So the aftermarket hood didn't properly fit the cowl, didn't properly fit the grille, and (not surprisingly) doesn't fit the front fenders...so I had to tweak the fenders as well. I don't have many pics of it but it was easier for me to slice the fenders longitudinal and re-weld them to match the hood than to tweak the hood. The curvatures just didn't match so no amount of adjusting was going to fix it...so snip, snip, weld, weld.
The last issue that had with the aftermarket hood was that although I was able to reshape the hood to better match the cowl, the hood skin still didn't want to pull down snug on the cowl seal. I could press the hood skin downward with slight pressure right at the hood support that I had cut and welded earlier but it wouldn't hold. After some internet searching I saw where someone had used some anti-flutter sealant between the substructure and skin to “firm-up” the skin to the support. This was mostly to keep it from oil-canning but it might work for this situation as well. The anti-flutter was sturdy but had enough flexibility so as not to telegraph through the skin as it flexed. I determined this is how I'd fix it.
So I removed the hood, cleaned the surfaces between the skin and support with 80 grit and some solvent afterward, taped off the area and put a healthy bead of the adhesive on the hood under the support. I then immediately re-installed the hood (before it cured) and placed some sandbags I made to hold the skin down to the cowl in the local area of concern to let it dry for 24 hrs. That seemed to the do the trick. The next day the hood matches much better to the cowl.
Hopefully this is most of the heavylifting completed to make this hood fit.... fingers crossed.
1949 Chevy Panel Truck A Project Journal I'm old but I make up for it by being immature.
