here are some pics of my first "REAL" body mod festival. this was the first time ive welded sheet stell, used bondo, or modified any body panels on any car. its not the prettiest but here it is. i still have more work to do on the panel but i want to wait until i can park the vehicle so that i can remove panels and such.




this was the starting point. i had originally wanted more air to flow to the radiator and oil cooler so i cut a vent int he header panel and placed a screen inside. i soon wanted something that looked better and would direct air better than an open vent, so i decided on a scoop.



i then sanded the area for a good weld contact and went a little wide to accomidate for bondo feathering. i then marked approximately where i wanted the scoop edges to go



i then cut the edge pieces for the scoop and got them as close to identicle as i could. the longer center piece is the metal i originally cut from the header panel










i welded the scoop together and placed it on the header panel and after marking it i welded in a few spots being careful to do small welds at a time to prevent warping. as we can see i burned through the scoops steel on one corner before i figured out i had my welder too hot ( first time welding sheet steel)









then i ground down my welds as smooth as possible and applied the first layer of bondo on the corners and the center section









i sanded, cleaned, and added another layer of filler and sanded again. its important to keep the area clean and free of dusta s much as possible because the dust interferes with the bonding of the filler but it also gives you a chance to see low spots or imperfections in the work being done.







i used some putty to fill in some of the deeper holes/bubbles form the first and second layers of filler



yet another thin layer of filler to even out low spots and such, followed by ye5t more sanding



after hours of sanding and stuff i couldnt see the imperfections or low spots so i used some gloss black spray paint i had laying around and used the reflection off of the closs to tell where the imperfections were

 

after filling in any low spots and once again sanding and all that jazz, i was ready to give myself a prieview of the paint job i had in mind. these are shots of how it looks today although when i park it and pull the panel i will finish straightening the vent edges and adding a screen to prevent foreign objects from entering.

 

i like the idea, but not the design. id of went with a vent that was inside of the panel rather than sticking out. good idea for more air though.

 

I can definitely dig it. It isn't exactly something that I would do, but I definitely like the idea of getting more air into the engine bay.

 

hey dont forget the subaru STI scoop on the roof for driver air flow. ha ha ha

just kidding

 

Looks like a fun project, makes me appreciate the original design even more. The car wasn't supposed to have scoops, which is as good a reason as any to put one in, I suppose. At least your's is different and your horn blast ought to be a little louder.

Oh yeh, on the air thing, if you have the stock ventillation set up (no electric fans and "upgraades" like that) you should have plenty of air to keep the car nice and cool. If not, something is probably dirty or broken.

Keep up the good work, something interesting might come out of it!

Edit: I see you are from California. This kind of thing might be more the norm out there, oxygen therapy and all that stuff.

 

heeh...oxygen therapy lol

the ventilation setup is stock but i was noticing really hot coolant temps last summer so i added the vent to help promote more airflow to the rad, and it was ok but it still had a tendancy to run warmer than i wanted so i did the scoop thing to redirect airflow better than the vent, and it does surprisingly well. here in CA i see body kits all the time but most people ( at least here in my area ) tend to just do the CF or fiberglass hoods with the OEM contours. i havent seen too many aftermarket scoops, which was one reason for me choosing a scoop ( the other being some suggestions from a few forum members after i did the vent( thanks trochoid)) and the last reason was that since i had already made a hole i figured i would learn about bodywork a little bit and that was the simplest design to work with for my first bondo/bodywork experiment. i figured less corners = decent learning curve

thx for the input guys hopefully soon i can start on some other mods to the car. i will keep you all posted on any progress or changes when i park it and really start getting in to the car

 

You get an "A" for effort and design, but doesnt look right at all for a 1st gen. Sorry.

 

I think your intentions were good, but it looks a little awkward...out of place. Messes up the flow of the body. Not refined enough for me, sticks out like a sore thumb. But its your car, and you like it.

 

I think it would look better with just some "styled holes" much the cowl panel fibermaz made but in the front, maybe I will do this and see how it works

 

Heh, wait till he gets it painted before judging, it might be interesting. It's actually the best "hood" scoop I've seen. And out in CA you need this kind of thing to stay cool.

 

A carbon nosepanel with tasteful vents would look damn good

Sorry but I think the raised vent/scoop looks hideous

 

Just keep me in mind when you are selling tons of them

 

neat idea but man... what did you use to weld that??

 

Yeah, thous welds aren't very good, Im assuming your new to welding,

 

Interesting.

In the Brian Long RX-7 book, one of the design sketches had a scoop in that location.

 

Way to stick with it! A little bit of advice on your welding. It looks like you are moving too fast when you weld. Those welds are almost entirely spatter. Slow down and look for the molten pool of metal while you are welding. You want to move slow enough down the workpiece that you can sustain this molten pool for the entire length of the weld.

Secondly, it looks like you burnt through the scoop when you were welding it over on the passenger's side. I am guessing that this is the reason you were going so fast on all your welds? An attempt to keep from continually burning through? To fix this you should be able to turn down the voltage/heat on your welder somehow. Try taking the power down a notch, and then you'll be able to make slower, nicer looking welds.

Keep up the good work! Practice welding that sheet steel!

Jamie

 

I respect you for getting up and doing something (frankly because I am not motivated enough to do something like this), but I think if you sat down with a sketch of a first gen, you could create something similar to your design that followed the body lines more.

 

Agreed, the welds hardly penetrated at all, for sheet steel that thin turn the feed and voltage all the way down and make sure you have the gun angled correctly (there should be a little diagram on the welder) in order for the filler to penetrate properly.
It's always good to see someone diving right into a project, especially body work, too many people on here are afraid of body work.... It's not that hard, just time consuming and takes lots of practice. Good luck!

 

yeah my welds are kinda crappy but like i said it is my first time welding thin sheet steel. the first corner was way too hot and i turned it down a notch but i should have gone down one more. next time hopefully they will look better as i kinda know what im doing now....kinda...

i just grenaded the rear end so i will be finishing this and starting other body mods now that it is parked. thanks for the input guys.

 

naca ducts are one of the best designs to get more air into the engine bay. If I had an extra hood I would put one right where the carb is. I'm not into this so far, but I'll have to wait to decide until the final pics are revealed. Good work though

 

That's a negative pressure area on the hood. Good place to vent air out, lousy place to try to draw air in.

 

ya, well, im tired. lol.

 

oh, okay

 

well, i dont know where i would put it honestly. just an idea.