At
this point it was time to take the hood off and lay it on my work
surface (in this case my trailer). And the first thing I did was
to clean the surface and put a light coat of wax over the whole
thing. Then I just started working through the instructions.
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Yeah, my hood
was really filthy. I probably should have even cleaned it
better than I did. |
When
the hood is ready to be modified, go ahead and use a tape measure
and mark the center of the front and the center of the hood in
the rear. Then you will need to cut out the template (or do like I
did and leave the template whole) and the 4 alignment holes in
the template (they align the overlay with the existing holes for
the sprayers and the windows cushions that you removed before).
Once you have the template cut to your liking and the alignment
holes notched out place the template on your hood, line up your
center marks and the four alignment holes. Then tape it in place.
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Using a razor blade to
cut the alignment holes. |
Template taped to top of
hood. |
In the next couple of steps the instructions
want you to drill the holes for the corners of the cutouts you
are going to make. I also left the template in place when I used
the hole saw to cut the 16 guide holes.
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Begin drilling the guide
holes for the larger holes you will make shortly. |
Try your best to not push
on the drill too much, as it doesn't take much to break a
small bit like this. |
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Be sure to get your holes
as centered as possible. |
The hole saw will make
a nice hole using the smaller hole as a guide. |
Now
remove the template and using a straight edge mark out the lines
from the outside of the holes you just drilled to the next hole.
In all, you should have four holes outlined on your hood. I found
that using masking tape to mark the lines made cutting them and
keeping them as straight as possible easier for me (especially
on the black hood). I also chose to use a jig saw with a fine
tooth metal blade instead of a cutoff wheel. You have choices
when you work like this, just be sure to choose something you
are comfortable using.
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Using a grease pen to make
the lines between the holes. |
It's hard to follow the
"black" line on the black hood. |
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Outlining the area to cut
with masking tape makes things a lot easier to see. |
Be sure to line up as far
on the outside of the hole as possible. |
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Once I had three sides
cut, I needed something to provide tension to keep the thin
metal from jumping around. A roll of shop towels did the
trick. |
When you are done you should
have four neatly cut holes in your bonnet (hood for those
in the US). Note, I cut the bottom two cuts short to avoid
cutting the hood brace. |
As
noted in the last picture above, I left the bottom a little short
of the hole saw cuts. The instructions from Aluminum Customs tell
you to watch out in the area and after test fitting the panel
I decided I didn't need to bother cutting all the way down so
I just left it. From underneath it will look the same and I doubt
it hampers any air flow...
On
to the Panel Install