ITGuy's 2003 Sierra 1500/2500 4x4 RCLB Build Thread

If I can finish the final shape of the lip tonight, I can remove it from the truck and do the body work.
I just want to get the corners and the spacing between the headlight & lip uniform.

Cutting it down to the point where I could close the hood helps a lot. I have about 1/4" to fold over.
It's a little uneven, but I'll just roll it all underneath where I can weld some sheet metal to it.
 
I've seen a few of these hoodsdones before, besides mine I did.

You will want to take and trim down the little peaks on the back corner so it matches our round GMC fenders better. Otherwise it may rub or hit back there. And I found my best adjustment for the hood was having the hood pulled all the way forward on the hinge. It makes the rear hinge gap a little larger, but brings it up on the grille lip a little more too
 
a-fuso said:
I've seen a few of these hoods done before, besides mine I did.

You will want to take and trim down the little peaks on the back corner so it matches our round GMC fenders better. Otherwise it may rub or hit back there. And I found my best adjustment for the hood was having the hood pulled all the way forward on the hinge. It makes the rear hinge gap a little larger, but brings it up on the grille lip a little more too
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I was thinking maybe a 1/4" forward by slotting the hood mount. A very slight rounding of the corner would help in that too. Most of the hoods I've looked at have that little 'bump'. I don't think it rubs, but you can see that the curve is off a little.

GeoffSFAs10 said:
I think your plan of the rounded corners at the lights is a good one.
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Yeah it would be subtle, but I think I like that better than a straight line / sharp edge. I've seen them both ways in pictures.. although most are straight lines from what I can tell.

Then again.. this is not a 'show truck', it's a 'go truck' and I probably shouldn't be so picky. Either way it will probably look great after it gets a paint job.
 
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Yeah it didn't rub on me when opening and closing. There is a small section that looks tight, but it clears the fender edge.
I am going to tape that section off.. if I have time I will grind it down a little. Doubtful though.
 
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It all depends how picky you are. It would bug the living shit out of m not having that back corner match the so that's why I made mine rounder. And I rounded the front edge of the hood ever so slightly like you drew out. That's how GM did it, so that's how it need to look when finished
 
Yeah I will just make sure the corners are uniform.. they are both different at the moment.
I'll lay a new mask on them today and redraw them to my liking.

Appreciate the feedback guys. Hope it comes out lol. It's not really a big job though,
I'm just slow. I am sure other people can bang this out in a day and have it primed + ready to paint.
I don't have a lot of other things to work on (on the truck) anyway at the moment.

It needs inspection sticker before I swap exhaust. That will be after paint.
 
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^^ Word.

If you really want a "lift" get some stock keys from a 1500 and toss a small block in the rear. That should put you about 5-6" taller then a stock 1500
 
ITGuy said:
Yeah I will just make sure the corners are uniform.. they are both different at the moment.
I'll lay a new mask on them today and redraw them to my liking.

Appreciate the feedback guys. Hope it comes out lol. It's not really a big job though,
I'm just slow. I am sure other people can bang this out in a day and have it primed + ready to paint.
I don't have a lot of other things to work on (on the truck) anyway at the moment.

It needs inspection sticker before I swap exhaust. That will be after paint.
Click to expand...

I just ran the sharpie right on the paint when I did mine. If you don't like it acetone wipes it right off.


And I completely understand. I'm sure a bodyshop could have done it in a day. But it took me about a week to get all the cutting and welding finished and perfect where I would be happy with it. That being said I have gotten countless compliments on installing that hood since I have had it finished.
 
Back Corners
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I'm using a 4" metal grinding and blending wheel on my angle grinder. It needed less grinding on passenger side for some reason. I'll sand away the paint along the edges and prime it with the rest.
IMG_20140614_124948519_zpsrstcg3gj.jpg


A little more.. rounded the back tip as well. Lines are uniform now.
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Back to the headlights
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grinding a little more curve towards the nose for Denali headlights
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more grinding, bent the outer edges inward and then masked for another trial fit....
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A little more fine tuning needed in 2 spots, but just about there!
On my way back out to fix them (being picky) and finish mig welding metal underneath.
That should clean it up and make the lip nice and strong.
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IMG_20140614_145417959_HDR_zpsyfoxyh61.jpg
 
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