Hood nose repair

[shadesh]

Hi,

The nose on my 280z hood is dented in. Has anyone tried repairing it before themselves? Does anyone have any tips/steps on how to repair.?

I know someone will say that it will be easier to buy another one.. true, but if I tried to repair my hood myself, is it possible...? I look forward to your feedback.. Thanks.

[FHPTOM]

I am in the process of replacing the leading edge across an entire hood on my project car.

I just used some sheet metal bent to same specs as original hood, welded in place with a light coating of body filler to smooth out. All that is left is to put some paint on it.

If you just have a small dent you can try straightening metal then filler or just bonda to reform shape.

Tom

[mdbrandy]

Just for more information, try this thread:

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21572

I had a crunched hood, that I've been using a rusty replacement on for 2 years, and just a couple of days ago, after 6 months of waiting, actually obtained an Nissan NOS hood replacement for. Dealer thinks "I got the last hood available". But the thread above led me to believe fixing hoods is hard to do right...

Good luck.

[trykflyr]

I've repaired cruched hoods on 2 of my z's. Tried the rivet gun and dolly-hammer-it-back-into-shape and fill with bondo. If it's really out of line, it's probably not only pushed down but twisted as well. There's no good fix for it with out a jig.

It's possible to repair it. If you have access to air, you can use a rivet gun as opposed to an air hammer. The blows are softer and it's easier to control. Go to your local small general aviation airfield and find a maintenance shop or a parts store. They'll point you in the right direction for finding a gun. Get the basic shape as close as you can using the gun and a dolly, then try tapping with a smaller hammer backed up by a shot bag. I use a bag made out of an old welding jacket sleeve filled with a bag of lead shot from the local reloading shop. It allows the metal to bend without deforming too badly. As long as the dent isn't creased, you should be ok. You'll have to fill the low spots and sand your butt off to get it shaped right. It'll look good for a while, but will eventually crack at the filler. Temporary fix at best until you can get a replacement that isn't banged up.

Hate to say it, but you're probably better off finding a replacement hood.

[JimmyZ]

It's fixable. The question is how much experience do you have with body filler and metal bumping? Depending on where the dent is you may need to pull it out if you can't get a hammer and dolly to it. Weld-on studs are good for this.

Here's a page I made for someone who is new to paint and bodywork. It should give you some ideas and direction.

http://warbuddies.homestead.com/RestoHelp.html

Post a picture of the damage. It might help. You will need to get it repainted of course. It might be quicker/better/easier to just have the body shop handle the whole thing. They will do a better job of matching the paint and getting the bodywork right.

There's nothing stopping you from doing it if you have all the equipment and materials. Using a wide spreader for filler such as a drywall spreader helps to get a good initial shape to work with. (On large area jobs such as this) A long durablock is a must too.