I was working on my '67 project. The tip of the front lid was so eaten up by rust that after I ground it all away the leftover metal was paper-thin. So I welded a patch on the underside then dripped weld on the outside til I thought there was enough for strength. It will need bondo but with all the drips there it should help the bondo to adhere.
Then I did the patch trick to the cracks I had on both sides of the front lid.
What caused the cracks was the hinge springs binding. I found the pin that connects to the underside of the lid was bent. I drilled it out and put in a new pin and that seemed to smooth out the sound when lowering the lid. Next step will be cutting the front clip away and welding the new one on. Now that I've got a sturdy lid I think it will help as a sort of template for cutting and mounting the new clip.
I worked with the garage doors up, which meant the temperature in the garage was around 20 degrees. I could mig-weld and touch the metal bare-handed within a minute. So no worries about warping.
In hindsight it would have been easier to cut off the last six inches of hood and weld on a donor piece. It took me about 12 hours to do what the photos show.
