73 Notchback Back - Half

[gmagilla]

Thanks Don , I think the way you're thinking would be a good way to do it no worries about heat while welding , the hood is not flemsy but I'll lift one side when I get home and see how far it comes up before the other side starts up but with the cowl scoop on it should stiffin it back up . I made the old 71 cowl scoop from an old ElCamino hood it turned out nice but with no filler panel on the bottom to get the air to the carb and no inner fenders the air came out the back at the opening and then down into the vents and on a hot day I roasted inside the car going down the highway there is definitely high pressure at the cowl . I was going to do this hood the same as the 71 but after I cut the center out and I got to thinkin about all that hot air I decided to try to make it a true cowl induction hood and I'm trying to make it have sort of a factory look to it , by cuttin the whole center section out it made a lot more work for myself would of been better to mark the breather stud on the bottom of the hood and cut the hole for the flange , I should of just started over with a diferent hood . I saw an older Vette with a cowl about as tall as the one I'm making and the sides where wider at the bottom like an L88 hood so I may push the bottom out a little to see how it would look . I didn't want a 24" widw scoop cause I thought it was just to wide and it ended up 22 3/4" at the rear the 71 was 21 1/2 " wide and the sides where 90* to the hood . Hope this helps you

[megavega]

Thanx for the info, let me know on the hood flex.
I hope to get something done sometime soon on mine seeing a few of you guys still at it makes me want to work on mine. Just got to get caught up on everyone elses stuff here first.

Thanx again for the measurements too.

[gmagilla]

Don , it looks like the left side comes up 2 3/4" before the right side lifts off the rubber stop ( I measured first then took pic , would be nice to have 3 hands sometimes ), I would think welding the scoop on would stifin it some , with the old 71 I would lift it by the corner of the scoop on the left side maybe because it flexed or the fact that I left the spring off and couldn't get my fingers under the side but I don't remember . How far does a stock hood flex when it is lifted by the corner , I know I raised mine a thousand times before I cut it up but I didn't pay any attention to it flexing .

[megavega]

whatcha workin on now Gil?
BTW-I dont know about the hood flex either as the 2 cars I own both have the hoods up in the attic..lol. I have a wagon here building for a member here as soon as I get done putting in the big block I can check the hood fitment and relay that info.

[gmagilla]

Hey Don , how time flies ,truckin is takin up most of my time ,the DOT changed the rules and really F-ed things up for the kind of haulin I do . 2 months and the hood is the same as the last picture . I wanted it done but to many other things seem to get between me and the car . Been workin on my Avaburb today ( old Suburban I turned into a puckup , works just like an Avalanche ) it's got 220,00 on it always ran perfect and not a drop of oil between changes , last time I drove it to get my truck it sparked knocked so bad and wouldn't idle so I hauled it home , should of done a compression check first before I put a bucket of money in all the electronic parts on it , 1&7 have 180 , 2&8 have 180 , 3-5-4&6 all have 30 , both head gaskets let go at the same time , guess I shouldn't complain to much as I've never had to touch this motor , plugs have nothing but a little tan color on them . I'm going to put it back together and see how many more it will go and when the time comes put a crate motor in it . $875 to overhaul this motor or Jeg's has a crate motor for $1500 shipped .
I'm going to be leaning over my walker gettin this car done

[megavega]

Dont sweat it, I have not worked on mine for months!

[gmagilla]

Hard to believe I haven't touched this car in 5 months , how times flies when your havin fun , wait , how time flies when your workin every day , finally got some time off and it's 8 outside this morning so I went to town and got myself an Abrasive Blaster from the local Farm & Home Store 10 gal. tank it doesn't say how much it holds , they sell 40 lb. tubs of abrasive so maybe thats about what it holds . Now for a warm up and time to try it out on the hood .

It came with 3 extra ceramic nozzles . That dead man valve on the nozzle has a very stiff spring , I can see myself gittin tired of holdin that fast .

[chevyart]

gil have fun with the new toy.(safety glasses?) art

[gmagilla]

I got some new tools today . I'll use them first on my other Suburban to turn it into a 4 door pickup if I ever get the time and then to make the wheel well opening on the Vega at the rear quarters . Not to happy with Eastwood as I went to thier website to order and seen that they put tax on it so I went to e-bay and they put tax on it there also , I didn't know they have a store in Ill. but I saved $7 whole dollars on e-bay , then later that same night I'm looking at my new Hot Rod and there they are in a add for Black Friday sale for the whole month of Nov. $20 cheaper . I send a message through e-bay about this and why the sale price didn't show up on thier website as I would of ordered it off the website and all I got was " Sorry about that " so I asked for the $20 in a refund and they suddenly go silent . They cost $191.24 , could of got them for $137.00 with no name but would they be as good , they look exactly the same except the Eastwood ones have the Eastwood sticker on the side . I could never wear them out from use , but the Burb needs some wheel well work in the inside of bed and the Vega wheel wells on the outside of the rear quarters so only real way to make the pieces is with the shrinker/stretcher .

[NVEGAR8D]

Hi gmagilla,
You'll like the shirnker/stretcher you just got. I wish i had found mine a lot sooner. I just bolted it onto my bench though there is a stand for them if you have the space for it.
nick75vega

[gmagilla]

I got myself some more garage goodies , rapidair system , some 3/8 angle iron to make my own metal brake and the shrinker/ stretcher set. The last year or so every time I want something bent nobody has time or they want 10 times what it should cost so I'm gonna make one 72" long as I'm gonna need some angles 60" long for the Burb I'm turning into a 4 door pickup as the one I've already done has to much rust to fix (some young fella wants it as he likes rust ) I'll post pics if anyone wants to see how it comes out .
I'll post the pics as soon as I find where they went

[gmagilla]

OK found the pics of the garage goodies . The pickup will have swing doors in the back instead of a tailgate . I will have to figure out how to make manual door poppers and git rid of the outside door handle , I wanted a tailgate but it has the barn doors and the more I think about it the more I like the looks of the two doors cut down and they still shut solid with just the bottom latch . I started on it Thanksgiving week and got most of the cutting done , making the back of the cab with the removable window and bulkhead is the hardest part . I want to get it done by spring as my other one is about shot , now just to find the time .

[gmagilla]

Well I had 2 good days to get something done in my garage so I installed a Rapidair system and built a metal break . The Rapidair 1/2" system is the cats meow , easy to install , comes with a cutter for the hose that makes nice straight cuts , 4 elbows , manifold for at the compressor and 2 manifolds for outlets and fittings and plugs . Decide how you want the manifolds configured and plug what outlets you don't use then mount them where you want air and run the hose . The hose just pushes in with a twist and by pressing the outer ring you can pull the hose back out . I bought 2 extra manifolds , elbows and T's . The hose is flexable enough that I didn't need an elbow in one corner . I did my 30 x 40 garage with 100' of hose , I had about 1' left , but I want a couple more manifolds inside and 1 more outside so I'll order 100' more hose and 3 more manifolds .

[gmagilla]

The metal break is made of 3/8" angle iron 4" x 4" x 72" and will bend up to 63" wide pieces . I made the hinges from 1/2" black pipe 6" long cutting the threaded ends off and then cutting two 1" pieces and a 2" piece for a 4" hinge , the pin is a 6" long 5/8" bolt cut to length , I had to clean the weld seam out of the inside of the black pipe so the bolt would slip in , it fits nice and tight inside the pipe . Ground the corners off the angle iron set the pipe and bolt in the valley between the pieces of iron and welded it in sprayed some W-D 40 and it actualy worked the first time with just a 12" adjustable wrench as the handle I put a short handle on it but can slip a cheater pipe over the handle if I need more leverage . I have to fix the 3/8" 2"x2" angle iron so it will set on top of the metal I'll be bending to hold it in place as I bend it . I'll use a bolt and heavy spring to lift it as I loosen the bolt . Now I don't have to beg someone to bend me some metal and pay them 10 times what it's worth .
I don't know if I'll ever need to put it on legs or not so for now I'll just bolt it to the bench and i can pull the pins out to make it light enough to move .

[gmagilla]

Well I got the metal break done but after bending the first piece I will have to add a truss to the top of the piece that holds the metal in place . This is all 3/8" stuff and it actually flexed that top piece while bending a 36" wide piece of 18 ga. the top angle that holds the metal inplace while bending is about 68" long as a 62" piece of metal will fit . The bend was more rounded than I wanted but may work at the wheal well of the pickup/suburban . I bent it and stretched it to follow around the wheal well 1 1/2" X 3" X 36" not sure if I want to do another piece with a sharper bend or not .