The panels are on and the hood is back in its home. The hardware of choice was black oxide hex head self tapping sheet metal screws, with a bead of rtv beneath the panels







This is far from a perfect job and in a few ways I’m disappointed with the results.
- The semi gloss black turned out to be more of a gloss black. I can live with this.
- Pre drilling all the holes into the hood was a mistake. Pre drilling SOME of them may have been necessary for alignment purposes, but not all. Pre-drilling all of them resulted in the created “envelope” being slightly smaller than that of the panels themselves, which resulted in a somewhat too tight fitment and a bit of warpage. I was able to adjust as best I can to minimize warpage as much as possible, but it’s still far from the outcome I had hoped for.
I don’t know that there’s much I can do about it other than to start over from scratch, which is not an option. Certainly not for what some might call minor imperfections.
Overall, I’m glad it’s done, and it doesn’t look bad. In fact, it fits the bill as a “20ft looker” just like the rest of the truck, so I’ll take that as a win. Ultimately, as long as it functions as it should, that’s all that matters at the end of the day.
Looking forward to seeing the results on the road tomorrow.
Andy