Best way to tackle front hood rust

[Shawn]

What's the best way to tackle this hood rust inside and out? Cut and weld metal on both sides? Is it even possible to weld something on the inside? Seems tight for welding. I do have a donor hood. This is always a common rust area on 73 to 80 hoods since I assume water / debris is getting between the inner and outer layers.

 

[JoshHefnerX]

If you have a doner hood, can you just swap the hood?

 

[Shawn]

If you have a doner hood, can you just swap the hood?

Not exactly. The donor hood is taco'd, dented and seen better days but has good metal on that passenger front area. My other thought was to remove the rust from the back side, tread inside and out with a rust converter, then fill in the back side with something like JB weld or something appropriate for metal fill.

 

[Blue85]

Don't trust a rust converter if you want this to look good for a long time. The rust must be removed.

It could work to keep the outer layer, but you'd have to sandblast 100% of the rust out, which of course requires getting rid of the inner layer. But you're talking about tons of filler, so it would still be best to weld some patches in the holes. If you're welding on the hood anyway, why not get rid of the whole rotten section? There's always more rust than you see. Sectioning a corner from a donor hood in is a tricky repair to make flat, but the advantage is you take in a complete welded seam at the bottom.

Oh, and don't use JB Weld. Just use regular bodywork products. The key is to do the metalwork as well as possible so you only need a skim coat of filler.

 

[Shawn]

Don't trust a rust converter if you want this to look good for a long time. The rust must be removed.

It could work to keep the outer layer, but you'd have to sandblast 100% of the rust out, which of course requires getting rid of the inner layer. But you're talking about tons of filler, so it would still be best to weld some patches in the holes. If you're welding on the hood anyway, why not get rid of the whole rotten section? There's always more rust than you see. Sectioning a corner from a donor hood in is a tricky repair to make flat, but the advantage is you take in a complete welded seam at the bottom.

Oh, and don't use JB Weld. Just use regular bodywork products. The key is to do the metalwork as well as possible so you only need a skim coat of filler.

Great info! Yeah I was trying to figure out a way where I don't call my patch guy and spend 200. I realize the metal patch is the way to go. I just need it to last a couple years.