Fiberglass guys Help with a Hood

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392Mopar

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I just picked up a cheap raceweight 6 pack hood for my Dusterand need some advice. I needed some hood clearence for running a taller intake and air cleaner and got a good deal on the hood, its a pin on using zdus fasteners and is a thin race weight hood from MAS. I'm looking into adding some extra reinforcement to the underside to stiffin it up. I was thinking about using the smallest aluminum square stock bent to the shape of the stock hood and making a square frame and fiberglassing it to the underside then adding an extra layer or 2 of fiberglass to the entire underside of the hood and scoop. Sound like a good idea or is there a better way?

Also the the back corners of the hood where it meets the corner of the cowl and fender are a little rounded off, not pointed like the factory, is there a good way to add some material to the corners to make it fit better? Is this posible and how would I go about adding to the edge of the hood?

Any advice would be greatly appriciated. I really havent done much fiberglass work but I pride myself on learing and doing new things, love the challenge and it always comes out great once I do some reserch and dive in . Any fiberglass experts out there that can share some tips on this project? Thanks

Butch
 
You can kind of see in this picture what I'm talking about in the corner, the fenders were just loosly bolted on to get an idea so its not sitting back all the way.

Butch
 

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looks good man! any further piccys of underside cos in doing same to my barracuda as losing weight etc. dont want it "popping" up :read2:
 
Heres some underside pictures and the corners I was refering to....
 

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Just my opinion……… You said you got it cheap. Well cheap isn't cheap when you need to toss a bunch of work at it.

I would sell it to someone looking for hood like that, then buy a quality hood that meets your needs.

You will probably be money ahead.
 
I dont consider my time to cost anything, love doing this kind of stuff, and I know I'll be waaaaaay ahead of a $500 for a good hood, and cheapest I've seen for another cheap pin on is $375 shipped, got this for just over $100. I know I can make it into a real nice hood, and I got nothing but time, in no rush. If it was too much work, I'd just pin it on as it is with a fresh coat of paint and run it till I can get up the $ for a good one, but I'd rather put the $ into other things on the car for now.
 
probably easier to use something beside aluminum. if your glassing it in you don't need anything for strength because the glass does that. you really just need a shape to lay glass over.
you might try getting some foam pipe insulation, split it so its a half circle, stick it on with contact cement and glass over it. once its set your glass provides the rigidity..easy! make sure its foam and not the rubbery stuff or it'll melt from the resin.
also easier for small glass jobs like this is to pre cut the material to the size you want, wet it out on a peice of cardboard, cloth first and then mat, and transfer it to where you want it with the mat on the bottom, get the air bubbles out and your done. alot less messy that way.
grind the corners of your hood to bare glass and just keep adding material until its built out far enough, grind any excess to shape and finish with bondo. if its too thin to add material to, clamp a couple small peices of masonite to the top of the hood extending out over the corners. add a layer or two of glass to the bottom side of hood and masonite, let it kick off, pull the masonite and then build up the glass from bottom to desired thickness. trim to fit and finish with bondo.
good luck !
 
Hey thanks alot for the info and ideas, that foam trick sounds like a winner. I just ran to Lowes and they had rubber (no good) and polyethaline (i think it was). The second looked like normal foam sort of like those pool noodles the kids play with, is that the stuff? Dont want to use the wrong stuff. Thanks again, great ideas.

Butch
 
you stick it out man! im doing mine from a mould off my hood, my metal needs a ton of work, not beyond my skills but its still metal so im losing weight by going glass and hoping itll help with my b/b diet in losing lbs in my A body
 
You really dont need anything to stiffen it...as previously said the glass does that on its own.... check with hobby shops around or home depot and see if you can find some balsa rod.... super lightweight...all you need is the shape hot glue it down to the underside of your hood and glass over it......you can leave the balsa right in there no prob...... you will likely only need a few layers of glass and do not mix up buckets of resin...... enough to get it all wet is fine...more just gets runny and hard to deal with..... make sure you use the correct amount of hardner fr the temp you are in ...colder = a lil more hardener...... cut the glass matting to cover the wood and reach past unto the hood surface 3 or 4 inches in every direction.....put down a "sticky layer" of resin then start layin the glassa lil more resin another layer of glass....resin glass resin glass then let it get hard.... mix the finish coat kinda hot...meaning a lil more than a lil more hardner and move kinda quick with a brush to create a reasonably smooth surface..... done
 
392Mopar said:
Hey thanks alot for the info and ideas, that foam trick sounds like a winner. I just ran to Lowes and they had rubber (no good) and polyethaline (i think it was). The second looked like normal foam sort of like those pool noodles the kids play with, is that the stuff? Dont want to use the wrong stuff. Thanks again, great ideas.

Butch
Click to expand...

its the pool noodle stuff, otherwise just use what you can find and cover it with masking tape, then glue it down. it just needs to hold its shape for a short time until the glass hardens. also, buy a cheap paint roller, the short kind is fine, and use that to wet out the material. its alot faster and easier to control resin content than when using a brush.
 
I did a hood like this and to keep it cheep and light you'll need a couple quarts of resin some cloth and i use thin strips of foam rubber. its only there for form and just cover it all and let cure. You will still be surprised at how much more it weighs but trust me you will be happier not to have to pick the hood off the track!
Mike
 
I don't think I would close those openings at the cowl. It looks like a good place to get a finger in and out when handling the hood.
 
392 Mopar,

Off topic, but how high is the top/front of your hood scoop from the hood?

thx in advance,

Bad Shrimp
 
RedFish said:
I don't think I would close those openings at the cowl. It looks like a good place to get a finger in and out when handling the hood.
Click to expand...

Just put some light springs on the pins. When you pull the clips the springs will push the hood up on the pins high enough for you to get your fingers under it. Only down sides are slight weight of the springs & they're another thing to lose.
 
Well thanks for all the great ideas on this, thought I'd post an update. I ended up fiberglassing in some c channel alluminum strips then using the pipe foam over top the alluminum strips and fiberglassing them in also. Probably a little overkill but it is very strong and rigid now and weighs 25 pounds compared to the 55 pounds of the steel hood. Still have to do a little more work buts its looking good, heres some pictures.

Butch
 

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The front is fine, its between the radiator support and the front. But your right, the rear hits the cowl in 2 spots, I just have to shave it down about a 1/4" in 2 spots and re glass it so it doent hit, live and learn but no big deal.

Butch
 
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