So just to give a short history, the previous owner of my car had a scoop added to the hood. They also had it repainted (more than likely from Maaco). Whoever did this work did an AWFUL job. When I got the car, there were some bubbles forming around the scoop and a couple cracks.

That was a year ago it looked like that. Now it's gotten far worse. In just a week or so, the paint split open and started peeling really bad. I've been finding more and more cracks around the scoop and all over the hood. It's really embarrassing. Case looked into getting just the hood fixed and painted through the Toyota body shop, and even with his discount, they quoted $500-$1000. I just can't afford to get it 'professionally' done after the build. So I was considering taking this on myself. My question is, how would I go about 'resealing' the scoop onto the hood? I have no clue what the scoop is made out of either. I planned on sanding the hood down completely and using either bondo, fiberglass, or the combination of both to fix it, and repainting it. But I'm not sure what will bond well enough to the metal. I don't plan on having it look 100% perfect and flawless, I just wanted something that was just enough to hold me over for a few months until I can get a whole new hood. And trust me, whatever I do to it, it will look 1000 times better than what it does now. Any input would be appreciated, I'm not sure how many people on here do their own body work.

 

Pic????

 

If the hood is aftermarket, its more than likely fiberglass. You could try sanding it down and painting it yourself, or take it a shop like Maaco. I know Maaco's quality isn't always good, but in a pinch a $200 paintjob might be the best way to go until you can afford a new hood or a new paintjob on the whole car.

 

I thought about taking it to Maaco, I just haven't called for an estimate or quote yet. I'm really not fond of letting anyone have anything of mine right now, I can't wait for people to take their sweet time working on pieces of my vehicle.

 

Some of those look like they might be cracks in the fiberglass. I have a fiberglass hood on my Camaro and I have some stress cracks in the paint towards the front of the hood; except my cracks don't have any white showing (the white is the fiberglass I believe). That is the only thing I can base my statement of thinkin the fiberglass is actually cracked and not just the paint. Do take it with a grain of salt though.

 

Yeah, I'm really not sure what's under there since it was done before I got the car. I was just going to sand off everything I could down to bare metal and bare-whatever-the-scoop is made out of and just redo it. I just don't know what exactly is best to use on it.

 

What about finding a used black hood from ebay or a scrapyard?

 

I thought about it and looked around. The scrap yards around here are no good. No one ever has any 4th gens and when they do, they're already gutted or just completely unusable. I need to keep the hood thing under $100, hence trying to do this stuff myself. I've been checking on craigslist too, but no one has anything.

 

From the looks of those cracks the gel coat itself cracking. I would not put a lot of effort or money into that hood. As a general rule gel coat does not crack without help. Most 60's vettes are running around with their orginal gel coat. The question is why is it cracking. If its not been hit or dropped then my guess would be the combination of a cheap gel coat and the heat from a black paint job. IF that is the case what ever repair you make will end up cracking unless you strip the gel coat. You do not want to strip the gel coat.

You can refinish it on the cheap, don't expect it to last. A quart of the black laquer and a quart clear from autozone. It comes all premixed. You just need a gun.

Any repair you do should be done with fiberglass or atleast a bondo/fiberglass hybred yes you can mix them and the result is very easy to work with. since the hood is a large area right out in plain view it can be tuff to get it nice. You'll want to skim the whole hood. Check out youtube for how to block sand and mix up glass/bondo. There are a few how to videos out and about also.

 

If the underlying hood is metal, and a magnet would answer that question pretty quick, I would shy away from glass repairs. The metal will expand and contract with changes in temperature a lot more and faster than fiberglass will. You will be cracking and splitting again in no time. Use a plastic resin (ie Bondo) instead, but keep the layers as thin as necessary.

If the hood is fiberglass, then my guess would be that when they put the scoop on, they either didn't mix the resin and hardener correctly, or used old materials, and it is de-laminating (the scoop) from the hood. Fiberglass resin and hardener do not stay "fresh" forever. I would strip it down to the base around the scoop and make sure that it is correctly attached. Then start with the rest of the body work from there.