Ridge Runner

Man ,i hauled off a couple of removed quarters not long ago .Wish i knew you needed the pockets .I have several scoops .

I have been doing some measuring ,it looks like i have to remove 3 5/8 right in front of the latch and bring the pieces back together .I need to remove some small areas and i need to add some small areas but it doesn't look like a big deal .The hard part is going to be glassing the pieces back together because it will have to be done in the mold so it will fit .I will place some plastic under the under brace to keep resin from getting on my pretty new mold .I will have to use this under brace to make the first hood ,that i will keep because it will be pieced together .I get the bracing put together and a top made and bond the two together and i can make the new under brace mold .

I had to fight with photo bucket

I gel coated the under brace mold this morning . I used 3 layers of 2oz mat . The hinge area will have a 12 in piece of 1 1/2 x 3/16 plate steel for the hinge mounting ,they will be drilled and threaded .I embedded the plate in two layers of mat on top of the 3 layers of the brace its self ,it will be strong enough to be able to use the stock springs on the hinges I will trim it out tomorrow then i will see what i need to do to shorten it .It will have to be shortened in front of the hood latch because both the long and short hood will have the front latch in the same location.The front latch plate will be pop riveted inside the under brace and will use the factory catch bar .

The brake light switch can stick ,it works off a pin that is pushed up if the valve is ever off center due to bleeding the brakes or just a leak in a wheel cylinder .Remove the switch ,it will not leak ,see if the pin moves up and down easily .If it isn't stuck the valve is probably off center ,if it is stuck you can push it back down and it will usually work after that . Can't help with the radio ,unless it is the fuse or just unplugged . If the spouse will not stop talking ...leave the air not working and tell her /him to stick their head out the window to keep cool,that may stop all conversation ...or get your butt kicked !

Photo bucket has been giving me headaches for the last couple of weeks but i load my images in the library then click on the image i want, when it opens i right click in the image and click copy and then click in the post window and press Ctrl and V at the same time ,the pic opens instantly. Only problem with Photo Bucket is if you delete a pic in photo bucket it will also delete the image in the forum.

There is still quite a bit of work to do ,there is still the under brace . I plan on doing the trunk lid and end caps and the sail panels when i get the chance.I have a Shelby trunk lid and end caps i can modify ,i will have to find a coupe though to make the pieces on. The tail panel will be just the Shelby panel.

Correct ,a top piece then the bottom piece and bond the two together .It will be basically what i just did to make the mold ,but in reverse .

I filled in the bottom of the box with 2x4s ,turned it over and hole sawed the clamping holes . I peeled the masking tape off then i trimmed the exes material away and sanded the flange flush with the bondo on the back lip of the hood . The hood lifted right out of the mold with out any problems . Remember the liquid mold release i sprayed ? it sticks to the mold because the hood was waxed ,it peeled right out .The mold is still not ready to use though .It has to be sanded with progressive grit wet paper until i get to 600 grit and then it will be waxed and it will be ready to use . The steel hood came out with out any damage so i think i will hang it on the wall ,i may want to use it to make another mold some day. The under brace will be next ,i have to make one ,cut it to fit then make the mold .

OH you will like the next post ! Any one have some smelling salts for Mike Stang ? may take me a bit ,photo bucket is being a B***H.

She's back! Wooo Hooo!!

All fiberglass needs prep work ...All metal parts need prep work before paint . If i did this right ,and i am pretty sure i did ,the prep work will be very minimal .. The hood molding holes will be drilled but the hood pins will not .

I added 2 more layers late last night and finished the top mold this morning .I built a box on top of the mold that fits tight to the mold ,stapled some mat to the box ,wet it down and rolled it out with my roller .Now every hood that comes out of the mold will be the same because the steel hood is still in the mold .I have to add a couple of 2x4s in the middle of the box so it will set on my cart ,trim the exes material away ,cut some holes for clamping and then i can remove the metal hood from the mold .

I used 6 layers of 2 inch masking tape to make the edge flange I sprayed 3 coats of mold release ,it dries like a thin sheet of plastic. Gel coat time .Two coats of black tooling gel coat . I set the first sheet of 2oz mat on the hood . I wet down half of the hood with ISO resin ,to do the whole thing at one time could cause a big problem if it hardened on me The first layer is done ,it will dry until tomorrow when i will add the last 5 layers .There will still be a bit of work to do before the top panel mold will be usable .

They look like someone has stitched a set of hooks from a safety harness into them They use a eyelet and clip to that ,The small hole is for a cotter pin to keep the clasp from opening once hooked .They should work if you use an eyelet in the place of the regular seat belt bolt .

The late Lincoln rear end is not a 9 inch ,it is a 9 3/8 unless you have a Versalies rear end and that is a direct bolt in and same width as a 65-66 rear end and is a 9 inch . There is two styles ,one with leaf spring pads and one with 4 bars ,they are both the same width but the second will need leaf pads or go 4 bar .

This is mold wax ,it is pure carnuba wax but much thicker than car wax and harder to work with. Two coats should be applied ,especially with those deep pockets. I put two coats on ,but i did small spots at a time because it is so hard to work with.You can see the difference in color and shine right away. It is ready for tomorrow morning to start in on the top skin mold.

I spread bondo on the back side of the hood lip Using my angle grinder and a 80 grit disk i leveled it down to about 3/16 inch thick keeping the outer edge knife sharp . In about an hour i will wax the top with mold wax .Tomorrow morning ,after a bit of prep work ,i will be ready to start on the top skin mold . Soon ...very Soon !

I primered it yesterday with high build .Blocked sanded it with 180 then 400 then 600 grit .This top cant possibly get any flatter . The top is finished except i need to turn it upside down and sharpen the bottom of the outer lip ,i will use bondo .This will allow me to make a tight flange so the hood will have a finished edge all the way around. Next step will be waxing the surface with mold wax ,spraying 3 coats of liquid mold release ,it dries like a sheet of plastic,and spray on the black tooling gel coat .The mold release it water base and washes off with warm water so wax never touches the finished hood surface .

i was supposed to work on something else today ...HA! i did a final block sand on the gel coat and primered it I will block sand again tomorrow and primer one more time and finish the primer with 2000 grit .In between the other project i will make the mold sometime next week

Those look like they are for a flat hood .The area that the pins go is curved

If you had to cut just the x brace you should not have a problem because there is no x brace on this hood it is just the ram air chamber and a short brace on the side of that .

The hood pins attach to the fender and headlight bucket on the Shelby ,they would not work with the stock fenders so i had to fill them.It may be a little longer than i was thinking ,i have some work that popped up that i have to do first ,maybe another week before i have the molds made . I did some more block sanding and the top is coming out great ,just a couple of very light low spots around the edges i have to build up then it is ready for primer and another block sanding .The first hood top i make will have to stay in the mold until i cut and fit the under bracing and bond it in ,then i will make the new underbrace mold from that so there is still a bit of work before a complete hood can be made .

As far as i can tell they will be something like $450 +shipping ...For members ,for all others will be $550 +shipping .The ISO resin is a lot more expensive than the bargain basement resin that most fiberglass parts are made from .When you close this hood it will ring like metal .I will have to find a shipping company and find boxes big enough to fit them.Shipping will be exact shipping and not a penny more .

I think this will look great on a 69 ,especially with the front scoops cut out .I think i will be putting one on my R code ,i need a hood and the shaker and that is expensive ,this way i will at least still have a ram air hood .All the scoop openings will be cut on the finished hoods but they will need the screens and they can be bought at any of the parts venders .