Project 26 - Removal of DeLorean Hood 'X'

DeLorean hoods are all supported underneath by a 'X' frame, and some of these are starting to show through the metal - so when looking at a car, you can see a big 'X'. This isn't harmful to the car - but this little quirk annoys owners no end - and people have been known to replace the hood rather than live with an 'X'.

The reasons why an 'X' appears in the first place are debatable - suggestions include over stuffing the luggage compartment, regraining/cleaning with too much down force or simply just sag in the metal over time.

Up until now, it has not been thought possible to remove the 'X' without major reskinning of the hood. Several suggestions have been made about how a repair could be done - but so far, nobody has actually demonstrably carried out such a repair.

The hood in the pictures belongs to Pilot 20 - which was previously painted black, and had been heavily brushed with an orbital sander to produce a key for the paint to bond to. It really was no surprise that the hood had an 'X'.

The pictures speak for themselves. At the start you can see how bad the X was, and during the process you can can see how Chris has brushed the X out over the first half of the hood.

In the final two pictures you can see the finished article.

This proves that hood X can be removed, and we really wanted to save this particular hood - as it belongs to a pilot car.