trans_am_racing

does any one know of any sites that deal with the making of a hood mold? I built my own functional ram air kinda hood on my 86 ta's stock hood, now i want to fab a few up in fiberglass, and see if i can make a few bucks

Streetiron85

I don't know of any sites, but I was going to post a similar question.
I've been working with fiberglass for the past 10 yrs, mainly doing repairs on boats and other watercraft. Never fabbed any complete hoods tho.
I'd like to make a carbon fiber hood and some T tops someday to cut a few lbs off my car.
I know that first a mold would need to be made using a hood that's in perfect condition. And the mold would have to be rigid.
The whole project wouldn't be that difficult, just labor intensive.
I've seen a few books on the subject, if I find some links, Ill post them. If somebody else doesn't first.

oil pan 4

iTrader: (1)

What I'll waiting for is a carbon fiber hood that weights like 9lb's so I can take another 30+lb out of the frount.
Does any one even know how much the stock hood weighs?

Streetiron85

Mine seems like it weighs about 50 lbs, but it has quite a bit of bondo on it.

oil pan 4

iTrader: (1)

You think it weighs about 50lb. That's what I was thinking, I was hoping it weighted about 40. They all ways did felt real heavy.

trans_am_racing

i found this site for the all the stuff to mold the mold hehe, im guessing that you'd need to fab up a thin square box and some chicken wire then press a hood into the goo?

link helps : http://www.uscomposites.com/products.html

Streetiron85

I knew a guy who made a mold of his whole car. It's a roadster. He laminated a several layers of a combination of mat and roving over each of the pieces after he'd covered the pieces with release agent. The mold was reinforced with plywood on several spots so it wouldn't flex. Then he just separated the originals from the molds after the resin was cured.
I think that for production pieces, it would be to someones advantage to make a mold that is very precise, with a fine surface finish to it. That way when the part is released from the mold, it will have a finished look.
But if I were making parts for just my own car and maybe some buddies, I'd be satisfied with something that's a bit rougher , and just work the flaws out of it in the prep process before painting.
At least those are my un-professional thoughts on the matter at this time.

Edit:
I made a motorcycle saddlebag once using the above method.
I found this old-school style fiberglass saddlebag at a scrapyard and I wanted a matching one for the other side. The thing was symmetrical left/right so I just separated the halves and made a mold of each side plus the lid.
Bingo.. a matching set.
The mold was just a little bit flawed, so i had to do some minor bodywork to it B4 painting.

305RSlc

Here's a link from F-bodyaudio on how to make your own mold by using "plugs". Now granted, this tech article is only on a small pair of tweeters, but it might give you some info on how you could possibly do it yourself on a larger scale. Hope this helps a bit.

http://www.fbodyaudio.com/articlevie...cle=molds.tech

FSTFBDY

iTrader: (33)

Any and ALL info you will need to do aby fiberglass or composit work. I get carbonfiber and kevlar fromt this place.

http://www.fibreglast.com/phpBB2/ind...0e340842924966