88TransAmGuy

iTrader: (3)

Came across a nice Trans Am hood at the yard and got it. It's nice looking but the PO molded it with bondo. Ive read on many threads here about 10 different options and apparently they all have many ups and downs. Ive also read on google. The problem now,as you can tell, is the bondo has cracked where the scoop meets the hood. My best guess is using fiberglass to reseal everything? Maybe some rivets here and there,and some body filler. Thats about all ive gained after reading. Most of what i read,people said almost everything ends up cracking. Just fiberglass is the least option that cracks. My OTHER problem is that my car is black. So the hood will get painted. And the biggest problem is that as youre driving,the top of the hood is pretty cold from the air, but the underside is going to be hot because of the motor(also im running headers) and the temperature difference causes the scoop to crack.Even when sitting still in like 80 degree weather, a black hood can get to about 160 degrees. Any ideas? Thanks guys.

Also, as you see it's really not a bad looking hood. i LOVE how the PO kept the stock trans am vents and molded the scoop. I think it looks great.

-DylanN





And here,ya know cracks in the normal body lines,and the one in the front above the vents. Thats the only one i worry about really

mitchberry

iTrader: (1)

yeah bondo isn't supposed to be used for adhesion, just as a filler, and is supposed to be used minimally, not in gobs.. if you have to use an inch of bondo, you did something seriously wrong and need to re-think your plans.

if you're trying to keep the scoop that's on it, i'd take it off and get the hood back to metal, then re-apply it with GOOD epoxy. then bondo where needed minimally to fix the lines..

if you'e trying to make a new scoop, you can use the old one to make a mold of fiberglass with shredded glass mat, then make a scoop with the mold out of woven fabric fiberglass or more of the shredded mat.. or carbon fiber...

at least if you do that then you could put lips that fold under it and rivet it from the inside of the hood so no rivets show through the hood. but you will have a noticeable seam where the scoop meets the hood.

as for cracking, it will definitely crack if you use tons of bondo, because, like i said, its not supposed to be used for support or adhesion.. torque on the hood can and will cause cracks, heat can cause cracks too, but mostly it's stress if the bondo is used right.

as for fiberglass, it tends to crack when it's not cured correctly, and most people wait a week or two before painting it so it can shrink to shape, but honestly, i'd wait WEEKS or even a month before painting, because even the non shrinking resins DO shrink and will cause imperfections in the paint.. that's one of the biggest problems with restoring fiberglass cars like old vettes and such.. the glass shrinks and causes waves n ripples and shrink spots in the paint where the glass fiber decides to show through. even with baking the parts, or applying a heat lamp to it for an extended amount of time will still yield the same results unless you know what you're doing.. so that's a downside to fiberglass..

i guess the other option would be to make another scoop out of 1/16th or 1/32 sheet steel and weld it to the hood. but then you need to be able to roll the edges otherwise you end up with a sharp box looking thing on top of your hood.... (which i've seen, even on this forum) some people dig it... i personally don't...

but you weld it all together spot by spot and fill it in with weld, grind the crap out of it until it's smooth, weld more, grind more, weld more, grind more, eventually it's smooth.. then you bondo in the little ripples and holes that you have left over. which, there shouldnt BE any if you are patient and keep welding and grinding until there are no more pits or holes...

it's not hard, and a $200 harbor freight MIG welder, and about $60 worth of sheet metal should do the job.

i'm considering something like that myself.. then again, i have all of the metal working stuff to do so, and prefer it over fiberglass...

I HATE fiberglass.. it gets everywhere and itches, and even with a respirator, you end up coughing up glass shards for a month or two, and can never get all the little fibers out of your skin...

not that metal is much better, but, it's a little better anyway.

anyway, that's pretty much my two cents on it..

i guess the only other option would be to mold one out of ABS or something with a vacuum mold, and it's possible to do that in your garage but you have to buy the vacuum pump and various other supplies to make it work, and still need to make a mold out of the original scoop, or design one from scratch. so...

i guess no matter what you do you're going to be spending 300-800$ if you do it all yourself, and painting it is going to cost another 300-800.. if you want it done right........ and i GUARANTEE it won't match the rest of your car unless you recently painted the car within the last year and keep it in the garage 99% of the time. paint fades, clear fades, and if you spray the hood with the OEM paint, the paint -will not- match.. so, then you're going to stair at the hood thinking " man i really need to paint the rest of the car" BOOM $3500-8,000 on paint for a car that's worth about 4500 to most buyers even with a fresh paint job.. lol anything LESS than 3500, and you know it's going to be a shotty paint job that they didn't do right, with cheap materials and no attention to detail. (which is what MOST places do.)

Patrick Day

Well that guy (Mitchberry)has a lot of sugestions for you to think about.
I my self have only 2 for you.
1). Remove the old scoop and bondo and do it right using apoxy resin the same as the use on the corvets and vipers. its made to glue together fiberglass to metal and is a permant bond. I'd also use some rivets to hold while the epoxy is setting up.Then sand excess epoxy down. Use light filller to fill imperfection, epoxyprime, prime and paint.
2). Fix the small cracks in hood. paint it then use it to make a mold of the whole hood. Then make a fiberglass or carbon fiber hood from that., yes fiberglass shrinks but not as bad as previously mentioned. And yes it can be messy but not as bad as stated above.

Check my hood out I made out of fiberglass. I'm thinking of making a new one out of carbonfiber since I have a mold now.

88TransAmGuy

iTrader: (3)

Thanks for all the help guys.I guess i shouldve left an update on here a while ago Haha.
Well what happend was, we removed the scoop and looked at the damage.The retards had it in with woodscrews. And they stretched it out,and bent in the middle body line with a hammer.So it was all dented in. We ordered a new fiberglass scoop for 60 bucks,and restarted.Sanded it all down to bear metal,got some top coat,Evercoat(best stuff ever) and some rivets. It was done correctly this time. And it looks great. And the other problem was that it was getting water inside the scoop and making the hood rust.So we drilled some drain holes on it just in case any got in,which im pretty sure wont happen.Ill upload pics later

88TransAmGuy

iTrader: (3)

And the PO cut the hole too big,we reinforced it.

Iin this next picture,theres only a few rivets at the moment cause it was all we had. In the end it had over 25







Almost Done

-DylanN

Mike92Firebird

iTrader: (3)

pics don't work. repost please, I wanna see!

88TransAmGuy

iTrader: (3)

Oh crap they didnt? Hold on.Its nothin fancy yet.Just trying to correct what the PO did wrong! haha

88TransAmGuy

iTrader: (3)

In this next one you can see the PO cut the whole much too big. So we had to reinforce it.



In this one is when we got the new scoop,the old one was plastic and cracked. This one is fiberglass. Theres only a few rivets at this point because we ran out. In the end it had about 25






There ya have it. We still have to put top coat over the Evercoat and sand. Evercoat is ridiculously hard after five minutes Haha,.
Then comes more and more sanding,then painting the hood and the tops of the headlights satin black

Mike92Firebird

iTrader: (3)

I love how it maintained the stock GTA heat extractors. Looks really neat so far.

88TransAmGuy

iTrader: (3)

Hey thanks man! i love it too

gregs78cam

if you really want to bond a composite to steel, then this is what i would recommend.

www.itwplexus.com

I have used it to inlay steel on fiberglass molds made from tooling resin and it delaminated the 'glass getting the steel off. it is a little spendy but well worth it.

88TransAmGuy

iTrader: (3)

eh its alright Man. Im pretty set on the Evercoat

88TransAmGuy

iTrader: (3)

Kept looking at the left side of the hood on the body line and something didnt look right. Closer look and the body line is barely visible. The PO had bondo covering the ENTIRE left side almost. We sanded it all down and it looks like leopard print :P Pretty cool,but jesus. Looks like factory red primer,black paint,grey primer,and white paint..all mixed.





Sorry for the crappy quality. Cell phone

88TransAmGuy

iTrader: (3)

All smoothed out.Some more work and itll be ready for primer. Also,we dont understand this..but theres layers upon layers of primer,paint,and more primer just on the bottom of each side? Its a mystery to Us haha

JeremyNYR

iTrader: (2)

It looks like it's coming along nicely! What did you do for that transition on the front edge of the scoop? Is that a piece of sheetmetal you used as a bridge that's welded to the metal and rivited to the scoop? Did you sand/file down the side edges of the scoop before using body filler so the height difference was minimal?

88TransAmGuy

iTrader: (3)

Ah man im not sure id have to ask my dad that one,he did it. I think we cut a grove int he bottom center of the cowl so that itd even out with the body line.Then pretty much filled it in with Evercoat and then top coated it. Im sure thats not 100% right but ill ask him later.

88TransAmGuy

iTrader: (3)

Im going to get some pics up later but the hoods almost done! the scoop and the roght side are all done with body work and spray painted. It looks killer! My dad did an amazing job with it. A lot of time and effort put into it(: Heres some pics of my vents i painted last night. I will post pics of the hood later today. I have school so it wont be til later. The hood,for now,will be just satin black. I painted the vent grills the same color as my motor. I think they look good.But ill probably paint the grills silver in the future.

88TransAmGuy

iTrader: (3)

Almost finished
The color chose was Matte black its just not try in this picture

88TransAmGuy

iTrader: (3)

The ending result of the car is going to Look like Orinikas paint

88TransAmGuy

iTrader: (3)

Heres some updated pics

T/Aperformance

Hood looks great.