I was musing recently about mods I would like to perform once the snow clears, and one of my ideas was to replace my aluminum TII hood with a painted carbon fiber NA hood. (Along with a FMIC, of course) So I'd have a Turbo II that looked like a stock NA.

Problem is no matter where I looked I couldn't find a carbon NA hood! It seems only TII and aftermarket vented hoods are out there. Does anyone know where I can find a carbon fiber NA style hood, or do I have to settle for using an aluminum NA one? (does anyone know what the weight difference is?)

 

I'm curious about this as well.
I have some composites experience, and thought about making one. But it would be race only, held on by hood pins, since I'm too lazy the make a bottom side mold for all the attaching hardware.

 

I would tottaly be down with doing this too!
theres gotta be at least a 10-15lb weight difference.
Although Idk how heave the N/A hood is.

 

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I don't think I've ever seen a carbon n/a hood. FWIW, the aluminum one weighs about 35 lbs or so, a noticable weight savings over the steel hood which is ~55. I have one of each .

 

That would be cool as crap if someone made one.
I would expect around 20lbs with the n/a hood
am I wrong?

 

I'd hold out until the framework is made, but a cf na hood would be great!

I swapped my steel for an alum, and haven't gone back. Need more for routine maintenence? Off goes the hood. ;p

 

well in andyautosport.com it looks like they have na stlye cf hoods

 

please someone ban this ******* for spamming...

But anyway... wow... It seriously seems there is a decent amount of interest in this, does anyone know the guys at VIS or somewhere who might take interest in our plight? enough people sign onto this and we might convince some company to actually make it. I'd spend $500 easily...

 

a japanese company makes frp na hood.

 

Don't be so quick to blame a noob for spamming.
Here's a link to OEM style CF hood from andysautosport.com
http://www.andysautosport.com/mazda/...b00080482.html

 

So who else has noticed that the picture they have isnt even of a FC?
Has anyone on here ever ordered one for kicks?

 

After a little more research, I think ViS makes an N/A hood.
http://www.carbonfiberhoods.net/mazd...od-p-1708.html

 

oh, hey my bad... didn't realize he forgot the "s" in andysautosport, without it I was sent off to spamland... I've seen many ads like this purporting an "OEM rx7 carbon fiber hood", but when I look at the picture its a 240sx, an S2000, or in andysautosport's case an Eclipse...

Now much to my amazement Travis seems to have dug up exactly what I was convinced didn't exist at all... I'm stoked, and most likely soon to be short on cash... again...

 

thanks for saving my butt
i thought i actually was about to get banned or something

 

maybe someone should ban you for spamming. Might want to be a little more sure of yourself next time instead of making an *** of yourself.

 

I doubt you can reduce much weight with the carbon fiber hood. the aluminum hoods are already super light.

 

not much weight from aluminum maybe but i have a steely and my god that thing is heavy.
its starting to bend itself from weight.
and rather than buy aluminum i'd father go cf for ultimate gains.
if i spend money for something, its gonna be spent for the best.

in another month or two, maybe 3 haha, i'll pick this up.

 

Yeah the steely is horrible. I feel you on that one! ^^

 

FC3SPro lists the weight of the aluminum TurboII hood at ~29lbs. So it should be about the same for the aluminum NA hood. A carbon version should be about half that, I would guess.
If the hood is the only weigh savings you are doing, then yes, it doesn't make much of a difference.
But if you are building a race car, ever pound counts, and that's a pretty big chunk for just one part.
Hopefully someone will order that ViS hood and chime in here. Otherwise I'll make my own. Sure it might have marginal quality, and need 4 hood pins to hold it down, but I doubt it would weigh more than 10-15lbs.

 

The fiberglass hoods I make for racing come in at about 13-15 lbs. That is with no under frame and the headlight door area filled in with the hood. You could cut the headlight doors out and save a few ounces.

The problem it is such a large flat area you need to build rigidity with a foam core or else it will flop around.

 

For comparable cost, kevlar would be lighter than carbon, and a fuckload quieter.

 

isn't that a lot more than cf?
might be worth it though cause i know its way stronger.

 

because clearly I'm spamming by posting links to third party sites...

I'm not trying to get into a fight over this, but its not my fault some noob made a typo on his post... Put andyautosport.com yourself into your browser and you'll have a one way ticked to adland. I already said my bad for jumping to conclusions, so don't go posting here just to give me **** on my own thread. At least that noob had something halfway constructive to say...

 

So... to be a bit more constructive myself...

You're probably right about this one... I'm not building a caged race car with 6 point harnesses, in fact I'm trying to make it look like as much of a stocker as possible.

Since every pound counts I've already removed my AC, OMP, replaced stock exhaust with a single pipe, stock ECU and associated harnesses, stock mags for FD wheels, hell I even took out all the insulation under the carpets. I would think saving 15lbs would be significant, but that being said I could probably do the same for less $$ with a gym membership. I wish I knew what this adds up to... sadly I'll still need a rebuild before I can drive it onto the scales...