Workin in the hood.

While it was too cold or snowy to do any considerable work outside on the interior, I knew I could get started on the hood of the car, since I would be able to work on it in my basement. Removing it by myself was not especially difficult.

The hood was especially chewed up on the underside from years of rust and neglect. The top side had some minor pin holes where it had rusted through. The damage present is partially due to the fact that on the mustang II hoods, ford only coated the bottom side of the top panel. The insides of the underside (the parts that give the hood its strength and structure) were not coated. This makes them particularly prone to rusting through, since moisture gathers inside them. Here are some pics of the hood prior to working on it.






I stripped it using two products I trust.... a grinder with the wire wheel attachment and Rustoleum Air Craft Stripper. It comes in a can and you just spray it on, wait, and it strips the paint right off. I coated the pin holes, dents and rust pits on the hood with bondo gold mixed with fiberglass resin. I find that this creates a less porous filler that is easier to spread and is less likely to have pin holes after it dries. After cleaning the hood THOROUGHLY with mineral spirits (this is the most important part IMO, cleanliness), I coated the underside with rusto high temp engine enamel and the top side with their flat black enamel. Here are some pics of the hood in the process.








My next project is to fix and paint the driver side door.