. Then troweled on more of that liquid gold (aka HSRF) and used a straight edge to the hood to level appropriately. Took a couple coats to get it acceptable. Plus I was trying to get it as close as possible to minimize major sanding. That stuff doesn’t sand easily to say the least. With final sanding and rounding, mounted the hood and adjusted the hinges as necessary. The hood isn’t a perfect match on the sides. But the top is now level with the cowl and looks 100% better. A thin skim coat of body filler and the usual finishing steps and I expect the build-up will disappear. Note the gap has to be this wide on the front. I’ve beveled the back of the hood and rounded the grill cowl and it just clears when opening and closing.





My very last item on the punch list is to spray UPOL Raptor on the underside of the fenders, running boards, engine sides, and bed sides. Will get that done in the next few weeks before the weather turns cool. (Grrr) With that I’m officially out of things to do until paint. I have a possible lead on paint for this winter. But no final decision yet. We’ll see.

Finally, to go off topic just a bit, I’ve been collecting things I need for my next project. Mentioned in post number 371. One of the standing jokes on this forum is the question “How many clecos does it take…” and numbers both high and low are suggested. Today I’m announcing that I plan to win any future such contests. 650 between those four containers. Looks like the project should be starting in the next few months.