academytim

Finally got around to starting the project tonight. Its been pretty crazy at work (retail) as you can imagine. Here's a quick little video for everyone's enjoyment.

http://homepage.mac.com/trogers9/FileSharing1.html

...and for those who haven't seen the thread over on tc, here is the general inspiration for the design of the hood...



It will end up very similar to that shape...should flow very well with the lines of the car.

wingsfan

Any idea what the target price will be? I'm interested since I'll need somehting to clear my Harrop intake. I'd rather have to slightly modify a 'glass hood than hack up my stocker.

I was going to have the guys on the local SAE solar car tackle a custom hood in CF, but I'm all for the least amount of expense and effort.

academytim

Not exactly sure yet, if it comes out really well I'll probably do a group buy to get the price down. I was thinking in the 600-700 dollar range...again, not sure yet.

BlueRex

Looks nice, almost C5ish, except it's missing the groove right down the center. Can't wait to see a finished product.

I was hoping the video would have had more then just sanding, but I'm guessing there is more progress updates to come? It appears you used your own freshly painted hood, any reason you didn't pick up a used one instead of destroying that beautiful paint job?

academytim

Had a line on a local hood to use but it fell through. Got tired of waiting to find another local one and wasn't about to pay to have one shipped. Yeah, we have made more progress, its coming along well but is nothing to look at yet. I'll probably have some pics to share in about a week or so that will show the basic shape of what it will look like.

BlueRex

I figured it had to do with convenience.

Can't wait to see.

academytim

Some updated pictures. This will give you a rough idea of the height and basic shape the cowl will have....







We should have it completely smoothed out, painted, cleared and mocked up within the next week or so.

wptrx7

You know what may look cool, if it had a little viper type scoop in the front.

wptrx7

How much room of clearance does this now give you? Does the itb's require s much height as a blower, if not, will you be making a second version that does not purtrude (spl chk) as high? I guess through the progress pictures it appears to be high.

academytim

It gives about 3 inches of extra clearance. The idea is to accomodate someone wanting to run a twin screw supercharger or carb setup. The ITB setup doesn't require anywhere near as much clearance...but I bet it would react well to the "cowl" effect of pulling cool air into the engine compartment...also this will do very well at venting hot air out of the engine bay. It looks tall, but I think once its smoothed out and painted its going to look awesome. Besides, whos to say wingsfan might not change his mind again and run a blower? lol This way he has the room to grow if he wishes.

wingsfan

The ITB setup doesn't require any of the clearance towards the firewall. The area that's a concern is where the TB sits on a canonical LSx intake setup. The rest of the cowl would just be so the bulge in that area doesn't look stupid.

In my case it will be irrelevant. I'll be directing filtered air to each bank from the area in the nose where the oil coolers used to sit.


I'm curious to see how it looks once it's painted. The contrast in color right now calls attention to how rough it is. It looks like it will turn out pretty well once everything is smoothed over.
I think Mrs Wingsfan might have a thing or two to say about that.

BlueRex

Will this smoothing involve flattening the curve, or bulge as it seems a little higher then the pictured target look, but that could just be the angle of the shots. Either way it's looking good.

academytim

Yeah...I want to flatten it out a bit. Although it will still be rounded, it will much flatter than it appears in those pictures.

academytim

Wanted to add...Just went out and looked at the hood again, it is nowhere near as "rounded" as it appears in those pictures. Thats an illusion because of the angle the picture was taken at. The front part of the cowl is rounded obviously, and thats what you are seeing. A picture taken slightly higher would show the flatter area on top. I'm still going to flatten it out a little more...but wanted to mention that it isn't as round as it appears. Should have some better pictures early next week.

wptrx7

I have a few Q's about this project (they are not to offend but help):

With the hood now having a scoop like this, wouldn't it affect the seal of the hood? Well this may be the point to allow fresh air in... wouldn't this also allow water in? And if water does get in and most of the V8 converted guys cut that little lip/rain guard on the firwall, wouldn't this allow water to easily drip down the firewall and into the vehicle (via one of those open holes or grommets)? How is visibilty affected? Hope this helps.

academytim

You're right that its kindof the whole point to let fresh air in...the cowl does come back a little bit towards the windshield so not much rain should get in unless its coming down at the same angle the windshield is. There definitely won't be any rain getting in with the car moving.

btw...i've never seen any v8 fd with anything cut off the firewall. Could you elaborate on that? I've heard of massaging the trans tunnel a bit, but never heard of anyone cutting anything.

wptrx7

Not sure what it is called, but there is a little lip that runs across the firewall and in most pictures i have seen it is cut or dented in to avoid braking the sensor in the back.

what happens to the washer nozzles?

academytim

They go bye bye unless the buyer of the hood wants to drill some holes out for them. I'm personally not planning on doing that...but im sure it wouldn't be too dificult to do.

academytim

Some updated pictures. We did some grinding and blocking on the bondo last night. We are going to build it back up again with a layer or 2 of bondo and then go at it again until we get it exactly how we want it. We forgot the stand at my place when we took the hood out to my bro-inlaws so we had to improvise...lol

Herblenny

iTrader: (13)

Looks pretty cool Tim! Can't wait to see the finished product! Its really coming along!

academytim

Thanks Phil, heres a couple more pictures with the cowl a little more smoothed out and closer to the final shape...

txturbogs

What ITB system would you use? I want to keep the NA for as long as it takes. I was considering turbocharging, but no thanks. I also considered a blower, but again, it is forced induction, no thanks. The ITB would be ideal! Are you going to sell these hoods or something? How about making them aout of fiberblass once you have the shape perfected. Good project man.

academytim

Check out wingsfan's set up in Jimlabs thread. Its called a "harrop" system I think.

That is exactly the idea. The hood we are working on is just a mock hood. Once its perfected we are going to make a mold and start popping out some fiberglass hoods. I'll do a group buy for the first batch.

AbadR1

iTrader: (1)

Wingsfan's harrop is going to be awesome. Its much better for big cubes, I think Windsfan is doing a 402 if Iam not mistaken.

txturbogs

Count me in.