John, sent you a reply to your two messages that basically say this; Well its been a while since Ive been on the board as well as out in the garage making hoods. Sometimes work and life just takes all of your time. I spent the last year flying between Phoenix and Baltimore every month, in May I made one last trip and drove a moving van and car trailer back to Arizona. I have a new steering box and rear seat cover for the GS that have been sitting awaiting my attention for months. Now that its 110+ degrees in the valley things have returned to a less hectic pace, I can get back to my hood building, yes timing is everything! Anyway I pulled the hood underside mold back into position now that I can move in the garage. A little touch up and some release wax and Ill get back into building hoods. I dont anticipate another moving van adventure for maybe two years, if at all, so Im back to hopefully being able to work in my garage on hoods as well as give the GS some attention along with my poor boat that hasnt seen the lake in 3 years! I have a nice fresh B&M blower awaiting me to freshened up the 509 and start using that toy again as well!
Craig, I believe it's time for me to step in line for one of your hoods for my Skylark pending a few questions. If you are ready to build one I'll PM you with the concerns. Thanks, Larry
I laid up the underhood section just before I had to go to Florida to visit my Mom. I popped it out of the mold the next day after I returned to AZ. I need to trim the edges back about an inch, bond in metal for the hinge attachment points and the hood latch. I started moving stuff around in the garage today to get the hood mold set up tomorrow.
Well, I decided to spend my Friday night buffing out the hood mold, bolting it together & applying mold release wax. The mold really looked good. Then I laid on a coating of PVA. This morning I up got up early before the garage was over 100 degrees and sprayed on a nice layer of sandable gel-coat. This sits for a while and then I can lay up the first layer of fiberglass to stabilize it.
1st layer is on and curing. It took about 2 1/2 hours to lay this up, after which I was ready for a shower and some A/C I'll try and get the 2nd layer on tomorrow.
Well today I did a rough trim on the under side section to get it to lay on the hood section. Still needs some tweaking to get it close enough to bond and clamp, hopefully next weekend. After making a hood where the hinge bolt holes were off by 1/2" I made this jig. One worthless hood in the shed is enough! The all-thread shows me where to drill the pilot holes that will eventually be drilled and tapped. Of course since fiberglass doesn't hold a thread very well, I bond in some steel on the backside of the under hood section. The pop rivets are just to line up the guide holes, I pulled them out once the epoxy started to set. Next thing to do is cut open the hood latch hole and add some metal there for the latch dogs to catch. Then the two parts can be permanently put together and it's almost complete
1) Well I got a little more done this weekend. I glassed over the metal on the underside section that the hinges attach. This metal was epoxied in, the fiberglass may be overkill, but if it comes loose down the road, while it would be repairable, it'd be a PITA. So what's a little more glass Also tapped the bolt holes for the hinge bolts. 2) I added the metal to the hood latch area. This is pop riveted to the back of the under hood section and then glassed in. The metal comes out of the latch hole and curves around the lip so the hood latch paw is grabbing steel, not fiberglass which I would think would be not very reliable. Extending it about 8 inches from the latch hole adds some more support to the critical area that holds the hood down! 3) I bought a hood latch so I could check the latch setup prior to glassing both parts together. 4) I did the last trimming on the underside section. Now I have to grind down the areas that will be glassed to hold the parts together and then I can add epoxy, put the parts together and clamp them together.
Hey man did you ever get the e-mails I sent you? I sent one on the 6th about the hood being finished, I also sent one a while back about the function of the airbox.
Hi Craig, I did receive an email a long time ago asking what I was wanting as far as the hood goes. If you sent me one recently I'll check in my personal email. If the hood is complete as you've said, I'm ready to pay you. I check my email. Thank you. John.
Well moving time approaches. We're looking at houses back east and planning on making an offer around the end of March which will allow the closing date to come close to my retirement date of May 1st. The current lists of houses has #1 and #2 both having existing area for my shop (that'll be bigger than my current 2 car garage!) to build parts! With new shop space and no 40 hour Tue-Fri job to worry about, once we get settled in it's back to the 'glass Of course it'll take some adjustment on my part, I'd become accustomed to working in a garage that's 105 degrees. Now it'll be less heat but more humidity!
