Beaster Bonnet

I haven't been working much on the Truck. I got a bit... no a lot pissed off to be honest.. I feel real down in the dumps.. My brothers 20yr old son met a very horrific and tragic end this month on his motorbike, tractor and trailor turned in front of him, shorts, t-shirt, burst petrol tank you can guess the rest. I just have not really felt like doing anything...

I know all the old clique's that life must go on and yes I know it should, but it does seem very hard to cope with right now.... I am real close to my brother, we have a business together I feel his pain... and me and Alan my brothers son were also close. But I will do me best to update this page, maybe next time I will be feeling Ok about it all and get my drive back... Here goes!!!

I decided I didn't like all the old filler I had just spent many hours flatting and filling and how I had gone about the job in general. So in a fit of rage and madness I just kicked the inside of the hood with my steel toe capped boots until I had knocked all the filler out.

Then I set about with the hammer and dolly until it was as close to the right shape as I could manage with my limited skills without all the filler.

I then set about redoing the filling and smoothing again with much less a ding to level

. Crap photo but you can get an idea of how much filler dust there is in my garage now everything is covered.. And I still ain't got the hood covered in primer yet to seal it... Damn!

The rear edge of the bonnet keeps rippling and moving so it never seems to keep its shape and follow the line of the cab cowl. so I diverted my attention to the underside of the hood and really this edge arrowed is so thin and weak... no wonder it keeps buckling.

So I came up with this idea, to bend a piece of 1/4 solid steel round bar the same contour as the cab cowl.

.. then weld that onto the crappy thin edge of the rear of the hood. That will keep the fukker in shape eh! Took ages as it curves in two planes.

ell with that now tacked in place and the expanding foam in the strengthening rib, I now had a very ridged and strong hood that will hold its shape for once.

I then focused my attention on getting the edges and the inner hood somewhere near smooth for painting.

I have used epoxy metal to fill and smooth the rear new improved safety edge. I don't intend flatting the inner hood to show finish, one I cant be arsed two I ain't good enough. I think after talking with Kev Rooney, I will paint the whole engine bay in body colour but a suede finish not a shiny one, to hide the imperfections.

The body hopefully will be a show finish, but the body guy was supposed to come take a look at the job yesterday 25th September, but he never came near... er not that I have enough saved yet to pay him mind... Just to see I was doing my job good enough and right, no point me wasting my time and money if my prep ain't up to scratch eh! I just hope I can rekindle my enthusiasm soon... I feel fed up!

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