I'm making the skin for the widened hood from 7 pieces with 6 of them coming from salvaged MGB aluminum hoods. The center strip is made from 3003 aluminum on the English wheel.
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Everything fit perfectly before I started welding. After welding half of the passenger side longitudinal seam I was able to get the shape back to where it should be with a lot of hammer/dolly and wheel work but it left the drivers side seam a long way out.
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My friend Mike came over to help get the driver's side seam tacked and having an extra set of hands was invaluable. The edges lined up fairly well at the back so we started there. I would do a tack out about 3" and then go back and align the edges between the tacks and tack it again halfway in between. This worked pretty well for the first 2' and then the gap between the sheets started to get wider.
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We stopped and a little slapper / hammer and dolly got the shape close to where it should be and started to close the gap at the front slightly. It wasn't enough so I took off the aluminum skin and ground the edge of the steel frame slightly to allow the hood section on the driver's side to come closer to the center piece. A couple tries and the gap was nice and tight again but the center strip had to be man-handled to get the edges to line up. That's where Mike's extra hands came in and we were able to get it tacked about 3" at a time before I had to hammer and dolly the shape again. Each cycle of tacking and shaping caused the seam to get closer and closer until the final 8" the edges were perfectly aligned
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The two front pieces on the driver's side were tacked in place and it was starting to look like a hood (I can't show it because of the 4 picture limit). I fit the hood on the car and the gaps looked good and the edges were pretty much level with the fenders and cowl without making any adjustments. I still have to finish weld everything and tune up the shape but I'm encouraged.
You can add more pics by replying to your post, Jim.
OK, here are a couple more pictures
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Outstanding! Looks like you're moving toward final paint! How far are you from that Jim?
Once the hood skin is done I will prime and paint the underside before I crimp it onto the frame. I can then adjust the edges to match the fender and cowl. I still have to remake the windshield glass and attach the new lower channel to the cowl and also make a new roll bar. I may also make a new rear valence but I haven't decided for sure yet. Then it is bodywork and block sanding til my fingers bleed in prep for paint. I'm going to paint the hood, trunk lid and doors off the car so the body shell should be fairly easy I already have the engine compartment, trunk and underside painted.
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Jim,
Great looking job! Having just tackled a bunch of fab work on mine... I have a MUCH greater appreciation of "Pannel beating". Time, more time, smash a thumb or two. English wheel and plannishing hammer, loved the shrinker/streacher and bead roller... welding not so much!
please post more pics when you have time...
Congrats
Bones
I have the whole build chronicled here http://forum.britishv8.org/read.php?13,48698 There are links to the previous parts at the top. That should keep you busy for a while.
That's just beautiful!
This is the skin on the frame mounted on the car
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This is the Bonded Logic insulation http://www.summitracing.com/search/brand/tru-max?sortby=Default&sortorder=Ascending&keyword=bonded%20logic&kr=bonded%20logic on the underside of the skin.
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As soon as I repaint the frame I'll crimp the skin onto it and I should have a functioning hood
Looks good Jim. Another milestone!
Wish my stock B bonnet opened like that! I had a '73 Ford Courier Pickup that did. I thought it was so cool. I would leave it open, get in, and just let out the clutch a little to close it.
Getting the hood to open that way was a bit more difficult than I had originally thought. You can't use a simple hinge because the front of the hood bows out past the front corners and the pivot points of the hinges have to be out in front of the most forward point of the hood or it just pushes down on the top of the grille and won't open. I ended up making a hinge setup similar to what is used on some BMW's and Saabs where the hood slides forward and up and then it is lifted up to the vertical position ahead of the grille. Hard to picture so I'll post some shots of it when I get the hood mounted.
I just marvel at the engineering of your build. I wish I had that luxery of time right now.
Tim
Jim, it looks like you did a very good job of concealing the hinges. I had the same problem with mine, though more so, and I looked to the same sources for the solution. My hinges are very much visible however, with the hood open.
Jim
I'll take some pictures of the mechanism when I get the hood mounted
I'm surprised no one has commented on the roll bar. Are you planning to make it out of round stock or something like oval?
So you don't think the cardboard one would hold up? I had one made but I didn't like the shape after I got the windshield frame done. The cardboard is a mock up of the shape for the new one. It will have a slightly curved top piece to match the contour of the windshield and the vertical pieces angled inwards toward the top to follow the windshield posts. It will be made from 2" x .120" DOM. Haven't found any ovalized .120" wall tubing and even if I did, I don't know how I would bend it.
Seems like it would be awfully hard to roll that car.
I agree unless I hit something but better to be safe...
Like a curb. It's not like it will be hard to get it seriously sidewayz. ;)
I hit a curb once, out in LA, while going sideways at a pretty good clip. Caught it a pretty good lick with the back tire. Tore the tire and broke the center out of the wheel. Bent the axle too. Don't remember it tipping though. But I was only a few inches off my line so I can see where if you got really crossed up it could be different. I've tipped cars up a couple times, doing it in the MGB would be an accomplishment. Doing it with Jim's wide MGB would undoubtedly involve a considerably high rate of speed and something more significant than a curb.
Jim
Good thing I'll never drive it fast or do anything to lose traction.
Right, we're buying that!
RE: oval... I've seen folks do two round and then basically wrap them in thin sheet metal. Was thinking a wider one like that would look good on your car.
Not sure I agree about not flipping it against a curb. Obviously it would take quite a bit of speed, but I'm guessing it won't take long to get to warp speed in that machine.
I'm thinking it may look better & sleeker without a roll bar.
I had considered filling in the holes in the sheetmetal ahead of the trunk and not running a rollbar - I agree it would look better and sleeker without. I do want to run it at a Goodguys slalom event and they require roll bars on open cars and possibly run a track day sometime. I think that making the top section slightly curved to match the curve of the windshield frame will make it blend in to the design of the car better. At any rate, it will give me an attachment point for the seat belts.
Seat belt attachment calls for a second horizontal bar at approximately shoulder height.
Together with a little bracing, you can achieve a lot of side-impact protection.
I will have a horizontal bar if I ever decide to use shoulder harnesses but for now the upper mount of a 3 point will mount to the vertical section of the hoop.
Got the skin crimped onto the frame so it's a nice rigid structure now. I added a center support to help keep the insulation in place. The weight of the completed hood is 33 lbs. I've never weighed one but I understand that a stock MGB steel hood weighs 30 lbs so it isn't too terribly heavy.
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Now I have to work on getting it adjusted to fit well.
Fiddled around with it for a couple hours and have it fitting pretty well. The drivers side gap is pretty nice and I can close the other side up by moving the fender The gap at the back is wide in the center of the car because I didn't know how to bend a curved flange in sheetmetal when I made the filler piece for the cowl. It will be fixed before paint. I had to reshape the curvature over the grille with a little judicious hammer and wood block work but it fits pretty well now and the latch works.
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Looking good!
Jim
Jim, How about some of the oem roll bars, ie. PT Cruiser convert, BMW roadster. ?
It needs to be a particular shape, an exact width and I also want it out of 2" tubing to make it look right. I had another one made but it didn't look right because the bends were too tight. It's not a big deal, I just have to get the tubing bent up and weld on the plates.