Another build thread? Yep, my track-style T

[J. Robinson]

I didn't get as far as I wanted today , but I did get one hood side cut out. As I stated somewhere above, I am making the hood from reclaimed steel industrial shelving. During some renovations at the school where I teach, some old shelving was replaced. I salvaged five pieces of the old stuff that was in pretty pristine condition. The finish is somewhat worn (who cares?), but there are no dents or gouges; that's why I grabbed these pieces. The one in the first picture is typical of all.

The second picture shows the "tools of the trade". I used a metal yardstick, a framing square, a tape rule, a Sharpie pen, and some aviator snips. (I would have used my air-powered metal shears, but they decided to die before I made the first cut!) In this picture I have already removed one lip off the shelf and trimmed the edge (closest to the camera) straight.

In the third pic you can see some of the layout lines. I just measured from the firewall to the nose piece with the tape rule, transferred the dimensions to the steel with the metal yardstick and framing square, marked the lines with the Sharpie, and cut out the shape with the snips. It was almost a perfect rectangle, but the top edge is 1/4" longer than the bottom.

Once the rectangular piece was cut out, I held it in place on the car to determine where I needed to cut the bottom out for frame clearance. Then, back to the table one more time for a quick trim and this step is done. The fourth pic shows it taped on the car. Before I quit for the day, I tried this piece on the opposite side of the car; it fit fine but is 1/8" too long. It will be simple to make the second piece; I will use this first one as a pattern and just shorten it 1/8".