Cleaning the front hood

[Rodney_Hamon]

Without thinking l halfway desperately put the engine hood back on awhile back.  Recently I was half appalled that it was filthy so I have been cleaning it. The louvre slits are filthy. The clips holding the chrome strips are probably so brittle and Funke’s I wouldn’t think of removing them to make the cleaning easier.  Yet, I see I have an issue with surface rust and grime around the chrome strips. could I take a welding rod and drive out the pin that holds the two pieces of the hood together while it is supported upright in this picture?  Am I asking for it ?

[Ivan_B]

Is removing the hood from the car going to help, much, if you are not planning on taking the chrome trim off? How about you just put some good film underneath and around the hood, to keep the flow away from the car, and then use some de-greaser (another appropriate cleaner) and a brush to get the dirt out?

[Rodney_Hamon]

Just appalling. Yeah. These front hoods are awkward to handle by yourself.  Yes, I put plastic dn and was cleaning a bit on the driver side today. I mulled over my options.  It seems that “popping the hood” to check out the engine bay is just about one of the most important parts of having a classic vehicle. At some point I may havta remove it for a proper cleaning.  Just not now.  Thanks for the reply.  I’m starting to feel a little like the Red/Green Show that was on 30 years ago. Ha

[Ivan_B]

3 minutes ago, Rodney_Hamon said:

 I’m starting to feel a little like the Red/Green Show that was on 30 years ago. Ha

I had to look it up... Never seen it 😄

The hood ain't looking so bad. I bet you could probably get most of the dirt out by wiping it with some wet cloth. My main concern wold probably be the choice of cleaner, to make sure that you do not take the paint right off as well. Otherwise, this is a truck - a working vehicle - it gets dirty. And you can tell people that this is some authentic 1930s dirt... How about that? 😉

[Rodney_Hamon]

Yep... I like that...a working truck and it did work for awhile in the ‘80’s.  So far I’ve used a soap concentrate, some cleanser, some lanolin hand cleaner (Joe’s hand cleaner), and then a small amount of citric acid wash diluted applied with 320 wet/dry.  It’s slowly deleting the grime and minor rust.  

[Merle Coggins]

Isn't Red Green still on? Haven't watched it in several years. 

Edited May 24, 2024 by Merle Coggins

[Rodney_Hamon]

Spent some time the last 3 days cleaning and then reluctantly but finally glad that I popped off a couple trim pieces to clean and derust in their channels. I discovered that each piece had 1-2 clips missing and upon removing I lost 1-2 clips due to age and rust.  I have been methodically filing dn little machine screws in order to substitute for the clips. They work quite well actually.  Giving the hood side panels some derust love and paint tap-in is a good thing also.  I believe I deserve liquid refreshment now within a half hour.  I scrapped the idea of hinge pin removal as that would have been a red/green move. 

[Rodney_Hamon]

Still slugging away sluggishly.  Working on the passenger side hood now. Humidity is super low with strong winds and allergies are killing me. At least I can do this in a hot garage...cleaning and derusting and paint tap-ins.  Success rate saving the trim clips is around 25 %.