I have an old used SS fiberglass hood for my 69 SS and I want to raise the cowl area about 4". I have a cross-ram intake and would like to incorporate the double hump SS cowl area,to keep a somewhat stock appearance and yet custom look. I don't want the air cleaners sticking out of the hood I don't want to buy a new cowl hood as the raised area is narrower than the stock humps. I have only marginal experience with fiberglass and I was wondering if this would be possible or am I just looking for trouble? What would be my best plan? :eek: http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/obseSSed

Aren't there any corvette body repair men out there that can help me out? :D

What you want to do is very similiar to glassing in a new hood scoop onto an existing glass hood. You will just need to purchase glass matte (cloth in this case will work best) and fiberglass resin/activator. I would start by scribing the area you want to cut out of the hood then cut it out with a saber saw. If it were me, I would split the difference of the raised sides to leave some vertical edge on both portions. Position the double hump area to the height you want. I would probably install a 1/8" thick plywood strip to use a spacer and laminate it in there (something like a balsa core that is stable). You are going to have to build it up in layers to the desired height. The other thing to consider is adding/maintaing a cross brace at the cowl area. Just make sure, the existing hood has to be clean and you need to bond to the glass, not the existing gel coat. Do most of the reinforcing from the bottum once the hood is mocked up. Overlap your glass cloth about 3" onto the existing hood/humps. Fiberglass is easy to use and limited only to your imagination.

Great thanks for the reply. graemlins/thumbsup.gif What do I do on the upper side where the gelcoat is and how do I finish that? So I just build with the cloth the three inch overlap and sand it smooth,then fill with body filler and block it. Or does the fiberglass sand smooth enough that I don't have to use filler? Is there a gelcoat like topcoat that I put over the cloth? Thanks and happy holidays :D .

Like most body work, if the layers go on smooth you will not need much to finish it off. I have used a product called MarGlas to build up the area to level once the cloth and resin process is finished. Whatever you do, DO NOT try to build the area with body putty. Bondo is only used as a leveler.

Thanks for the info graemlins/beers.gif Happy Holidays