calling all fiberglass people October 27, 2005, 04:29:31 PM i want to ask everyone here that has worked with fiberglass or carbon fiber about fabrication. i want to make a hood out of carbon fiber for thunderbirds or cougars, probley a 2" cowl with tc scoops ducted to a air outlet where the stock air box is located. kinda like the Cervini's ram air hoods like this. i plan on makeing the out side skin, then attaching it some kind of structural undercarrage in carbon fiber, then attaching the duct work. so im thinking a 3 piece deal.i was going to set up the hood like the ones from US body except with the scoop inlets ducted like the cervini's hood kinda like on the bottom. i need to know how everybody went about makeing their parts, and anything they learnt the hard way. i plan on useing my hood and molding the cowl to it with clay or something, then makeing a casting of the outside of it. then i dont know what for the under side support. i want to use carbon fiber for the strength and lightness. i hope to have a hood strong enough to use stock mounting hardware, except springs, and still be lighter than stock. the us body hood it says is actualy heavyer than the stock hood or close to it... Quote Selected
calling all fiberglass people Reply #1 – October 28, 2005, 01:18:02 AM I want a carbon fiber hood too. Either painted or not it would be so "cool" to have.:D I'm serious, anyone interested in a group buy from somewhere that could do a small number for us? If not, one day when I'm rolling in cash (that'll be the day) I'm gonna have a custom one made.About your project: I wish you luck. Quote Selected
calling all fiberglass people Reply #2 – October 28, 2005, 10:16:25 AM Just from experience, the fiberglass hood I have now (US Body) is heavier than the stock steel hood. Neither one is exactly a lightweight. I sure hope a carbon fiber hood would be significantly lighter...otherwise the stock hood would be the lightest of the bunch. Sounds contradictory but it's true! Ford did the same thing with the 1997-2003 F-150's. Stock hoods are aluminum...any aftermarket hood is heavier. Quote Selected
calling all fiberglass people Reply #3 – October 28, 2005, 06:43:55 PM im sure the majority of "carbon fiber" hoods out there are mostly fiberglass with the top layers that show being actual carbon fiber. otherwise they would cost so much to make it would make you puke. i forgot how much i paid for a few yards of carbon fiber fabric for when i was vacume forming rc gliders with foam, mylar, kevlar, fiberglass and carbon fiber. i do remember it being astronomicle. and that was a loose weave that i personally would never use as the finnish layer for people to see. the tighter the weave the more expensive it is. now that i think about it, the same process could be used to make hoods. i realy dont want to get into all that right now though. theres alot involved. what i was getting at is a one off all carbon hood would probably cost thousands to make.ive also come across a cross weave fabric of carbon fiber and colored kevlar. neet stuff. the kevlar comes in red, green, blue or yellow and its weaved opposite of the carbon. i did just buy a turbo coupe header pannel. i was brainstorming an idea about finally trying to make up projector lights for tbirds like the mustang guys now have using simmilar methods as with the gliders. body kits, bumper covers, body pannels, wings..etc could be possilble as well...a shiznitload of triall and error as well as work though. Quote Selected
calling all fiberglass people Reply #4 – October 28, 2005, 08:54:39 PM Quote from: shame302im sure the majority of "carbon fiber" hoods out there are mostly fiberglass with the top layers that show being actual carbon fiber. otherwise they would cost so much to make it would make you puke. i forgot how much i paid for a few yards of carbon fiber fabric for when i was vacume forming rc gliders with foam, mylar, kevlar, fiberglass and carbon fiber. i do remember it being astronomicle. and that was a loose weave that i personally would never use as the finnish layer for people to see. the tighter the weave the more expensive it is. now that i think about it, the same process could be used to make hoods. i realy dont want to get into all that right now though. theres alot involved. what i was getting at is a one off all carbon hood would probably cost thousands to make.ive also come across a cross weave fabric of carbon fiber and colored kevlar. neet stuff. the kevlar comes in red, green, blue or yellow and its weaved opposite of the carbon. i did just buy a turbo coupe header pannel. i was brainstorming an idea about finally trying to make up projector lights for tbirds like the mustang guys now have using simmilar methods as with the gliders. body kits, bumper covers, body pannels, wings..etc could be possilble as well...a shiznitload of triall and error as well as work though.I totally agree with you about the prices, as I too have used loose weave carbon fiber for certain model hobbies AND I thought all the rice rockets running around town had to have faux carbon fiber hoods b/c I couldn't imagine all these kids being able to afford the real thing.....BUT....I ended up talking to a kid I knew from school who is the definition of a "ricer" and I asked how light his hood was. We went to his car and he popped the hood and I was able to lift it with just my pinky....it was the real deal, looked good, and didn't cost much. That convinced me that if this kid had the real thing then I bet the majority of hoods out there are the real thing. I just don't understand how they can produce them so cheaply. Though I believe most carbon fiber hoods go for the 500$ range so it's its reasonably affordable. Quote Selected
calling all fiberglass people Reply #5 – October 28, 2005, 10:47:09 PM id love to get myself into the usbody shop, or someplace of the sort to get into the buisness, or learn some before i start this. i expected to spend about a grand on one hood, not includeing any failures. id like to be able to get a usbody hood to make a mold from or do some detailed comparisions. anybody with a NON lift off US Body hood mind takeing some pix for me? expecialy the latch area and hing attachment area? i hope to start makeing my first mold some time during the winter. Quote Selected
calling all fiberglass people Reply #6 – October 28, 2005, 11:34:38 PM I'm gonna pull a stupid here and ask:Would it be worth trying to find out if we could fab up some custom hoods out of aluminum? If some 'glass hoods are actually heavier than the stock hood, and 100% carbon fiber is prohibitively expensive.. is there any possible way to make a lighter custom hood viable without being insanely expensive?I have this insane sort of dream in the back of my head.. of getting together the money to start a business fabbing custom metalwork for cars.. and I don't just mean hoods.. this idiotic dream of mine goes as far as casting custom blocks and shiznit like that.. stuff that isn't readily available, like (for crazy examples) aluminum 3.8 blocks and aluminum inline-6 blocks. I know there's at least a small chance of funding.. although you'll think me completely insane for even discussing it. (if you don't think I'm insane after the past year or more) But I'm always looking for new ideas.. so I ask these stupid questions.. what, am I gonna look any more whacked than I already do? :p Quote Selected
calling all fiberglass people Reply #7 – October 29, 2005, 12:02:48 AM well, youd deffinetly need tooling skills. aluminum would probably be hard to work with in this case. id imagine it would have to be stamped and the toolong wouldnt be cheep for that. traditional hand working might work, like the bike guys do on tv with tanks and such. i know i could make a plug for a cowl hood, at least im pretty sure i could. if thats so then i know i could at least make a lift off hood. its an idea i guess. i realy want to tinker with getting better lighting first. im confident that if i can make the headlights work, than ill move on with other stuff. the turbo coupe hood or the factory hood for that matter very likely wont work with the DOHC so ill have to come up with something. most of the aftermarket hoods for fox tbirds dont do it for me. id realy like a cobra R hood. of cours, none of it could work out and im blowing smoke up my own ass too... Quote Selected
calling all fiberglass people Reply #8 – October 29, 2005, 12:11:45 AM I would like hoods for my T-bird and Mark that would be cowl hoods, but took the existing hood lines and just raised them an inch or two. I wonder sometimes if a ram air scoop could be fabricated into such a cowl hood. (hard to explain what I picture.. and it's probably ugly) Quote Selected
calling all fiberglass people Reply #9 – October 29, 2005, 12:37:46 AM Quotebut took the existing hood lines and just raised them an inch or two.thats basically what i want, with another raised cowl in the center of that. similar to this:i suppose if you could fab/bend up a hood it could be mounted to the factory framework of the old hood, depending on how its welded/mounted to it. im gonna take a peak in the morning. Quote Selected
calling all fiberglass people Reply #10 – October 29, 2005, 01:59:19 PM Quote from: shame302thats basically what i want, with another raised cowl in the center of that. similar to this:I'd go for a hood like that, I think that looks cool as hell... Quote Selected
calling all fiberglass people Reply #11 – October 30, 2005, 07:28:05 PM I'm actually in the process of building another cowl hood for my '88 5.0L bird and am doing a step by step guide with pics on how to make a steel 3-4" cowl out of a stock hood.Using the info I gained from doing (and screwing up) a couple of this hoods, I am confident this cowl WILL BE SHOW worthy! All my other cowls looked good, but were heavy, and didn't stand up to the test of time, as they were fiberglassed to metal. This one will be all steel and lighter then a stock hood with the liner on it. I will post some pics of it in the body section tomorrow, so you can see some of the progress. Quote Selected
calling all fiberglass people Reply #12 – October 31, 2005, 08:34:38 PM *Innocent whistling* So, what am I doing after my retirement from the Coast Guard? Learning how to fiberglass, you say. Hmmm, that would be why you bought a Motorsports spoiler and have the other 2 handmade TBird spoilers. What else is in your shed? A TC hood? 3 flat hoods to experiment with? Fenders? Trunks? bumpers and header panels? You are crazy. :D:D:D:D:D Quote Selected
calling all fiberglass people Reply #13 – November 01, 2005, 08:38:20 PM hmmm, i should talk to you, or try to learn from what you find out do'n fiberglass stuff. or maybe when i get done with my prototype and finalize it, i can hand it over to you to sell. Quote Selected
calling all fiberglass people Reply #14 – November 02, 2005, 12:10:04 AM I'll gladly re-pop your prototype (that's where my 1-piece wing came from). Quote Selected
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