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In a message dated 1/31/14 9 20 25, gbmilnar@gmail.com writes:<BR>
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<BLOCKQUOTE CITE STYLE="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px" TYPE="CITE"></FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Geneva" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2">My hood has too much arch in the longitudinal center.<BR>
How common is this and is there a fix.<BR>
It might only be about 3/8" high but it bugs me.<BR>
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>>>This is normally caused by people loading too much stuff in the front trunk, then forcing it closed. It is possible to un-bend it, but it's not a job for the faint of heart. It is comparatively to uniformly distort it from the inside, as has been done to your car (I'm not blaming you since I presume you didn't do it yourself?) But undoing that damage is a far more difficult undertaking.<BR>
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It's not a job for a normal accident repair bodyshop. Depending on the extent of the damage, it would take somebody really skilled in metalwork, i.e. a custom hot-rod fabrication shop or high-end restoration shop, and it would likely be fairly expensive if it has to be stripped and painted again. It's entirely possible that such skilled peopl would know how to 'work' the metal in a sympathetic way and would be able to bend it back into proper shape without damaging the paint, which would be a very worthwhile enterprise if it could be done.<BR>
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If it has to be stripped and beaten back into shape, a better alternative might be to replace it with a good, used hood, as at least a few people have 'upgraded' to various fiberglass (faux carbon fiber) hoods.<BR>
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While it's possible to buy a new hood from De Tomaso, recent experience of others has shown that the quality is pretty awful, as they are being built by people who literally have never even seen a Pantera before. A lurker on this forum has had nightmare issues trying to get one sorted out, and in the end I think he is going to repair his rust-ravaged bu perfect-fitting original hood instead.<BR>
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Good luck!<BR>
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Mike</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Geneva" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2"></FONT></HTML>