What is the hood made out of on a 1983 Rx-7?
If it's aluminum I'm thinking about doing this to it :O

 

that chrome plated hood looks great, but it will blind the driver when driving into the rising/setting sun, and also the driver will be blinded at night from oncomimg cars' headlights.

 

As far as I know every hood before some FC TII aluminum hoods are steel.

 

They are all steel. There is very little aluminum on the FB in general. It wasn't until the FC that Mazda started using Aluminum for anything more than the engine/trans parts

 

If you notice, that hood is louvered. Doing that typically requires you to separate the hood inner from the outer, add the louvers to the outer, reattch the two, then paint. Since that hood is aluminum, he probably polished it instead of painting it.

I agree with midnight mechanic that the bright hood will blind you under certain circumstances (mine is flat black for that reason). But if you want the look on your steel hood badly enough, there are paint processes that will give you a chrome look. Check with a good body shop.

 

The hood is no more blinding than a polished black hood.
Had my hood done like that on a Miata as well.

To install the louvers like that in the photo. You just cut out a section, place the louvers in the hole and either spot weld them on or rivet them.
I'm gonna get some for my Rx-7
Flyin' Miata : Body : Body parts : Flyin` Miata aluminum louver panel

I'll go to a pick n pull, take some airplane paint stripper, polish up a tiny spot and see what it looks like.
I'll post the results in case anyone is curious :P

 

FB hoods are made from recycled Asahi cans - -from back when beer cans were still made from steel.

Yes, I'm joking.

 

^ that just re-affirms the badass factor of these cars :p

 

some N/A FC hoods were also aluminum. and also some T2 hood were steel. who knows what mazda was thinking.

 

You can still get a mirror finish on steel, then just get it powder cleared.

 

I've never heard of a steel t2 hood. They were so dedicated to keeping the weight balance as close to 50/50 as possible they put aluminum hoods on all turbos.

You could polish a steel hood and clear coat it.

 

Doin' it.

 

Reminds me of the early '60's when "made in japan" meant toy cars made out of stamped used cans from america. And everyone laughed. And the late 60's it was motorcycles and tiny tv's and radios. And everyone laughed. And then the late '70's. Everyone stopped laughing.

And then the mid 90's, "made in korea". And everyone laughed.

And then the mid oh's oh's (2000-2010), "made in america". And everyone laughed.

 

Yeah I'm 99.999% sure all the T2 hoods were aluminum, as were the Vert hoods. Any other FC hood should be steel

 

nope lol i own one of each. an Aluminum N/A hood, and a steel T2 hood. trust mt theres no confusing steel vs aluminum after you pick it up maybe the vert hoods are aluminum im not sure. it came on a gxl ii have and its not original so that may be true

 

Its possibly an aftermarket body shop part. Definitely not an OEM Mazda part.

 

Maybe you should "sleep on it".

 

Some T2 hoods were steel. Most were not. Some NA hoods were aluminum. Most were not. No factory FB/SA hoods were aluminum.

 

what's the point of the louvres on the hood?

 

They serve 2, or for some, 3 purposes. They release heat so that the field mice don't roast, while allowing in just enough light so that they can read the engine designation on the housings.
They also lend an old school hot rod look.

 

in japan the base (GTR) models got a steel hood, open diff, etc.

 

If I ordered a JDM hood and it turned out to be steel Id be pissed.

 

me too!

 

Just in case you didn't get the gist -- there are a couple of functional benefits:

1. Let out underhood heat / move more air through the cooling module (stated above more colorfully).

2. Reduce front end lift at high speeds.

The old school hot rodders knew both of these benefits. Some of the old speed record attempt cars have louvers on the roof and decklid, too. Those are functional, also helping reduce lift.