HarveyZ Posted October 9, 2013 Share Posted October 9, 2013 I have been making Fox Body Mustang fiberglass hoods and body parts for a while now. The past few weeks I have been debating on making a mustang style hood for the Z. I am hoping I can get some opinions on which style hood looks better and would sell better. I am debating on making either a 2 1/2 inch cowl hood or possibly the Ram Air style hood. The hoods will be bolt on hoods with an unfinished underside. Im personally leaning towards the Ram Air hood mainly because no one makes it or anything like it. Ive seen a couple pictures of cowl hoods on Datsuns and I personally dont think it flows with the car very well. But, as I stated, I would like some opinions on it, I know not everyone has the same opinions as I do. Any opinions, thoughts or questions........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Domzs Posted October 10, 2013 Share Posted October 10, 2013 IMO , I don't think the Ram Air would look good on the Z and cowl induction is already on the market . How about something like these ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atozone Tonine Posted October 10, 2013 Share Posted October 10, 2013 IMO , I don't think the Ram Air would look good on the Z and cowl induction is already on the market . How about something like these ? The viper style looks good. The main problem with the straight cowl hood, is that it doesn't maintain the signature "hood bulge shape" of the Z cars. I wish there was a hood with an L-88 style cowl, and a deep GT40 radiator vent in front. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarveyZ Posted October 10, 2013 Author Share Posted October 10, 2013 Yes, i really like that viper style hood. Do you know if there is anywhere that sells just the scoop part like that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarveyZ Posted October 10, 2013 Author Share Posted October 10, 2013 And yes I really like the l88 style hood. What are you talking about with the vents tho... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarveyZ Posted October 10, 2013 Author Share Posted October 10, 2013 Ok nevermind, I did a little searching and I see what you are talking about. I'm not real sure if there would be enough room for an aggressive vent like that in front of the bulge though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Domzs Posted October 10, 2013 Share Posted October 10, 2013 (edited) I was going to make a mold for Stingray hood scoop for the 280ZX but not that good with fiberglass . Here are few pictures . The scoop is functional , supercharger was the future plan but going with turbo(s) . I need to close off the front opening and make it more like cowl induction . Edited October 10, 2013 by Domzs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atozone Tonine Posted October 10, 2013 Share Posted October 10, 2013 (edited) Ok nevermind, I did a little searching and I see what you are talking about. I'm not real sure if there would be enough room for an aggressive vent like that in front of the bulge though...Yes, maybe it would be too much... But I think it could work well with a v8 set up. Hard to say without seeing it. Edited October 10, 2013 by Atozone Tonine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atozone Tonine Posted October 10, 2013 Share Posted October 10, 2013 (edited) How are you planning to make a mold? Edited October 10, 2013 by Atozone Tonine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texis30O Posted October 10, 2013 Share Posted October 10, 2013 @Domzs..... Are you getting pics of the Corvette Summer car......lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Six_Shooter Posted October 10, 2013 Share Posted October 10, 2013 @Domzs..... Are you getting pics of the Corvette Summer car......lol It could easily get out of hand like that. Funny thing is I just watched that movie (again) this week. There's a reason why you don't see a Mach 1 style hood or many other designs adapted to an S30: 1) they don't look good on an S30 2) the OEM hood flows perfectly. The only other design that can work, IMO, is a subtle cowl that doesn't take away from the factory bulge, but more accentuates it. In a different realm, vented hoods can also look good, but the shape and proportions have to be correct. This usually means creating the vents from scratch which is rarely what people do, because it's more effort than cutting and pasting from another hood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atozone Tonine Posted October 10, 2013 Share Posted October 10, 2013 For some situations, a cowl hood is needed for clearance, and vents have a function... Keeping cool is the most important thing for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Domzs Posted October 10, 2013 Share Posted October 10, 2013 I haven't seen that movie in a long time . Need to watch it again so I get some more ideas . LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Namor Posted October 10, 2013 Share Posted October 10, 2013 I'm with Six_Shooter on this. The only reason I would ever consider a hood other than the stock one is if I need the clearance. In that case, I would try to go for a mild cowl that accentuates the center hump of the stock hood. As for vents, how effective are the 280z vents? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarveyZ Posted October 10, 2013 Author Share Posted October 10, 2013 How good would a stock fiberglass hood or all fiberglass l88 style hood sell do ya think?? I would like to come up with something that isn't on the market yet tho... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atozone Tonine Posted October 10, 2013 Share Posted October 10, 2013 How good would a stock fiberglass hood or all fiberglass l88 style hood sell do ya think?? I would like to come up with something that isn't on the market yet tho... I think there is always more demand for reproductions (or improved repros) of stock parts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Six_Shooter Posted October 10, 2013 Share Posted October 10, 2013 (edited) The L88 hood bulge is one of the fugliest I've seen on any car. With how bad they look on a 'Vette I could only image it looking far worse on an S30, seeing as the S30 was often referred to as "the poor mans 'Vette", and being smaller the proportions would be veryy off IMO. That being said I have thought a vented S30 that would seem, on the surface of things to be based on an L88 design, but would not detract from the S30 hood. I agree with Atozone Tonine, stock repros would likely sell better than anything else, but I'm pretty sure there's already suppliers of those parts. My suggestion, if you really want to bring a new S30 hood to market is design something from scratch instead of cutting and pasting like I mentioned earlier. When a cut and paste is done, it's pretty obvious. I did this with a hood I made for my Buick Skyhawk years ago, using a 4th gen Camaro SS scoop, and while it turned out nice and flowed better than I would have thought it would, I wish I would have created a scoop from scratch instead. Edited October 10, 2013 by Six_Shooter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atozone Tonine Posted October 10, 2013 Share Posted October 10, 2013 I have a lead on a cheap fiberglass straight cowl hood. How difficult would it be to modify the front area of the cowl to resemble the stock shape? or graft something on? I have never worked with fiberglass, and I'm thinking that any custom work like that will be more expensive that its worth. Maybe I will take a chance and learn something about fiberglass in the process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarveyZ Posted October 11, 2013 Author Share Posted October 11, 2013 I think there is always more demand for reproductions (or improved repros) of stock parts. I think there is always more demand for reproductions (or improved repros) of stock parts. Yea, that is what I was thinking. Its hard to change the Z hood while still maintaining the center hump. Ive been quietly working on some tail light panels for a little while now that im hoping will interest a lot of people. Basically the stock design but its a one piece panel instead of the panel and the chrome trim ring separately. Plan on making a few carbon fiber and a few fiberglass. Ive almost got the mold done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarveyZ Posted October 11, 2013 Author Share Posted October 11, 2013 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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