Anyone skinned/gutted a stock hood?
- Thread starter JKady
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the5.ohh
Legend
Get rid of the smog pump, thats like 10 pounds right there
JKady
Active Member
Everyone's a comedian...
Why is the Mustang community so against creativity or stepping outside the bounds of the service manual.
Yeah, like I said the quick easy stuff for the most part is done, no air pump, no a/c etc...
the5.ohh
Legend
Rich is one of the most informative on here when it comes to racing, and anything that goes with it, i.e weight reduction, mods etc.. He's trying to help ya.
JKady
Active Member
I'm well aware Rich knows his stuff, you don't race the classes he does without knowing what you're doing. We simply have different opinions on the merit of modifications since he's looking at things as a NASA racer and I'm looking at them as a cheap bastard who wants to go fast. Also, since I've posted this thread I haven't touched the hood but the car is down another 15-20 pounds or so. Going after it with the heat gun and scraper to get rid of the sound deadening in the morning. Waiting on my hood pins to show up before I go through with the subject of this post. Going to see if i can round up a scale so we have some science not guesses on how worth it this is.
JKady
Active Member
Just an update for those who were a part of this discussion. I put grinder to hood today. I decided against removing the hinges and going full pin on. I came to this conclusion because of the shape of the car at the cowl/firewall there really isn't a good solution for placing the pins where there's enough meat to the hood skin, that doesn't weigh more than the hinges. The good news is that this nearly halves the weight of the stock hood at least by the feel of the precision measuring tools that protrude from my shoulders. There is a big metal plate around the latch and the plates for the mounting studs are also quite beefy. I still have yet to acquire a scale but it feels like an easy 10-12 pounds on top of the weight saved by doing away with the latch and the prop rod. It's not super pretty yet but all in all, even with hood pin install (which I did previously) I'm into the project roughly an hour and a half. So, for $7.99 (Cost of hood pin kit) and a little time I've got what I feel to be a substantial weight savings off the nose.
I took it out and made a few higher speed passes in the car tonight (All high speed action took place in "Mexico", no nuns, puppies, children etc... were harmed) and there is a problem I do need to address, that may be helped by some forthcoming aero-mods I want to apply to the front end.
I brought it up to 90mph or so and at that point, due to crosswinds or the flex I've introduced to the hood the air does get under it and shake the ever living S out of the hood. I've spent the past few days geeking on road race aero and I think some of my plans will help alleviate this. At normal highway speeds, even with side winds all is well.
I took it out and made a few higher speed passes in the car tonight (All high speed action took place in "Mexico", no nuns, puppies, children etc... were harmed) and there is a problem I do need to address, that may be helped by some forthcoming aero-mods I want to apply to the front end.
I brought it up to 90mph or so and at that point, due to crosswinds or the flex I've introduced to the hood the air does get under it and shake the ever living S out of the hood. I've spent the past few days geeking on road race aero and I think some of my plans will help alleviate this. At normal highway speeds, even with side winds all is well.
ttocs
Post Whore
gonna have to see pics on this. A hood shaking at speed to me is not a good sign at all.
JKady
Active Member
It's similar to when moving air hits the edge of a piece of paper and forces it to flex/bouce. It could be fixed by something as simple as a dzus fastener midway down either edge of the hood. I plan on making a makeshift block off for the "grill" opening and seeing if that smooths it out enough to keep the pressure even top/bottom on the hood.
I also didn't have the scoop holes blocked off and they're far enough back that they may be disturbing things as well.
EDIT: Did some more testing, definitely has to do with the scoop openings, the hood is calm as can be aside from the rear edge until that moves enough to shake the whole panel.
I also didn't have the scoop holes blocked off and they're far enough back that they may be disturbing things as well.
EDIT: Did some more testing, definitely has to do with the scoop openings, the hood is calm as can be aside from the rear edge until that moves enough to shake the whole panel.
hotmustang95
Active Member
I'd also like to see pics of this. I myself have taken a stock hood and cut out most of the center of the underside but not for weight loss. It was to have a nice smooth surface to mount a gt500 hood vent.
Tally_4.6
Well-Known Member
Not to beat a dead horse.
But a stock sn95 hood is composite frame with a metal skin on top. If any of you have paint chips take a look at them, you can see the bare metal.
But a stock sn95 hood is composite frame with a metal skin on top. If any of you have paint chips take a look at them, you can see the bare metal.
ttocs
Post Whore
pics would be nice but do us all a favor and strap a gopro on the car when your doing this "testing". It would allow you to better see how much its moving, and also gives us the chance to see what happens when you take a little too much off and go a little too fast.
Do you have any aftermarket gauges? Not sure closing off the grill area would be suggested. Its small but could effect cooling and the stock temp gauge will not tell you if it has made a difference or not.
Do you have any aftermarket gauges? Not sure closing off the grill area would be suggested. Its small but could effect cooling and the stock temp gauge will not tell you if it has made a difference or not.
JKady
Active Member
No, the factory hoods are not. I've apparently put more power tools to them than most and I can assure you, they are entirely SMC save for steel plates around the hinges and latch area.
No aftermarket gauges a this time. I do have one laying around from another project I could temp wire up to satisfy curiosity. These cars are bottom feeders though, they cool from the lower bumper opening and the pressure difference the air-dam under the bumper creates. I plan on ducting/boxing the radiator as part of a larger aero scheme anyway which will take the grill opening completely out of the equation. I don't have a go-pro at the moment but I may be able to talk my old man out of his for the afternoon, I'll have to see if he's got a suction cup mount for it still (he uses it for a helmet cam).
More pics will come soon, I spent my day at the range and gun work kinda took up the rest of my day accordingly and I didn't get back on anything to do with the car till dark.
Here's the trimmings. The holes in the center are not from me, not sure if someone had an awful ram air setup in mind or were just re-bonding the inner and outer skin.
FRANKTHETANK315
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I just gt one of hoods from Hoods4sale on ebay and i have to say its not bad as i exspected and was 280 shipped to me, fit and lines is good, just gel coat is shit, but high build primer and blocking will fix and im a auto painter so no big deal, Just giving you idea
JKady
Active Member
Idea for what? Not really sure what this has to do with the topic at hand of reducing the weight of a stock hood.
Hoods4sale (Liberty Fiberglass/Liberty Mustang/and a host of other names they go by) have a very long reputation of blatantly ripping off other company's designs (Literally buying a quality part, pulling a mold of it then selling their own poorly made version) along with horrible quality. You won't see any of their products on anything I own... ever.
Anyway here's a pic of the hood post cutting. I still need to scrounge some aluminum or abs up to fill in the scoop holes and clean up my cuts before I call it done. Probably rattle can the underside black to make it a little more pleasing to look at.
alex302
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not all hoods mine is composite when i cut the hole for the gt500 vent the skin is composite
Is yours OEM? Aftermarket hoods have been known to be metal skin. Never seen any metal OEM 94+ hoods.
ttocs
Post Whore
I know the way mine tore in the accident, it ain't a metal skin.
Tally_4.6
Well-Known Member
Weird.
Just always figured it was.
Just always figured it was.
hotmustang95
Active Member
I'm gonna have to also disagree with you on that one. I've never seen a metal factory hood on a 94-98 and I've had my hands on many. My car was completely stock when I bought it from the original owner. I crashed the car soon after and the hood was all composite. Bought another stock hood from the junk yard to play with. Cut it up for road racing and it too was all composite. Destroyed that one recently. Got another one from another stock car from a buddy and same thing. I'm not counting all the other hoods I've seen.
hotmustang95
Active Member
Anyway here's a pic of the hood post cutting. I still need to scrounge some aluminum or abs up to fill in the scoop holes and clean up my cuts before I call it done. Probably rattle can the underside black to make it a little more pleasing to look at.
Not bad. I wonder how it would do at high speeds? I'm sure it'll flex like hell. Mine flex's a little with most of the center cut away but at high speeds.
