On my quest to finish little parts while working on getting the car on it’s own wheels, I spent some time finishing the hood. This includes all the electrical and mechanical, plus bling to call it final. Since it’s not the standard hood, there’s a little more to do.
This project was pretty straight forward, but had some details I needed to look up due to the implementation of the hood turn signals. This hood was an option when purchased, which my original vehicle didn’t have, being a pretty basic mustang from the factory. I always thought it looked cool, and inline with the rule of “build it how I want it”, so when it was time to replace the old hood, I took this option.
Like before, it has the chrome leading edge in the front. Previously, it was a flat hood as you can kind of see from the next picture.
At one point, I am told the motor mount broke free and let the engine beat up the hood a good bit. They filled it with body filler, as with seemingly every panel. That’s my excuse for a new hood anyhow.
In comparison, you can see the wiring for the directionals here. I had to thread it through the frame which was kind of tricky with the connector on the end getting stuck a few times. Definitely easier with it standing up like this. I was worried I would have to use a hanger or thread, but it worked fine by just pushing it through.
I also cleaned up the original latch mechanism and painted it. Yet another use for the blasting cabinet. I am a bit concerned about the strength of the mounting location since it seems to give a little when I pull the lever, but that will have to wait and see until the hood goes back on. For now, its just hand tight since it will need some adjusting when it gets mounted.
It’s funny how the camera changes the colors. This picture was taken at the same time on the same wall, but it looks yellow, where as the green is what it actually looks like. I think this makes the blue look darker than it really is as well.
Anyhow, this is a bit more detail on the lights. Each one is a recessed bracket with a small grill and a mounting box for the light bulb. It’s a little odd how it all goes together, but another great example of over engineering for the cool factor. As a testament, you will find far more of these hoods on restored vehicles than I would imagine were ever sold originally.
I can’t wait to see it back on the car. That point is going to be many months in the future though, unfortunately.
Brad Albrecht's Mustang Restoration Projects 