Possible New Fiberglass Hood for Z cars

[Domzs]

Looking good .

[HarveyZ]

Thanks. I'm hoping it will sell pretty good. I've done a ton of searching and havent seen anyone making them as one piece. Not sure why, it should look really good and flush, especially as carbon fiber

[Domzs]

How about something like SS hood ? But make it narrow enough to fit the original hump

[HarveyZ]

I would really like to put a late 90's camaro ss scoop on the center bulge. I think that would look really aggressive

[Pharaohabq]

Okay I wasn't going to comment on this, but as I was thinking about it a little more I was thinking a new hood could do quite a lot for the flow inside the engine compartment.  The base of the windshield is a high pressure area, meaning air flow is compressed against the windshield as it flows over the car.  Some people have figured that if you leave your hood popped open on the safety latch that you'll have better cooling. Well to a point, because that allows more air to actually be drawn through that crack and down across the firewall and into the low pressure zone under the car.  Either way,  Additional vents like on the 280Z hood may allow better flow  through the engine compartment.  A Ram air  won't work well due to the radiator placement and Air intake. The mouth of the radiator under the point of the stock hood is already a pressure zone, thus the HP increase from just changing to a K&N filter up there.   So what is the point of putting vents in a S30 hood aside from improving A. Intake air pressure or B. Improving Engine compartment cooling. ?? 

 

Everything else is basically cosmetic unless you get into making specific application hoods for swapped engines eg. Shaker hood scoops, or actual Ram-Air ala early mustangs. Those would change the signature S30 lines.  One hood I liked had the scoop in the center for an LS1 intake.

 

My point is that if you're going to make a new hood, you need to look at what it's function is going to be. If it's purely cosmetic, then go for it with the corvette summer hood.  Otherwise Lets talk function... Maybe some integrated pop-up machine gun ports?

[Atozone Tonine]

Well.. I went and did it.

I got a Hartman fiberglass hood used.. extremely cheap.

It sure is ugly, but the weight difference is amazing, and I'm hoping it will allow the hot air to escape the engine compartment, when going low speed (which is all i do really).

It has had a minor repair on the underside and one of the brackets is loose, but I I think I can fix it, and make it look much better.

I will be installing it this weekend.

 

 

 

[Atozone Tonine]

This is what I was thinking for the GT40 style vents ... looks like it would be great for air flow through the radiator.

I cant remember where I got this image.

 

 

But I just realized, that what I REALLY want is the competition hood, in one piece fiberglass.

I think that would sell well, because A) it was an OEM option (though dealer installed), it maintains the Z car bulge shape, and C) having it in one piece would certainly be much better than the way the originals were installed.

 

There was some chatter about ZForce producing some here:

http://forums.hybridz.org/topic/97410-datsun-competition-hood-scoop/

[Poundz9oh9]

 

[Domzs]

 

I love it , looks awesome !

 

Made or bought ?

Edited October 16, 2013 by Domzs

[Poundz9oh9]

Bought the scoop here;

 

http://www.racecomposites.com/ss.htm

 

Then had a body shop cut the hood and mold it on.  Fiberglass to steel = no bueno.  Only lasted about a year before the outside of the scoop started showing some shadowing where it was attached to the steel hood.  Too many hot/cold cycles at different rates caused it.  If you want to do something like this I would HIGHLY recommend starting out with a fiberglass hood.

 

Once that hood started showing those signs of shadowing, I sent the hood off to have a mold made for a true single piece carbon fiber hood.  That was in like December 2002 ish and I'm still waiting for it to be completed.  The last pics I got of the project (in the not too distant past) looked great and it's still in the works, albeit a little slow, but I'm still holding on to hope   The original was sold on ebay, never to be seen again within the first six months or so of me sending it off.

 

Sorry this was late, I stopped getting notifications on threads I've commented on for some reason, BUT I see that you figured something out.  Maybe this will help somebody else in the future.

[VSnakeByteV]

I agree with you Atozone, I think the GT40 style hood looks great, I would be throwing money at you if you combined that with the Camaro SS scoop in the center. If it had nice mesh and made the scoop and vents functional I would be sold. I want the SS style hood, but want something extra, I'm all about the look, but even more so if its functional! I dont know if Id like the GT40 vents, or something like the Viper vents. 

 

Sooo ummm thats my opinion. 

[JohnH]

Forget the cowl induction & ram hood scoops. There are plenty of after market parts & hoods that can be easily had for that specific purpose. WHAT IS TRULY NEEDED is a stock factory hood (read - stock middle hood engine bulge) with plenty of engine bay heat venting. I would throw good money at something like this.

[JMortensen]

I am working on a cowl and ram hood L88 scoop with vents for my autox car. It has a 5.3 with carb, so the scoop is functional, and the reason I wanted one open in both directions is that I had heard that a front facing scoop can cause issues with the secondaries on the carb. Had to modify it to clear the air cleaner. It was way too short out of the box. Vents to exhaust air had to be narrow and kinda side mounted so they don't feed hot air to the carb. They are modified boat bilge exhaust louvers. If I ever go FI I'd like to get rid of the scoop, and if it's allowed then, make a radiator duct to the hood. Only problem with the central rad exhaust is that it feeds hot air to the wing, which means less downforce. The car with the nostrils a couple posts up is Peter's, and he's a member here, FWIW.

Edited June 28, 2015 by JMortensen

[roger280zx]

I would think that more air to the wing should be good, even if some of it is warm.

[JohnH]

They are modified boat bilge exhaust louvers. 

 

How wide is the mounting base on the bilge louvers?

 

I was looking at those on Ebay. However, they appear to be a little bit too narrow (5.25" wide) for what I need them for. The previous owner had put 79 280ZX vents on the hood of 240Z I have. Which aren't doing squat for heat venting as my triples are getting heat soaked in traffic. So I need to cover a hole of 7" - 8" wide.  I'm also seriously considering putting on the 82 - 83 280ZX vents with the NACA ducts & hopefully with the placement of the old vent holes I can land the NACA intake just infront of the first Weber horn.

 

Edited June 28, 2015 by JohnH

[JMortensen]

They are the ones that you saw, 5.25" wide on the flange. You might have a look at these: http://www.hoodlouvers.com/. They come in a bunch of sizes. The holes in the louvers aren't very big, but they're definitely big enough to cover the 8" wide hole.

 

Kind of a sidetrack, but if you use carb insulators and don't run a metal fuel rail that's bolted to the head or the mechanical fuel pump, you should be alright. 

[JohnH]

I have a heat shield underneath the carbs, MSA coated header + Thermotec wrap, carb insulators on the long Cannon intake, SS braided fuel lines running from a fuel block & I'm still getting heat soak in the engine bay. I have noticed that the temperature comes down with the hood cracked open, hence the reasoning for wanting more hood ventilation.

 

I'm not to fond of the look of the louvers from hoodlouvers.com as they remind me of standard household heating grates + as you mentioned the tightly spaced louvers.

Edited June 29, 2015 by JohnH

[JMortensen]

Hmm... I guess I got lucky or something. I had 44's with MSA 6-1 header, no shield, rubber line to carbs, electric pump and no mechanical and I raced mine in 114 degree heat (never again) and didn't have any issues.

[Ryan Merrill]

Agreed, I like that one

 

 

Forget the cowl induction & ram hood scoops. There are plenty of after market parts & hoods that can be easily had for that specific purpose. WHAT IS TRULY NEEDED is a stock factory hood (read - stock middle hood engine bulge) with plenty of engine bay heat venting. I would throw good money at something like this.