GHOST SHIP: Custom Chingaderas

HVT Wrinkle Plus. It’s awesome stuff but is finicky to work with if you’re not patient. I use it for a lot of little things and trim prices on the bike and the truck.

 

Do you bake it or just air dry?

 

Heat gun to dry it between each coat but it takes about a week or more to fully cure.

 

So pretty.

 

Hood latch repair today on @ETAV8R ’s 2nd gen. I had previously done a minor repair on the hood latch but it clearly wasn’t enough for those rough roads out in Death Valley. The latch had completely separated from the inner panel and cracked the surrounding under hood structure. Keep in mind the OEM hood is made of 20 gage stamped steel and the inner latch support is made from 16 gage. To remember and reinforce the area, I cut away the outer sheet metal and rewelded the latch to the inner structure. I them made a separate, larger plate of 16 gage steel to spread the load out a bit and welded that to the 20 gage steel. On top of that, I made a small repair panel out of 13 gage and welded the previous plate and hood patches together. My thinking in that we’re now spreading the load out over a larger area and stepping down material thickness in two steps removes an immediate weak spot where the thinner material attaches directly to the repair. Getting your welder setting dialed in is paramount for this type of repair so you don’t blow through the thinner stuff and get good penetration on the new material.


Here the broken latch with the previous repair still attached.


And here’s the new repair with the stepped down plates. The photo is really close up but that 13 and 16 gage steel welded to the stock 20 gage hood. It takes a delicate touch.

 

Crazy I’m surprised the latch didn’t fail before that - I guess since there’s more material in the plane of the force it was stronger

 

It had probably shown some hood flutter for a while before the latch actually broke free but this follows all the other weak front sheet metal components. I have the habit of ignoring things that need to be addressed until they refuse to be ignored and something tells me that was the case here.

I had already reinforced the core support on this same truck and that repair is still holding strong. Let’s see what breaks next.

 

So great the timing worked out perfectly and I was able to make the drive out to have Sergio do this repair. Thanks again!

Yes I've had hood flutter for a while, but recently, especially after my most recent trip to Death Valley this past weekend it was more evident. I'm looking forward to giving this new one another workout asap.

 

Looks great, are you going to do the hood pins/latches as well?

 

Not at this time.

 

Yeah on first gens the sheet metal is so think I didn't even trust it for hood pins so I sandwiched it between a piece of angle iron (1x1) under it with some nuts welded to it so I didn't have to sneak a wrench back there and the mounts I made for hood pins. I could most likely fit more angle iron under there where the radiator is...

 

Leather stuff. Semi-minimalist wallet in a rich, hand-stitched pull-up leather. This thing should patina beautifully over time and develop a sheen on the high wear surfaces.

If there’s interest, I may consider a group buy on these.

 

Count me in!

 

EDIT: I'm in for one

 

WANT

 

Install day. AccuTune ‘ed Fox with delta joint UCAs, Archive U bolt flip and super bumps. Awesome setup.

 

Perty

 

Looks like this may be a thing.

thread started in BST section.

 

Making my driveway glittery this weekend.

@pc3coyote came by for a DRT CMR and 2” fender chop. Super clean truck with tasteful mods.

 

Simple limit strap install today: