Who has gutted a stock hood?

[skivittlerjimb]

So I'm keeping the decent white hood from 1432 to gut, install Paulo's CF hood vents in, add hood pins, and put on 280. Not hoping to shave a ton of weight, but anything you can remove from the front of these cars helps.

Question is, who has done this already? I'm not sure just how much of the hood structure I want to remove, and what I'm going to do about water protection in case it rains while the hood is on. One thought is some sort of cover over the vents for wet weather...

I've seen pictures of the underside of JDM hoods with vents and they have so much duct work under the vents that it seems there'd be no weight savings and little in the way of actual heat venting the way they're set up. Anywhoo, who has done it, what should be avoided, and do you have any pictures? I'd be particular interested to see how the "faux" JDM hood vents sit on a USDM hood.

-Jim B.
280/1000

 

[14u2nV]

I don't think you would get any substantial weight loss by gutting the hood. The supports underneath weigh maybe at the most 5lbs total, but you would have to add weight to make up for the lack of support, putting it at about half that. YOu wanna save weight, take the hood off. Honda and Neon boys do it all the time round here, must be good. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rofl.gif

 

[skivittlerjimb]

Well, that was partially helpful, but... I was hoping for some BTDT, not Honda/Neon comparisons.

Yes, saving some weight would be great, but I'm more interested in having functional hood vents. Would a heavily gutted hood make it sag down in the middle?

Nick G., do you have a pic of the underside of your hood now that you have your Home Depot floor air registers installed? A sig. amount of the support structure would have had to been cut to make room for those. Any warping of the hood due to that?

-Jim B.
280/1000

 

[Polish]

The weight is in the front section. Where is is very thick around the latch area and so on. the actual supports are not that heavy at all. It's very thin. You could remove some though for very small gains. I did when I installed my CF hood vents obviously, since you have to. The weight was hardly anything.

Put your hand in the latch opening area of the hood and feel how thick it is there. I would hole saw a bunch of holes in that area before cutting the supports. The hood will flop around without the center supports and the weight loss is not much. However they are very heavy so it must be that front area, or at least I am convinced it is. Also the rear of the hood has a thicker section to, or so it appears.

 

[Armitage]

I installed the hood vents in my factory hood, but I just cut out the support members wherever they interfered with the vents and left the rest in place. It was kind of a messy job to be honest, I'm not really good at this sort of thing. If you have good luck cutting off the other support pieces, please let us know. I already use hood pins so I'm not worried about the hood twisting and/or coming loose while driving. One big problem I've had is the bolts that are molded into the hood vents keep breaking off. I've epoxied them back on numerous times, even built rubber isolators to try and reduce the shock they have to endure, but a few of them always seem to snap off regardless. As far as water, I've never had a problem and I park the car outdoors all year round. I mounted the vents so they sit right in the gap between the exhaust manifold and the radiator so all the water just passes right on by.

 

[Polish]

That is exactly where I had mine mounted, no water issues either.

 

[kartorium]

I think this is what you are talking about right jim? Cutting out all the skeleton so its easier to cut in a vent? Its pretty easy with a grinder, and I was able to feel a difference in this hood and my stocker, but it wasn't a ton lighter. If you cut the skeleton all the way back to the edges there would be a greater benefit. In the pic you can see I didn't cut mine back far enough.

BTW, this hood was very very stiff, but that is because of the "walls" of the vent being welded in. If you were to do drop in vents it would be a little bit flimsy, but nothing that you couldn't deal with on a weekend racer.

 

[CP]

Nick completely gutted all the support structure from his hood. I was admiring his work a few weeks ago. PM him about it.

The GVR4 hood is heavy. When I went to lift a Miata hood last weekend I almost ripped it off the car, expecting it to weigh about that same as the Galant's, which was not the case at all.

 

[Polish]

I circled the areas in red I am talking about. These are much thicker and I'd say are a large percentage of the hoods weight.

 

Quote:

Nick G., do you have a pic of the underside of your hood now that you have your Home Depot floor air registers installed? A sig. amount of the support structure would have had to been cut to make room for those. Any warping of the hood due to that?

-Jim B.
280/1000



I don't have any pics of the under side, but I can take some tomorrow at work. I cut out the inner portion of the structural support, similar to the pic in the post above mine.

It wasn't as much weight as I was hoping to shed, but I needed to do it for the vents, and every once adds up after a while. It does have a bit of a gangsta lean when its up and on the hood prop, but it falls right back into the body lines, so none of the "warping" is permanent.

Pics to come. . .

 

Good thread, thanks guys -

I also have an xtra stocker that I have been considering putting in vents, not as much for weight but for cooling.

Jim - Cy - What ever you guys end up doing I am going to want to see it.

 

Pics as promised:

 

[poppin3000]

^^i see you also have the lightweight engine removal mod like oh so many else of us hahaha

 

[strokin4dr]

Are those home AC vents?
Intersted to see pics of the other side with the hood closed.

 

[CP]

Photos

 

[464/2K]

Quote:
Are those home AC vents?




/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/uhh.gif

 

[steve]

+1 but I try to stay open-minded /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/uhh.gif

 

[Rausch]

form follows function. i'll bet they do the job. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[strokin4dr]

Quote:
Are those home AC vents?
Intersted to see pics of the other side with the hood closed.



So I guess they are. Dont look as terrible as I thought they would...To each his own, I bet they let out A LOT of hot air that would otherwise be trapped. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif


PS I know you are more about function than looks, and I respect that. Not trying to pick your ride apart. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[rheckert]

Purpose built race car FTW.