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My Experience with the JD Corvette Fiberglass Cowl Hood. Picture heavy.
I ordered this hood off of Ebay back in Late September of last year.
I went with JD because all the things I had read about their fiberglass products were very positive. Made in the USA with quality components.
They also say they test fit every single hood they sell before it ships and from my experience I believe it.
At the time I paid 779 plus 179 for shipping and lovely out of state sales tax.
It IMO is tough to find a hood of this quality for that price. Most hoods are another 3 to 500 more and if you want to dabble in quality carbon fiber even more than that.
I will say that this hood (I've owned 3 aftermarket hoods in my day) is the best out of the box experience I've ever had.
The Gelcoat is perfectly done. The fit is exceptionally good. The structure is fantastic and nicely finished out.
It took very little shimming to get this hood dialed in. Few body washer at the hood hinges to lift the nose up a bit and I think I used two washer on the right hand front fender to level out the body line and that's it.
Unfortunately these hoods have gone up in price a lot since last september and I don't know the reason for that.
Also it took right around 5 to 6 weeks for it to land on my door step truck freight. The crating was extremely well done. No one wants a broken hood. Including the manufacturer.
Now we move on to the fun struggles of prepping and painting this thing at home style on the cheap for the cost of materials.
I used Lumastar Primer, Base coat and Clear coat all from same manufacturer. Paint supplies totaled 184 dollars for quart kits.
Sanded the Gel coat to roughen it up with 220g. Using multiple different sanders and hands lol.
Then two coats of primer.
Then that got sanded with 400g until nice and smooth. Still a few flaws but this isn't a show car and most of it will get buried in clear coat.
Then the next fun steps were banging out two coats of base coat and then two coats of clear coat all in a row. Constant painting for what seemed like hours.
Keep in mind I'm not a professional painter by any means. I've just dabbled in it a time or 3 in my days at work.
There is a metric ton of dirt in the clear but honestly that was to be expected for my conditions and I wasn't upset about it.
It also has a bit of orange peel which is somewhat normal IMO. It really not much different than the sides of my cars factory finish.
There is plenty of clear on this hood to do some wet sanding and polishing.
I'm already doing my research to see if the Griots and Harbor Freight style polishers are powerful enough to buff out wet sanded paint finishes. Answer seems to be a yes.
This could lead to paint correcting my whole car lol.
It needs it badly. I accidently got overspray all over the car a couple years ago from another project at the house so when you rub you hand across the paint it feels terrible.
Holycrap...i think you did a great job with everything.....no way in hell i could have painted my hood by myself....i had to have it done .......but yours looks as good or better than mine ..... and i am serious...
here's a few shots of mine to compare...
Holycrap...i think you did a great job with everything.....no way in hell i could have painted my hood by myself....i had to have it done .......but yours looks as good or better than mine ..... and i am serious...
here's a few shots of mine to compare...
Thank you much Yello
Did yours end up getting wet sanded at all?
This one will need it for sure just because of all the dust and dirt that got in the clear from not being in a paint booth.
looks GREAT, is that the same JD Corvettes in Downey COMMIEfornia if so I live not too far from them ...
what type of roots SC is that ?
I think IIRC their address is Bellflower Commiefornia lol.
It is an LSA supercharger from a 2012 Cadillac CTS-V. Custom machined blower snout and pulley from Olson Kustom Works to work with corvette belt spacing.
Some close up shots of how I opened up the back of the cowl plus installed screens. You can also see how much of the frame structure I had no choice but to open up to get it to clear the LSA so the hood would even close.
This one will need it for sure just because of all the dust and dirt that got in the clear from not being in a paint booth.
I give credit where it is deserved.
First the painter sanded the original paint, then he sprayed primer, then he wet sanded.
After it was perfectly smooth, he sprayed paint and baked it at a certain temperature then he sprayed clear and baked it again...
Before clear coating...
After clear coating...
After that, no more sanding or buffing...it was done. It looked wet... I asked him about how many coats of paint and clear he put on and he said he put the equivalent of 3 coats of each but i still do not understand how he did it without sanding in between coats...
I always thought it was necessary to wet sand in between coats but he did not do that and it seemed to come out near perfect. He did ask me which degree of orange peel i wanted and i said WTF ? He said most factory paint has some orange peel and that he had several different nozzles for different degrees of orange peel. I told him to use his own judgment and he said he would just match what was on the rest of the car. I still do not see any orange peel on the original paint or the hood...
I think if you wet sand yours and then buff it , yours will be near perfect also.
Again, i think yours looks great !
He let me watch the whole process and i recorded him spraying the hood...it was amazing how he twisted and turned the sprayer while spraying..........the guy that painted my hood was only 29 years old and had been painting for 12 years and he now has his own large custom paint business...He did my hood right before leaving to go off on his own. He now does a lot of show cars...
Kudo's for tackling such a high level of expertise undertaking. I admire someone who takes the risk and makes it work. Life is all about learning and you are a great teacher. Salute
Nice job! Looking forward to see the completed project.
Your wish is my command. I have to say that as long as it's not parked under Fluorescent light it looks like a million bucks hahaha.
Unfortunately we are under a stagnant weather advisory for the next week. AKA fog almost 24 hours a day. So no nice shiny sun pictures yet. Car needs a bath anyways.
but i still do not understand how he did it without sanding in between coats...
I always thought it was necessary to wet sand in between coats but he did not do that and it seemed to come out near perfect. He did ask me which degree of orange peel i wanted and i said WTF ? He said most factory paint has some orange peel and that he had several different
The paint systems these days are chemically designed to stick to each other during there applications. Very important to follow the technical data sheets that come with the paint and follow the coat directions. Wait too long between coats and you will be sanding in between coats.
lol I hear ya on the orange peel. I was trying to explain to a few guys at the shop that you don't necessarily want a body panel to be free of orange peel. It should have some if matching a factory finish. My original 97 paint job has a lot of peel down the sides of the car but less on the horizontal surfaces.
It is also possible to wetsand or cut the paint to prepare for buffing but yet not remove all the orange peel so it will closely match the rest of your car.
In a perfect world I wouldn't mind wet sanding nearly my whole car but it would be a monumental undertaking for me lol.
01-23-2022, 11:12 AM
My Experience with the JD Corvette Fiberglass Cowl Hood. Picture heavy.
.......but yours looks as good or better than mine 
..... and i am serious...
