Bugeye Sprite bonnet repair

[Crosley.In.AZ]

On this bonnet side... the large hole was cut in there for headers to exit the engine bay area.  The engine at the time was a Ford 289.

Each side of the bonnet has similar hole..... the cost of a replacement can be expensive  , so I am exploring a repair of this bonnet.


I am looking for some ideas to repair this bonnet.  Perhaps a vent insert , louvered section of metal?

[wayne petty]

i am thinking a rack of exhaust tubes...   angled.. beveled....  fake... filling the openings.

something like what i threw together with word art...

[UGLY OLDS]

Here in the midwest we call what you need a "patch panel"......



Bob................

[enjenjo]

Here in the midwest we call what you need a "patch panel"......



Bob................

What he said.

You could get another one, cut those pieces out and weld them in.  Around here, we would cut those pieces out of an old clothes dryer, and pop river them in place. but since you have a TIG, you could use that too. my 47 Chevy had fenders made from three fenders each. On one side, I still had to make a patch panel to get rid of all the rust.

In reality, it looks like a pretty simple repair.

Were the hood latches there originally? seem to recall that.

[Crosley.In.AZ]

This bonnet is currently set up for the back end of the bonnet to fold forward.  In the OEM setup the bonnet lifted at the front .

The hood pins in the photo are add-on units from the old days when every body had to have hoods pins to be kool.

I know I need patch panels , the problem is my metal working skills are beyond "sucks  or * poor".  I guess I will give it a shot on the repair

The radiused wheel openings need attention too.

the bonnets (metal) I have seen on auction sites are usually rusted up and high priced... Fiberglas units are in the area of 1,000.00 dollars & higher  when new.
Used fiberglas bonnets   do not pop up often

[enjenjo]

Well Tony, that looks like a good panel to start on. Looks like one folded edge, and the rest is pretty flat. Even a novice should be able to handle that.