Bigretardhead

has anyone thought about trying to cut out all that bracing on the underside of the hood to save weight?
I looked at my dad's Z's hood, and it has no bracing, so I got the idea of removing it from mine!

I was just thinking about it and was wondernig if it could be done, or if anyone has done it. if noone has tried, maybe I'll try it on my spare hood

Bigretardhead

noone has any thoughts about this??????????

oh well, I guess I'll have to try it

anyone know what would be a good metal cutting tool for this?

banzaitoyota

Al or steel?

To cut , your best bet is a Plasma Cutter, The next best way is a Cut off wheel, This mod will PROBABLY make the hood flex and buckle at speed. What is your Objective in doing this?

DJChunter

a die grinder with a cut off wheel works well.. just becareful once you do it b/c the hood will be very flimsy.. i did this to my 72 cutlass and once day at the track i closed the hood hard and put a nice crease in it..
Dave

Bigretardhead

I've just got a steel one. I've got a cut-off wheel, so I'll just use that. I was just hoping to save weight. I've got an extra hood that probably noone will want, so I figured it'd be worth a try. hmm... maybe I'll leave a couple braces or something to stop it from flexing??

I don't know, how much weight do you think I'd save by cutting out all that crap, and mabe just use hood pins to hold it down?

mach3turbo

Let us know how it turns out. A small power saw would probably work. Make sure not to overshoot and hit the top!

PS weigh the hood before and after if you do this....

DJChunter

well on my cutlass when i was done the metal hood weighed like 5lbs less then the fiberglass racing one(real flimsy one) the hood isnt real flismy after you cut the bracing its just that on the cutlass it had spring tensioners to hold up the hold and the hood was like 40lbs lighter so i had to close it hard.. the 7 just uses a rod so it should be cake..
Dave