Rusty step down hood corners

bent metal

   Step down hood corners.  I've done this repair a few times.   They are all pretty much the same, although this one is worse than most.  In this case the customer was well aware of the extent of the damage.  However I've had people ask me to weld up pin holes across the front of their hood, or rocker, or wherever.  They see little bubbles in the paint and think that the rust is just in the little bubble.  Not true.  When you see a little bubble in the paint you are seeing where the rust has come all the way through the panel from the back side of the hood, (or any sheet metal panel).  If you look at the back side of bubbled up panel you will see deep pitting and an area of rust that extends well beyond the pin hole area you see on the front of the sheet metal.  
     But let me get back on the subject here.  Rust in hood corners.  Let's start by seeing what we got.  Just looking at it someone has made a previous repair attempt.  Also the hood corners are not lined up with the fenders.  They are pulled forward indicating the hood hinges are mostlikely stiff.  So first thing I do is open the hood and spray WD-40 on the hinge and work it up and down a few times.  In this case it freed up nicely.  No point in skipping that step.  The hood would just get pulled out again if the hinges are not moving smoothly.   

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  The reason these hood corners rust out is because moisture gets trapped in between the outer hood skin and the inner structure.  It rusts out from the inside.  First thing I want to do is to see what we got.  I prefer to have a car stripped down to bare metal.  So we can see what we are dealing with.  What if the hood has other damage not visable under the paint and it's not worth fixing?  In this case though, we are talking about a "driver".  Not a restoration project.  Let's take a peak at the damaged area. On the inside are worm holes, which is bond-o pushing through holes somebody drilled. On the outside the previous repair is failing and starting to come off.  The hood corners are pulled forward and a small crack is starting on the side of the hood flange. 

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Pull off the repair patch to see what is in there.

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An old wasp nest in this side.  Which is strange, because this is a Hornet!   

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Looks like they cut out the worst of the rust, spread out a layer of JB Weld, then applied a sheet metal patch.  

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Before I start cutting I want to make sure everything is where it is supposed to be.  The back of the hood gap looks good.  But the hood opening is off in the front.  The front end sheet metal is racked and needs to go to the passenger side a little bit to be right. Maybe an eighth of an inch.  It's not bad enough that I can't do what I was asked to do.  Which is to fix the hood corners.  I have to remind myself that I'm not restoring this car, I'm just fixing what I was told to fix.  If I see a safety issue, that's different.  But I don't just want to start fixing everything I see, so I move on. Drop cloth and fire blanket to protect the car and start cutting.  

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The inner structure was removed at this time too.  It's gotta' come out and be repaired too.  The moisture that was trapped between the hood panels will have rusted out the inner panel as well.  

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I get this dude on the operating table for evaluation.

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 aannnnd it's rotten.The rust is bead blasted off and the bond-o and JB Weld removed.  

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Sometimes you can leave the flange all the way around which makes the repair easier.  In this case though I needed to replace the flange on both sides. 

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The inner structure repairs complete.

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With the repairs done I prime and paint the panel black.  I have in the past done things like add drain holes.  Don't know if it does much good.  The inner and out panels are so close together that when you reassemble the hood, the drain holes are almost blocked anyway.  In this case I put everything back like the factory did it.  Basically making the rust start over.  It lasted fifty years from Hudson, it should last fifty years again.

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I forgot to take pictures of the outer hood corners when I was making them.  Here is the inside of the hood.  After I welded the hood corners in I cleaned, primed, then painted the inside black.  Once the inner structure is installed you won't be able to get in there to paint it.

superwasp

I love these posts. It's nice to see skills like this still exist.

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The outside of the hood with new hood corners installed.  Smoothed up a little bit.  The factory hood edges always look a little shabby, to me.  

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With the hood closed.  Notice the hood matches the fenders now?  If the hood hinges are kept clean and lubricated the hood corners should stay nice.

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From my place the car is going to another shop to have some mechanicals done.  I primed the outside just to keep it from rusting until a painter can paint it properly.

PaulButler

I've said it before and I'll say it again , your work is exceptional Perry!

bent metal

Thank you very much. 

cheyenne7271

Very nice work, sir

54coupe

I think 40-50% of the stepdown Hudsons out there need this repair.Thanks for sharing.

jjbubaboy

Absolutely incredible and amazing!
What awesome work, I love it.

railknight

Boy, that is beautifully done body work on the hood!  Thanks for sharing this.  I feel blessed, so far, that this isn't an issue with my Super Wasp.  

Glowplug

Perry, per our previous communications, I have captured your work and added it to my website. It appears in the Body Work section of the site. Ken 

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Ok Ken, I'm glad to see my work archived in various places.  Thus far I have only really posted pictures on my instagram and on this web site.   Hopefully it will be a reference for future restoration work for whoever wants to see. 

StepUp

This attention to detail fosters, "Pride of ownership and workmanship." Thanks for sharing and congratulations to the owner for hiring you.  

fliptop

Exceptional work... A great tutorial for those of us who are just getting into these types of issues.