So what do you think of this fiberglass GS hood? It's 2" taller than a steel hood and the cowl induction set up is functional The hood still needs to have the pins adjusted some to even it out with the fenders.
Freakin' sweet . . . Wish I had the cash for one of those, but for now I'll stick to my Stage 2 scoop idea.
You know I was wondering about that :Smarty: I always heard that there was a 4" boundary layer you had to be above to have a scoop really work (unless it's right out on the front of the hood) but who knows? The holes for the scoops are not open right now. I didn't know if that would disturb the cowl pressure effect or not.
I actually made it in my garage. I had two old rough 'glass hoods from the early 90's. Sectioned the GS hood and attached it to the flat Skylark hood. Made a plug, which looked right but was not very structurally strong not to mention a lot of bondo, fiberglass and styrofoam :eek2: Then I made a mold off of this using 9 layers of fiberglass mat; Laid up the actual hood with 3 layers of mat. The center flat pieces are just sitting there for mock up, not bonded yet. And then pooped the hood out of the mold and did the finsih work;
Simply amazing... I would have never guessed that you had made that.. i've always wanted to try to work with Fiberglass. I really liked your first photo, hope you don't mind I edited it a bit. If you'd like higher quality, e'mail me a larger photo, not resized as is on the site. my address is lacey_803@arvig.net David
Yeah David, I like that, I'll go through my file on the hood and find that pic before I shot it down. It's been a learning experience for sure Only two downsides, one it's a little on the heavy side, ~45 pounds, I think it should be closer to 30 even with the ducting. The place I get the 'glass & resin gave me a range to work with for the lay up, since it was my first hood I went on the high end. I know I can cut it back 30% on the next one. I've decided to trash the mold, I had to change a few things on the hood when I popped it out and I don't think I could get a good repair to the mold, so I'll use the actual good hood to make another mold. More work, but less finish work in the long run. I'll probably use foam next time instead of balsa core for the perimeter support, the supply shop was out of foam at the time and I was impatient! That added some weight, but the front doesn't seem to flex up at speed with only 2 hood pins. I've been to about a 100 with it, and couldn't see it flexing like my old one did :eek2: I may recess the back vertical section a 1/2 inch or so to clear the windshield wiper arms. They hit right now. Also going to look at some stainless mesh screen for the holes. So if I can get the next one to the weight I want and it's still strong, then I'll work on the underside mold that will incorporate hinge mounts and hood latch catch.
Yeah, that was another goal, to be able to run the spacer with an SP-1 intake. The next hood will have the carb plate further up in the hood, about the same level as the back underside. I put that center plate on when it was still in the mold. Then I pulled it, put it on the car and it hit the cowl and the master cylinder. That's why that little recess is on the side, it is sealed off! I could have cut the whole plate out, and glassed it back in, but this is my prototype, so I just cut the little hole and put the back part further up in the hood.
When you are ready to ditch the prototype let me know. I will sell however many banners and posters it takes to buy that badass thing from you. I've been waiting to see something like that for a few years.
I like the concept. Another idea would be just to cut an 11" hole in the bottom into the raised cowl and put an air cleaner similar to the W-30 with the foam all the way round so when you close the hood it seals. This way you can reinforce the hood like you said and leave it open to the rear cowl or to the front with the scoops. Plus with it on the air cleaner that would hold it up in the center. . You're on the right track with this and I believe you can sell them if you can keep your costs down. :TU:
Yeah, I had been looking at the different air cleaners from the factory that had the seal on it. Kind of $$$ though for an experment I just used this Moroso kit for now. Now don't give me any grief about the foam cut, I know it looks like I cut it with an axe ou: I need to "neaten" it up a little. It does seal good though. I was over TA today and Mike Jr. and I were lifting the hood off so he could see the underside ans as were lifting it, it felt stuck! I painted the underside of the hood Saturday morning and put the foam on in the afternoon. Apparently the paint was still tacky, it sealed right up! It let go, but gave me a good impression on the underside that it was in fact sealing 100% :TU:
Take it from me the thing is badass lookin, he pulled into the parking lot and mom was like, "Hey Michael someone with a Red GS is here.. it has a different looking hood in it, its really cool lookin, I like it you should come see" (knowing that Craig has a red GS and knowing that he had finished the hood I knew it was him and was eager to see it). The view from inside the car is really cool, it is a tad heavy but the next one I'm sure will be a bit lighter. I had been wondering if cutting out the holes for the original hood inserts will mess with airflow, I don't think it will but that it will only help cool the engine area down but I may be wrong.
