1st Generation 1964 1/2 - 1973 - Questions & general discussions that apply to a specific year > 1967 Mustang

Hood Letter 1967 + Alignment

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Fastback2013:
Hello Ralf,

Belgium isn't that far from Germany ;D
PM me and we can discuss how the template will get to you.

Kind regards,
Jeroen

Ralf:
Hello Jeroen,
Pn sent.
Thx a lot.
Ralf


Edit:
Just bought a NOS set of FORD letters.

196667Bob:
Ralf : IMO, you either have a “Repo Hood”, “Service Replacement Hood” or a 1968 Hood. As far as I know, all 1967 non-Shelby Hoods, from all plants had the FORD letters on the hoods; however, for 1968, the FORD letters were eliminated from all models at all plants.

As an ‘aside’ here, for 1967, the ‘Turn Signal Hood” was only available with the “Exterior Décor” Option, and in 1968 it was available as a “stand alone” Option. Thus, 1968 “Turn Signal Hoods” were, and are most likely easier to come by. Unfortunately though, there are no easy provisions for adding the “FORD” letters (at least until sometime after 1975 when the “stick-on” letters became service parts for ‘67’s).

Sometime between 1968 and 1974, Ford decided that only one Service Part was needed for both 1967 and 1968 Turn Signal Hoods. While I don’t have any documentation (if anyone does, please “chime in”), but I would assume (?) that the Service Part “Turn Signal Hood” offered by Ford for both 1967 and 1968 Mustangs was actually a 1968 hood. I say this because it would seem much more plausible for installers to drill holes for the “FORD” letters for 1967’s rather than fill holes to make it correct for a 1968. If this was, in fact, the case, it would seem odd that a template was not furnished with the replacement hood by which the holes could be drilled for the 1967 “FORD” letters. However, I have never heard of, nor seen one. If no template was furnished, then I also would “guess” that most, if not all, were replaced without having the “FORD” letters (at least before the time when the “stick-on” letters were available).

All of the above being said, and “borrowing” a phrase from an old  Popular Science magazine series of articles, “It Worked for Me”, here is how I “attacked” the addition of the “FORD” letters.
My ’67 did not originally have the “Turn Signal Hood”, but I always liked this Option and wanted to add it to my Mustang. As noted above, in order to have this Option in 1967, one had to have the Exterior Décor Option. While my car was not ordered with the Exterior Décor Option (as confirmed by my Marti Report), I did want to at least make it somewhat correct by not just having the “Turn Signal Hood”, but the complete Exterior Décor Option, I started to “assemble” all of the pieces in the early 80’s. The Wheel Lip Moldings, Rear Deck and Rear Quarter Moldings were easy, as they were still available from Ford. The “Flip-top” gas cap was not too bad either as at that time, here were many excellent used ones available at reasonable prices. The “Turn Signal Hood” proved more of a challenge. There was not an abundance of 1967 “Turn Signal Hoods” available even “back then”, and when I did find one, it either required a lot of work, or was, what I felt, outrageously priced. I finally settled on a 1968 “Turn Signal Hood” in the late 80’s.

3 or 4 years ago, I discussed this situation with John (67gta289), and as it turned out, his ’67 did not originally have the Exterior Décor Option either, and he had wanted to add it to his ’67 in the early 80’s. He was able to get the “Turn Signal Hood” as a Service Part from Ford in the early 80’s. And as alluded to earlier, it was in fact a 1968 hood with no provisions for the 1967 “FORD” letters. John noted that he just made a template from his original non-“Turn Signal Hood”, and transferred it to his Service Replacement hood. As I of course had my original non-“Turn Signal Hood”, this seemed to be the “way to go”.

Due to the crown of the hood and the angled front, I figured that the best solution was to make 2 templates; one for the Passenger side and one for the Driver’s side. I opted to use 1-1/2” masking tape with little or no ductility (so that it wouldn’t stretch much if any). I applied the tape even with the front of the hood (where the turned down sheet metal is for the Hood Lip Molding), and went from the hood peak to the point where the straight front angles toward the rear to meet the fender side of the hood. I then “indexed” the center of the peak of the hood with a mark on the tape, and did the same at the angle point. This way I’d have two reference points when applying the tape to the 1968 hood. I then took a soft (HB) lead wood pencil and highlighted the 4 holes for the letter studs on the tape. I then repeated this procedure for the other side of the hood.

I then transferred the template (one side at a time) to the 1968 hood, lining up my index points on the 1968 hood. Now is where the somewhat critical point and judgment comes into play. With the template in place, the holes must be marked for drilling. I decided that the most accurate way was to use an Automatic (spring loaded) Center Punch as opposed to a regular hammer type. The Automatic Center Punches have a longer more gradually tapered point, plus will give less distortion to the metal. Now for the judgment (and yes, I wore my reading glasses for this) ; with the template in place, place the point of the Center Punch as close to the center of each outlined hole as you possibly can (as noted in previous replies, there is very, very little “wiggle room” in the location of the holes for the sleeve nuts/ letter studs) and mark each hole center. As at the time, I knew that the location of the holes would be critical, and not allow much “fudging”,  I decided to drill holes that were smaller (I can’t remember if I used 5/64” or 3/32”) than the final size (1/8”) for the sleeve nuts first, and check the studs of each letter in relation to the smaller holes. I must say that I really lucked out as the studs all appeared to “hit” the holes perfectly. I then proceeded to drill the final size 1/8” holes. After the 1/8” holes were drilled, I once again checked the fit of the letter studs into the holes (the holes now being larger than the studs). The hood was then ready for prep, primer and paint.

As I see that Jeroen has offered to send you a template since you don’t have a 1967 hood to work from, I feel that if he uses a procedure similar to what I have outlined above, and you do something similar to what I have noted for installing the templates and drilling the holes, you should be in good shape.

Hope this has helped.

Bob

dave6768:
In 67, the turn signal hood was also part of the Sports Sprint package.

I used a piece of Kraft paper and just marked the center position and then aligned it with the front edge of the hood.  There was a rumple in the middle, but was able to pull it flat in the location of the letters.

Dave

Ralf:
Thx Marty, Richard, Bob and Dave for your very good hints and remarks.
I'm really looking forward to Jeroens template.

Thx
Ralf

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