 Matt used his homemade planishing...  Matt used his homemade planishing hammer to contour the nose of the patch-panel. |  The patch-panel was test-fitted...  The patch-panel was test-fitted and it was determined more metal needed to be trimmed off. |  Matt used a Rotary Shear to...  Matt used a Rotary Shear to trim the excess metal off. The Rotary Shear is more commonly found in a tin knocker's shop ("tin knocker" is slang for someone who does A/C and heating ducts) than an automotive body shop. |
 Tom and Matt rechecked the...  Tom and Matt rechecked the Thunderbolt scoop for fitment before the patch-panel was tacked into place. It was decided that the nose of the scoop would need to be brought down to conform to the hood. Since that's fiberglass work, we'll get to that next month. |  Not warping the sheetmetal...  Not warping the sheetmetal is a major concern when it comes to welding the patch-panel into place. Matt dialed the heat way down on his 220/110 dual-voltage Miller welder to tack-weld the piece in. |  The best way to ensure that...  The best way to ensure that the process was progressing in the right direction was to spot-weld a little and then grind and hammer the patch-panel to conform to the shape of the hood. |
 Matt added more weld in between...  Matt added more weld in between the spot welds to "stitch" the patch-panel in. Additional hammering was also done to keep the repair area flat. |  Not rushing the job--by patiently...  Not rushing the job--by patiently adding welds and then carefully grinding--kept the patch-panel and the hood in perfect form. |  Matt did a beautiful job of...  Matt did a beautiful job of metal-finishing the hood to accept the Thunderbolt hoodscoop. In next month's Custom Classic Trucks Tom Prewitt will take over and handle bonding the scoop on with SEM Products' special adhesives and then finish off the fiberglass work. |