Hood Painting Question
 

My Brother-in-Law is getting close to painting his 29 Tudor. He wants to know if the hood is painted as an assembled unit or are the pieces painted individually and then assembled.

His concern is the the gap on the offset fingers of the center hinge. They fit so closely that there is no way to primer it and paint and then try to interlace them to insert the hood rod without a lot of chipping taking place. He said it is an original hood.

I know everyone must experience the same dilemma. How do you approach this problem?

Re: Hood Painting Question
 

Re: Hood Painting Question
 

I had a '29 A PU, and I painted it with acrylic lacquer. For the hood, I disassembled it, prepped/primed/painted each piece separately. You just have to be very very careful assembling, which I suggest doing off the car. Putting that very floppy assembly on the car is then a 2 person job for sure.
Some good old WD-40 is helpful for inserting the hinge pins.
And BTW, tell him to save some paint for occasional touchup. Even if he gets it installed with no chips, the nature of the design means opening and closing will damage paint at the hinges. I know of no way to avoid that.

Re: Hood Painting Question
 

Suggest to Bro to mask off those areas to prevent excessive primer build up. Just before applying top coat, mist a coat of primer one those areas. I like SEM Self- Etch primer for this.

Re: Hood Painting Question
 

I paint hoods disassembled also. I don't hose on a lot of coats to avoid excess paint build up. Three coats of color to get coverage and stop. Reassembly will go better, as stated above, Hinge clearances are very close. Same goes for primer. Wet sand your primer thoroughly to minimize build up.

Re: Hood Painting Question
 

what about using stainless steel rods instead of the original iron ones. they wont rust and will stay clean??? and i would think they dont need painting..
anyone have experience using them ? tks, jerbo

Re: Hood Painting Question
 

i dissembled my hood the best way to pull the rods and reinsert them is. i used a drill. i attached the drill to the rod and pulled as it turned. they came right out. also the same when i put them in used the drill and they went back in very easily
kevin

Re: Hood Painting Question
 

I had to use the new stainless ones on my hood since the old ones were cracked. They work very well. Use some WD or oil and drill as suggested!

Re: Hood Painting Question
 

Originally, I believe the hoods wee painted as an assembly, However, I recently painted the hood for a fine point restoration I am doing. I paint it as individual pieces. I did not get any chipping when I assembled it.

The bodies were also painted all assembled with doors and deck lid in place.

I am sure if we could see a NEW Model A Ford right from the assembly line the paint work may not be up to what we may consider a fine point restoration should be. If you could stand back a few feet, I am sure the cars looked just fine.

Chris W.

Re: Hood Painting Question
 

I painted my hood disassembled and put in new stainless rods when I put it together. No chipping anywhere.

Re: Hood Painting Question
 

I think it might depend on what your looking for.

On our 29, that we have had for over forty years, the hood was paint together in 1981. No chips on hinges even today. It all depends on your interests.

This is not a points car, but we do have a number of trophies earned at local shows.

Enjoy.

Re: Hood Painting Question
 

Thank you all for your helpful replies!!

Re: Hood Painting Question
 

Here's mine:

Re: Hood Painting Question
 

I would make two suggestions after painting a hood a coupe of years ago.
1. Paint the top coats on the outside last. Some over spray will go through the louvers and screw up a perfect paint job on the outside. Better to have the overspray on the engine side.
2. Use SST rod for the new hinges available from most vendors. Use wheel bearing grease on the rods, not oil. The grease will stay put for a very long time and lubrication will not be necessary. Ed

Re: Hood Painting Question
 

I did mine not long ago. I too used the Stainless rods. I put the top sections together and that made it a simple job to install, and less stressfull. I installed the hood, and then added the side sections. I was able to lay a bunched up blanket in the valley between the engine and fender and then set the side section on it. This made it a safe, easy one man job.