Different Hood Stampings? & how no filler is ugly.

I was sanding away on my replacement hood over the weekend and I realized something wasn't right. Besides the fact that what I thought was a straight hood had a lot of filler covering dents that is. I finally figured it out when I walked over to my parts Duece to collect my already painted hood tie downs. The stampings are different.

My 1952 and 1953 stock hoods have the curve on the side all the way to the back of the hood. My replacement hood has the curve end about 2/3 of the way back. The pictures below hopefully captured what I am talking about. They also captured all the dents in the hood that my "no bondo" rule brings to life. I tried to fix them with a hammer, but the cross brace is below them and I am not good enough to pound dents without a full swing of a hammer.

All of my manuals which are 1954-1965 versions show the stamping that is on my orginal trucks. I guess either the replacement hood has some amazingly symetrical dents on both sides or it is a replacement from a very much later model.

Tim, I'm sorry I can't see what your talking about. How about a couple of arrows to point out the difference?

You parts truck hook looks like it might have been in better shape than the replacement one.

Surface rust on top and almost the entire front brace underneath rusted through made me think the other one would be better.

I am not going to put any numbers on the hood until I sand down the parts one and see how it comes out though.

How do I add arrows Joe?

your freshly painted hood is badly dented - looks like once upon a time it opened at speed. (don't ask me how I know what that looks like).

Regards,
David

Tim are you talking about the dished out area along the sides of the hoods, like I have circled in my pic? If so, all the pics I have of deuces show it going all the way to the back edge of the hood. Maybe it has to do something with the fix up job some body did on your new hood.

First time I've tried to draw on a photo, so ya'll pardon my child-like marks.

IMHO, the two arrows at left point to a crease caused by trying to raise hood with windshield down. The single arrow at right points to a crease caused by the hood coming up and striking the windshield frame with the windshield in the up position. This crease, coincidentally, hits right over a brace on the underside of the hood, making it very difficult to repair without cutting out and later reinstalling the brace.

When I bent a hood it was at about 50 miles per hour, and the dent was smooth and perfect, like done by a machine. Probably because the metal is relatively light, and a great deal of force is involved at that speed, and the air distributes the force evenly - just like using water to form metal.

Regards,
David Doyle

Perfect explanation DDoyle. Thanks for the arrows too.

That would explain why the curve is on both sides of the hood at the same place.

Seems I will have to see if glazing puddy is "filler" and breaks my no filler rule or not so I can use my other replacement hood. That will have to be later though. The windshield frame and doors are my projects for this weekend followed by the fenders next week.

Tim if you look in my pic you can see the typical dent from the windshield in the hood edge. But with some careful work it can be knocked out. Check out this close-up from the after.

Good job on the arrows Dave.

Tim, you could have used MS Paint to put the arrows on....but I think we've gotten the answer now. You really need to invest in a media blaster to clean up these old MV parts.

The dents didn 't look that bad until I put the second coat of paint on. I will get it out in the sun Saturday and get some pictures. A blaster would be a good idea, but not really affordable right now.

I showed Jennifer this thread and she got a good laugh about how the dents got there and how I thought since they were symetical they had to be part of the stamping. Then she realized she would be required to help me get the hood off the runner, off the parts truck and then back on the runner again. She stopped laughing then.

I played around with my photo program and now know how to do the cirlces and arrows or whatever else I want to do to a picture. Thanks for pushing me on this guys.

The Gasser got to sit out in the sun some today while I pulled the hardtop off the M715 and basically made it more summer ready. The week or so we had of winter here were really tough.

Here is the Gasser looking more and more like a truck. The hood dents can be seen pretty good.

Yes, the hood tie downs are supposed to be upside down compared to modern M35's on the early ones. The holes on the radiator gaurd are only big enough for #10 screws which is what the little tabs take. The tiedowns themselves get held on with a 1/4" fastener.

Your truck looks superb - I've got some project here you can finish for me when you get done wtih yours

I think you will find that the hood tie downs were upside down on only the very earliest of the M34s, I believe all the M35s had them in the "normal" position. I've got pix somewhere of the very first M35 if you'd like me to verify my sometimes failing memory.

Congrats on a super job!

Sincerely,
David Doyle

David,
Don't spend any time on the tiedowns. I have 3 grills. The one that came from the 1952 has the small holes not big enough for a 1/4" bolt to fit through. The other 2 have 1/4" holes in the grill. I cleaned up the 1952 grill and painted it months ago before I knew there was a difference. So, it is the one that got installed when one was needed.

However, if you feel you must look into this. My 6 JAN 55 ORD9 doesn't have a picture with a lettered arrow pointing to the tab. Just an arrow pointing to the catch. The catch in the picture is mounted on the grill and is number 7539197. The "bracket,hood to brush gaurd catch (on brush gaurd)" is number 7539218. Does that mean the catch is mounted on the brush gaurd or that the bracket is? But, the next lines down are for a nut and a screw. Both of which are No. 10-32NF. Since the holes in my brush gaurd are too small for 1/4", I figured I was setting it up correctly for the parts I had.

All that being written, I already don't like this set up because every time I raise the hood or lower the hood, the catch (big part with the spring inside) rubs or hangs up on the tab. This adds one or two extra steps to raising or lowering the hood and scratches paint up real fast. I can see why they were reversed in the field and finally from the factory. The new way works a lot better.

Looking great Tim! The whole opening the hood thing got me thinking. My M715, as with other early mv's, had brackets or gaurds with welting on them installed on the windshield frame over the wipers to help protect the hood and support the windshield frame when the windshield was put in the down position. I haven't measured them to see if they would work on an M35, but would that be something that would help save your hood from getting dented/scratched? I'm sure it would work just as well in the reverse position with the winshield in the up position and the hood up. Just an idea....

I am taking a break from sanding on the doors and windshield frame as I type this. So, I am not far enough along to know if I like the windshield frame sitting on the little raised rest already on the hood when it is down or would like something different. I do know my M715 has welting imprints on the hood where the windshield stands touch the hood. I like the windshield down and drive that way as often as possible. This time of year I usually take my bikinni top off and fold the windshield down once I hit the dirt road about 1/2 mile from my house. It doesn't go back up again until I am back on the pavement heading out again.

David, I forgot to mention that I got the newest MVM yesterday and really enjoyed your 1/2 track article. I love all the little differences you point out between the models and manufacturers.

Tim, you'll find that with the swing out windows in the deuce there is no need to fold the windshield down for air flow. People give me odd looks when I tell them I have the air on.

Along with Dave's comments on air, when it gets reall hot out and the cab is blistering from the engine heat, I find that closing the windows really helps. Stop laughing, with the side windows closed and the windshield tilted out, it pressurizes the can and blows air out every little hole. Dman tried it on the way back from TN and concurs.

A Deuce on a spring or fall day with the windshields open is a wonder feeling.

Sorry for the off topic post, just wanted to add that in.

Kenny, your method of closing the side windows and opening the front made the trip home from the GA rally great. As long as we were moving, I was comfortable. This included the long run on I-10 with 100% humidity and about 80 degrees in the middle of night.