I starting working on my hood today, and found this. Its a hole for the hood louver, and I was wondering how I should repair it? Any advice or info would be appreciated, thanks.

 

Id say look for a new hood. to fix that would be cut the rust out, make a patch panel, weld it in, grind the welds, bondo over, drill original hole.

 

i agree, i cant believe its rusted through that bad, theres so much aftermarket hoods and even used hoods id just do that

 

If that's the only bad spot, I wouldn't scrap the hood. If you don't feel like making a patch to weld in, try this: Go to a hardware store a get a thin gauge washer with a similar similar sized hole but is also large enough to cover the severely rusted metal. Then, with the appropriate size hole-saw, weld in the washer and grind down the welds. Viola, no rust and the mount hole is already there to boot

 

if i were u, i would measure the hole spread from center to center then cut the bad spot out and re weld a new piece in. gring the welds and fill and smooth with bondo-glass (its stronger than bondo) and then drill ur hole. even though its going to be covered by the louver i would get a can of spray primer and spray a generous amout on it......good luck to you
tyler

 

You might want to take a look around the local bookstores or talk to your friends and see if you can find a copy of the December 2007 issue of Camaro Performers magazine. It has a very nice tech article detailing the type of repair the others are recommending. (You can also try to bay a back issue from the publisher if you are not in a hurry to fix the hood) Note however that the Jan. 2008 issue is now on the stands.

Sometime in the near future they are supposed to have a web site, but I don't know if they will be posting previous articles.

Dave

 

+1 for the washer idea

 

Thanks for all the responses. I had no idea it was this bad. I don't have the resources to do welding, or anything like that. So I was wondering if I could just clean it up as best as I can and possible just slow down the rust, with some type of rust inhibitor, or POR-15? I'm going to be doing the "$50.00 paint job" using Rust-Oleum Gloss Black if it makes a difference. (Im only doing the hood)

 

with that rust there, you'll never have the same strength in the hood. I still say your best bet is to buy a new hood, especially since you dont have the resources to weld. if you dont want to do that, sand all that rust off until you get to shiny metal and apply rustoleum. or since its hidden by the louver you could just put rust converter on it, then paint right over it.

 

then use the washer idea..

 

I wouldnt recommend the "50 dollar paint job" me and my freind tried it numerious times on his 88 prelude and it never looked good it only looked good from like 20+ feet away. and your driving a camaro!!!! but to eatch his own i guess

 

Well hopefully it will be fine for the time being, till I get another hood.

I painted a bit where the louvers sit, and so far the "50 dollar paint job" looks very promising. Some people haven't had great success with this paint job, but allot have. You should of seen the hood before and what the Florida sun did to it, it looked hideous. Anything will make it look better than before.

 

Update:

Well I'm pretty much finished with my hood, just need to polish it. I think it came out pretty good, let me know what you think. I'll get some better pics when the weather clears up, but that probably wont be till Monday or Tuesday.