love to drive

Any tips on how to lighten the hood i.e.-remove the supports. It look like the supports are glued to the underside of the hood and can be removed with some persuasion. Has anyone done this out there?

Thanks,
Ted

ZD75blue

I've thought about it...

What I've come up with is that you could cut all of the support bracing thats currently on it out, and glass in a set of ribs in an X shape to give it some structural rigidity.

Not a clue as to how much it might take off the end weight...

The other would be to either lay a thinner hood, or to grind down the current hood, but that would make it fragile to handle! :yesnod:

427V8

I have a frameless hood. It's held on with 4 hood pins. It is SO much lighter than it was before I removed it ( ok ok it self destructed and I am too cheap to buy a new one.)

The pins actually screw right into the where the latch pins go up by the windshield and you need to weld up a Z shaped bracket for the pins down by the headlight. piece O cake if you can weld and drill a hole. :smash:

stpman

I'm going with an aftermarket L88 hood about %50 lighter than stock



Steve :steering:


[Modified by stpman, 5:52 PM 4/12/2004]


[Modified by stpman, 8:46 PM 4/12/2004]

69stingray

What makes it 50% lighter?

stpman

I haven't checked out why, but the aftermarket is 1/2 the weight off the stock hood I took off. Believe me I moved them around enough in the last 2 weeks I can lift the aftermarket hood off by myself but need help with the stock hood.

Steve


[Modified by stpman, 8:47 PM 4/12/2004]


[Modified by stpman, 8:50 PM 4/12/2004]

love to drive

427V8, How did you remove the frame?

big632

Can you give me the measurement from the front center of your 88 hood up to the first point right where it drops into that groove .I want to put that hood on my car but not sure what it will look like with the hole I will have to cut out of it.

stpman

big632

from the point at the front of the hood to the point it drops down is 17"

Steve :steering:

big632

That is exactly where my hole starts. Do you think that hood would work? http://temp.corvetteforum.net/c3/hotrod12

74 vert

And how much lighter is it in pounds? :smash:

I have hinted to the wifey about 3 times in the last month that I want one of those L88 hoods. Weight savings is motivator. :jester


[Modified by 74 vert, 9:01 PM 4/12/2004]

stpman

big

it looks close but I can't be sure you would be best to measure where the opening in the hood you have now to be sure

74 vert

I just weighed the hoods with an old bathroom scale,
stock hood from my 74 40-42 lbs
L88 hood 24-25 lbs

Steve :steering:

big632

I did ,mine is at 17inches, Where did you get your hood, Ecklers has one around 550 dollars plus 100 bucks shipping.

stpman

I picked this up local last month, never mounted has a couple of marks on it (can see them in the picture for $300 CDN) I'm not sure who made it.

Steve :steering:

427V8

Well it all started one day when the hood release cable broke and I was trying to open it. The car was leaking antifreeze ( turns out is wasn't even my car but the previous car! ). The frame just seperated!

It only seperated a little, enough to reach in and open the hood. But when I got home I finished the job. It just pulled right off...

BTW I can pick up my hood with one hand...


[Modified by 427V8, 9:19 PM 4/12/2004]

big632

Thats a good deal. will be ordering mine .thanks

love to drive

Thanks for the heads up. I'll pick up some hood pins and get to work with my putty knife :party:

LiveandLetDrive

How hard would it be to make an accurate and stiff part from aluminum?

-Chris

isosceles

lighter hood? These things don't weigh very much to start with! I didn't put mine on a scale, but when I had it off to replace the A/C condensor hose, I couldn't believe how light it was. The hoods I used to move around at the Volvo, Mazda,Jag, and Range Rover dealerships were much heavier. Even the aluminum ones on the 960's. How much weight can you save and at what price?

ZD75blue

Should be pretty cheap if you modify the stock one...

What we really need to do is figure out how much our fiberglass weighs per square foot... and start pulling square feet out :jester