Hood pads again!?!

[dwall]

Was at a car show yesterday. Three Turbo Regals - the subject of replacement hood pads came up again. What would it take to make one?

What FONT to use?

So I gotta ask - The 'BUICK' looks like Times New Roman and the 'TURBOCHARGED' looks like Arial Rounded or close anyway. Does anyone KNOW these obscure fonts or should we just go make our own?

Like the second attachment - a version of a Word doc.


Anybody have a little insight? Yea I have a white outlined power 6.

Ideas?

 

[dwall]

It turns out the Buick font with the stylized "U" - lower case mixed in with upper case - kind of "graffiti style with class" can be found. The idea I guess is to be able to make a reasonable version of our revered, rare and ridiculously expensive Turbo Regal Hood Insulator.

Anyway this is what it looks like now - it was created as a word .doc and converted to post here:



And inverted to B&W:



Hopefully more to come.
Bob

 

[dwall]

The next questions:

1. What material to use for the hoodliner? Aircraft firewall liner - bless you & R.I.P. Gonzo!
   
2. How to do the lettering? Air brush, vinyl, stencil?
   
3. Will this project run afoul of the Copyright POLICE? NSA probably but more likely corporate.
   
4. If so how? Define "infringement" - Ford/Volvo wanted to wrestle with "VOLOcars" a few years back for the use of "VOLO" (a municipality in ILL) if I recall right. It kinda looked like Volvo?! To WHO?

With the right parts this might be a do it yourself project? Worth a try.

What's available?

1. I don't know about the aircraft liner - Let's not go there. Leave his family in PEACE. How about standard hood-liner material? I went for it. Generic size (large enough to cut Regal pad out) was $40+ delivered! It is light weight, black & fairly smooth on front and sorta charcoal heather on the back.
2. I am going for the airbrush using stencils. Not done yet but I have "BuICK" and turbocharged that are in a scalable format files (think vector vs. raster).
3. I also have a custom logo I want to use on my car so I will not be using the "POWER 6" as you see above. I have my custom art in a vector file. With "scalable" files I can have stencils cut locally. That will aid the air brush artist's work. I will be checking in with the man for this job soon. He thinks something might be done to compress/reinforce the edges so they resemble the original pad edges (maybe).
4. The standard material pad can be held on the hood using standard (cheap) hood pad buttons. Put ALL nine on! A nine hole pad for how much? Jeeeze.....!

That's it for now. My wheels turn slowly these days but I'll bring back results - good or not so good.
Bob

 

[turboc87gn]

Subd.....

 

[BEATAV8]

thanks dwall! cool stuff

 

[dwall]

The turbo hood pad measured approx. 36" x 51" - This is beside the point, but the regular Regal pad was smaller and configured different - 33.5" x 49" with 10 mount holes (one hole located in the middle). The hole pattern for the '85 NA Regal I checked was 4/3/3 top to bottom.

The approx. 1" thick Metro HI 2 generic hood pad comes 48" x 55" - large enough to cut out the turbo hood pattern with left overs to experiment on. It came folded up however ~ 28.3 x 16.5 x 8.1 inch package. So it will probably be creased and ruffled, We'll see how it works - may not look good. Maybe it would have been better if this generic pad had come rolled instead of folded. Oh well maybe....

Time to make a pattern for the DIY pad.

Someone pointed out that CARS - oldbuickparts.com has a couple designs of replacement pads with lettering & logos. They look good and are listed for 81-88 Regals. I don't think I have not seen one on a car yet. Any body know about these? One has logos for GS???

 

[Venus]

Look at a Thread I did about a Hood Pad alternative I came up with that looks like the below picture. : http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/threads/gn-hood-pad.409617/page-2#post-3387405

 

[dwall]

Look at a Thread I did about a Hood Pad alternative I came up with that looks like the below picture. : http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/threads/gn-hood-pad.409617/page-2#post-3387405

Venus,

Very nice work! I saw your thread. How do I add a "like?"

It sounded like the sign folks were hard to get hold of for people here on the board. Too bad for us but my guess is they may have their hands full at work already etc. VERRY nice pad!! It shows the work you invested IMHO.

I'd like to come up with something that anybody could do for themselves. A one off strategy I guess. A couple people have advised that use of trademarked corporate logos etc is best in a personal project only. I'm old but I get it. I can create a CUSTOM hood pad with stencils I created but can not sell or represent anything as factory replacement or officially licensed or an imitation of original.

So the idea is to create my own version hood pad & make the process understandable so that others can do the same. Hopefully this won't end up as roadkill on Turbo Regal Trail.

 

[Antbankstwo3]

Look at a Thread I did about a Hood Pad alternative I came up with that looks like the below picture. : http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/threads/gn-hood-pad.409617/page-2#post-3387405

View attachment 233356

Yep! I bought that from him! Super nice & very clean! Wouldn't be able to tell. I like that it's not screened on. Don't have to worry about it ever peeling. Thanks again Venus!

Dwall, you seemed very detailed. I like the concept. Looking forward to see the end result. I'm sure it will be great!

 

[Venus]

Venus,

Very nice work! I saw your thread. How do I add a "like?"

It sounded like the sign folks were hard to get hold of for people here on the board. Too bad for us but my guess is they may have their hands full at work already etc. VERRY nice pad!! It shows the work you invested IMHO.

I don't know why guys can't get a hold of them, I posted the phone number and have no problems getting a hold of them. Too me it's a pretty easy alternative, call them, they make the stencils and then mail them to you. I know i've had members ask me about doing it but the problem is the company is in another city and I don't have time to run back and forth. Course I could maybe look into it but then I'd have to sell them for more because of my time/gas costs and shipping costs. But it's a pretty easy and cheap alternative.

 

[Venus]

Yep! I bought that from him! Super nice & very clean! Wouldn't be able to tell. I like that it's not screened on. Don't have to worry about it ever peeling. Thanks again Venus!

!

Yep no problem Man! Glad you like it and it made it there all in one piece!

 

[dwall]

A local acquaintance is back from SEMA now so I will take my problem(sort of?) in for some experiments. His airbrush and restoration work is tops ... so I may have an update soon.

Also if anyone needs a reason for a good cheap alternative to overpriced parts - check this out:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/361108532203?_trksid=p2060778.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

$869+ and I quote "probably between $100 and $150 depending on your zip code. High bidder will be invoiced out once auction is over." Sheeesh!

I can only afford the peanut gallery but "Welcome to the circus!"

 

[Venus]

Almost everything on eBay is WAY over priced for our cars...

 

[dwall]

The turbo hood pad measured approx. 36" x 51" - This is beside the point, but the regular Regal pad was smaller and configured different - 33.5" x 49" with 10 mount holes (one hole located in the middle). The hole pattern for the '85 NA Regal I checked was 4/3/3 top to bottom.

The approx. 1" thick Metro HI 2 generic hood pad comes 48" x 55" - large enough to cut out the turbo hood pattern with left overs to experiment on. It came folded up however ~ 28.3 x 16.5 x 8.1 inch package. So it will probably be creased and ruffled, We'll see how it works - may not look good. Maybe it would have been better if this generic pad had come rolled instead of folded. Oh well maybe....

Time to make a pattern for the DIY pad.

Someone pointed out that CARS - oldbuickparts.com has a couple designs of replacement pads with lettering & logos. They look good and are listed for 81-88 Regals. I don't think I have not seen one on a car yet. Any body know about these? One has logos for GS???

Well I got the H2 liner out finally. I have lots of useless details along with some useful ones to relay. Here is Metro H2 from Amazon - cheap:
http://www.amazon.com/Metro-Moulded-HI-Hood-Insulation/dp/B0072HQZB2

I measured and remeasured an original pad and came up with 52" x36" I located the holes in a 4/2/3 pattern top to bottom = I could have 3 holes in the middle line but that centre hole would have fallen right where my logo was going to be applied. I will make a sort of scale drawing.

My concerns about the folded up H2 liner were unfounded. I don't know if this is the same thing others would experience but when I took the generic hood liner out of its cellophane (is it still called that?) it sort of just popped out flat (like it was compressed and wanted to return to its original shape. THIS WAS GREAT NEWS! I left it laying out flat for a day or so and then laid out my pattern.

52"x36"

1. 9 Holes like a real Turbo hood liner
2. 2 3/4" radius curved corners
3. Marking the BLACKEST side of the mottled (heather) gray and black fibreglass was EZ with a white chalk pencil.

The actual cuts were made with blade fully extended utility knife. I clamped a 4 foot metal straight edge on top of the headliner anchored to my table (a found hollow core door & saw horses). That made the long cuts EZ! I laid out some sweet little curves and free handed them along with the notch located centre top by the hood latch. Holes were just 1/2" 'X' cut at designated marks. All good so far.

The blackest side has a smoother surface and hopefully will take fairly detailed white paint. Just for kicks I tried some SEM black and some heat tolerant black grill paint on some scraps of fibreglass. Both seemed to stick as well a cover areas on the edges where the heather coloring showed. This would resemble original hood pads - all black.

Well that's it for now. This week I will take all my parts and talk with the paint shop - they may have some ideas - a plan for painting black background as needed and the WHITE lettering and logo. Updates & pics to come hopefully.

 

[dwall]

Some pictures of the 1" thick Metro H2 generic hood pad after cutting (and trying some black touch-up paint). Goes without saying I guess, but the light heather side will be mounted against the hood. The rectangular scrap shows the black side by contrast. The camera or more probably my technique make gray side looks lighter than it actually is.



The left end of the scrap also shows the area I hit with a couple shots of SEM Trim Black. It covered OK and might be the thing to use on the sides of the pad to give it an ALL BLACK appearance. You can also see that the notched portion of the pad was not cut quite as nicely as the long straight sections. Perhaps if I made a wood template of that area to compress the pad when cutting it might come out smoother.
Bob

 

[dwall]

Time for an update I guess.

The guy who had planned to paint this hood pad has been super busy.

OK he does some great fantasy paint work but I did not need that. I wanted a simple hood pad. He cuts his own stencils for air brush work. It seemed like a good idea so I decided to try it myself on my low buck hood pad.

1. I played around on the computer and eventually printed out an outline version of the font I would use on "TURBOCHARGED" on some card stock.
2. I sandwiched the card stock between two layers of laminating plastic from the big box office supply.
3. And cut out the letter centers and then the letters with an Exacto knife (used one of those rubber/silicone cutting boards)
4. I took my wife's 505 Fabric spray and coated the back of my new stencil - then applied the stencil to some scrap hood pad material.
5. Masked off the surrounding areas
6. Shot the openings at a 90 degree angle to the pad with Duplicolor Metalcast Gray Silver base. - cheap ($5) - three coats.
   
7. Next I applied 505 to the letters that had center openings and inserted them back as appropriate to the stencil.
8. Next to last I masked off letters that had no center island (like E or H) and shot the openings of remaining letters with SEM trim black - 2 or 3 coats.
   
9. Finally I removed the stencils and masking to reveal the TURBO & CHARGED

Not bad?! - I don't think Arial Rounded Bold is the right font - I will go with Arial Bold in Caps next time. That's lesson one learned so far. Lesson two - The finished work is only as good as the stencil - so I will try to be more accurate on the next one. Pics attached. I did not take a picture of the stencil before I began to spraying so the beginning steps are missing. I didn't think of it in time - as usual.




Next - do the whole hood pad but will change font first.

 

[charlief1]

See if you can find a sheet of solid plastic like they use for counter mats at the parts stores Bob. It would hold up really well and could be used over and over if you wanted to. Nice work BTW.

 

[dwall]

See if you can find a sheet of solid plastic like they use for counter mats at the parts stores Bob. It would hold up really well and could be used over and over if you wanted to. Nice work BTW.

Yea thanks Charlie. My home-made stencils don't seem to hold up very well after just one use. I also should mention I did not even try to clean adhesive off them afterward. I guess I don't mind using the Exacto knife and doing another set - kinda getting the hang of cutting. Anyway, you are right about those place mats (I call 'em).

Anyway I have a couple mats out in the garage I got from the NKG guy. They would work but I already peeled the backing off and stuck them to the desk and the bench. Figures right? That is the way it always goes. "NOW you tell me" my brother would say! This kind stuff can crack a guy's outlook (not to mention a guys front cover - this vague reference is to you trying to help someone on different thread - lol )

So now I have a new 'turbocharged' stencil done. I have marked reference lines on stencils both on the inserts for the letters and horizontally to locate the different sections - Turbocharged, Buick, and Power 6 - on the pad. "That should help," said the Blind Squirrel.

I hope its not too bad where ever you are! Its a crazy screwed up world these days.

 

[charlief1]

You might want to take a trip to the local hardware store Bob. I thought about it and you could pick up a sheet of Formica, cut it in half, and use it. It would be big enough to cover the pad for reference and it would be centered.

We got slammed again last night but I'm out of the danger area. Some areas of DFW got as much as 8" over night.

 

[dwall]

You might want to take a trip to the local hardware store Bob. I thought about it and you could pick up a sheet of Formica, cut it in half, and use it. It would be big enough to cover the pad for reference and it would be centered.

We got slammed again last night but I'm out of the danger area. Some areas of DFW got as much as 8" over night.

I actually have been thinking about a backing Charlie. Formica crossed my mind - I think 36" width is available. The air brush painter suggested setting up to lay fiberglass - non-stick coating, gel coat/epoxy sprayed on evenly with hood pad laid in to adhere & support it. WE still may try that some time but for now - I think just paint & push in hood retainers.

I took some rough measurements to lay this thing out - I may double check but this is good enough for now.




Glad you are good. I know others are not. What a blow for a lot of good people.
We have been lucky here in the Midwest but around the country its been crazy - especially down your way. My daughter relocated to Phoenix area in recent weeks. She and my wife drove thru your beautiful state when things were great. They just got lucky on the way there then left the old van behind and flew back. We had been following the weather before and after their trip. She flew back & is driving the old van and enjoying real deal burritos. I think of her often and of you guys here on TB.com down that way.
Take care.
Bob