After the hood was re-fitted to the cowl I then focused on the front of the hood. I moved parts, slotted holes, threw tools, prayed to the gods of sheet-metal and the front nose would not match the aftermarket grille no matter what I did. But this time I had my '48 3600 to go by. So I made a template of the '48 and like I suspected, the aftermarket hood was too flat on the nose area compared to the stock hood. It was actually about 1/2” to 5/8” too snub-nosed compared to the '48. If it matched the '48 contour then it would match the grille so I had to do something to make it fit.
The outer edges of the hood close to the fenders were also pushed too far aft and had too much downward curvature to properly match the fenders. I split the outer edge of the hood skin from the under-structure in this area and then pulled the local hood skin forward by using a stud and dent puller. This brought the outer hood curvature closer to matching the fender but it wasn't perfect so I had to do some work on the fenders in this local area as well.
Once the outer edges of the hood were fairly close then I had to figure out how to grow the center of the hood forward to better match the grille contour. I decided that I need to split the hood down the centerline a bit and pull it forward to achieve a more “pointy” profile. I also had to split it along the lower center edge in order to pull it forward as well as fab a new return flange to back up the new nose.
After all the cutting was done and I pulled the nose forward then it was obvious that I had to add some metal to account for the increased area of the re-contour. I used the simple template I made from the '48 to guide me in adding the extra metal and then I welded it up and ground down all the welds. Luckily the nose emblem and center trim will hide most of the carnage after it has some filler on it.
1949 Chevy Panel Truck A Project Journal I'm old but I make up for it by being immature.
