The garage was under 100 degrees for the first time in several months, so I did a little welding project fixing those stress cracks in my stock steel hood. I know I've seen people ask about this in the past, so I thought I'd take some pictures of the process. There may be better ways of fixing these cracks, but this method seemed to make sense to me.
3/4"X3/4" tube steel fits well into the inside lip of the hood edge. It had to be bent slightly to follow the curve of the hood.
Trial fit of the new reinforcing brace. The ends need notching to allow for the factory hood bracing.
Using a thin cut off wheel I ground out the crack to give a consistent gap w/ bare metal to fill in with the welder. I then used weld-thru primer to prep the inside of hood edge and the new 3/4" reinforcing brace.
Before and after. Welded and ground smooth.
The cracks near the front of the hood were too close to the hood bumper stop and I couldn't fit full 3/4x3/4 channel in there. So I cut some down similar to angle iron and welded in.
Same front edge crack after welding and grinding smooth.
The front lip also had just the start of a crack along the leading edge. I ground out, welded up and ground smooth.
3/4"X3/4" tube steel fits well into the inside lip of the hood edge. It had to be bent slightly to follow the curve of the hood.
Trial fit of the new reinforcing brace. The ends need notching to allow for the factory hood bracing.
Using a thin cut off wheel I ground out the crack to give a consistent gap w/ bare metal to fill in with the welder. I then used weld-thru primer to prep the inside of hood edge and the new 3/4" reinforcing brace.
Before and after. Welded and ground smooth.
The cracks near the front of the hood were too close to the hood bumper stop and I couldn't fit full 3/4x3/4 channel in there. So I cut some down similar to angle iron and welded in.
Same front edge crack after welding and grinding smooth.
The front lip also had just the start of a crack along the leading edge. I ground out, welded up and ground smooth.
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