Mikelly Posted March 16, 2001 Share Posted March 16, 2001 It is extremely light, but it is gonna require some finishing work and I'm not gonna use the Hinges... I've seen better hinges in some of the stock car product magazines. Also, Chris was over and we were looking at how they made the mold of the unit.. It was pulled from a front end that was welded together. You could see welds in the seems between the panels. The grill and headlites will need to be cut out and I'm not sure that I'm gonna make it a tilt unit now. I'm considering cutting a section of hood out of the car to make a custom removable hood! Dzues fasteners are gonna need to be ordered if I go this route... Ron, I'll need some advice from you on this one! Overall I'm happy, but I'd warn everyone, this unit came with no instruction or documentaion whatsoever, and must be installed by someone who knows what they are doing... I'm in trouble! Mike ------------------ http://hometown.aol.com/dat74z/myhomepage/auto.html "I will not be a spectator in the sport of life!" mjk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueovalz Posted March 16, 2001 Share Posted March 16, 2001 That was fast. I only wish I could see this thing when you are finished (does that ever happen though?). Anyway, I wanted to tell you how I Dzuesed my hood on. I made a lip (your clip may have one on it already) that fits over the lip that the OEM fenders bolted on to on both sides of the engine bay. I then made 1-1/4" angle pieces of fiberglass angle, that were about 3" long and about 1/8" thick (long enough to pop rivet the Dzues springs too). Then I bonded these onto the clip's edge lip. The hood sits on these (8 on each side and 2 extra in the front mid portion of the hood, with the fasteners holding the hood down onto them. 10 fasteners was maybe an overkill, but I've seen what happens when air gets under a hood. Anyway, once they were bonded (recessed about the thichness of the hood + another 1/16" or so) onto the edge of the clip, I then put a couple more layers of wet mat on top of these tabs where the hood rests, then laid pieces of wax paper onto the wet glass (acts as mold release), and then laid the hood down on top of this paper (the backing of stickybacked sandpaper works very well for this too) and let it sit till the glass "kicked". The reason for this last step is so that the surface of the new tabs are in perfect agreement with the undersurface of the hood. If not, the tabs will be pulled or bent to conform with the underhood shape when the Dzues fastener is tightened down, and this will in time distort the hood and could cause the bonded tab to separate from the front clip as well. One last note, If you do Dzues it, check on the size the Dzues is made for (1/8" is the most common) because if the hood is thicker than this in the Dzue fastener area, the assembly will not go as smoothly (spring will have to be bent in order to work correctly). Terry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RON JONES Posted March 19, 2001 Share Posted March 19, 2001 Mike is the front end one piece,or does it have a removable hood? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted March 20, 2001 Author Share Posted March 20, 2001 Ron, The front end is onepiece, but they left all the lines visible where they made the mold...so there is a seem between the hood and fenders, headlightbuckets, wiper cowl, access doors, pretty much anything you want to cut out. I'm wondering if I can cut out a smaller section of the hood for a lift off, fab up a more "AERO-Friendly" nose and just bolt the whole front clip on with the proper glasss support and Dzues fasterners. Any input from you and Terry would be great...BTW Ron where did oyu get your front end??? Mike ------------------ http://hometown.aol.com/dat74z/myhomepage/auto.html "I will not be a spectator in the sport of life!" mjk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueovalz Posted March 20, 2001 Share Posted March 20, 2001 Mike One other thing, since you said you wanted to bolt the front clip on. I just recently finished making my front clip a "bolt on" clip rather than a Dzued clip. I decided on the most appropriate places to fasten the clip to the car (special attention up front) and then used blocks of 1.5" X 1.5" by 1/2" (or thicker) glass that was then bonded to the underside of the body. These blocks are cut off of a "bar" that was 2" X 20" X 1/2", made of 10 (or more) layers of mat laid on an aluminum sheet. Once cured, I sanded the edges smooth, then cut the individual blocks off as needed. Then each block was drilled in the center, tapped, and heli-coiled for a 5/16" bolt prior to being bonded onto the bodywork. In the mean time, I fabricated 1/8" steel tabs to be welded to the chassis. With all these pieces made, I then bolted the steel tabs to the blocks using 3/4" long 5/16" bolts, then using 1 or 2 larger layers of mat between the block and the bodywork (this ensures that all the surface area is used and fills any voids due to imperfections on the surfaces), I then bonded the blocks to the clip in such a way that the steel tabs were in the correct position (touching the chassis)to be welded to the chassis. After the blocks (tab and block assembly) were bonded (cured), I then welded the tabs onto the chassis, WITHOUT unbolting the tabs from the blocks. After the weld is finished, you can then unbolt the clip off of the tabs, and remove the body. Doing it this way will ensure the tabs will align with the threaded blocks. I used 12 attachment points total for the clip. I took about 1 week to do this but when I started out I was only doing one block/tab per day. Toward the end I was doing about 3-4 at a time. If you have any gel-coat in these areas, remove it, and if not, freshen up the area with some coarse (36 grit works good) sandpaper prior to bonding. I have beaten, pulled, and pried, but the body is on solid this way, and the nice thing is I can remove the front clip in less than 15 minutes. I actually caught two guys attempting to remove the clip when it was Dzuesed on one day when I decided to take it to work. This is the main reason I decided to bolt it on since it would have more times it would be "unprotected" now that I plan to legalize it for the street. Terry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted March 20, 2001 Author Share Posted March 20, 2001 Well not having worked with fiberglass before, I'm sure I'll be picking your brain a lot over the coming weeks... As soon as I'm done with the rest of the chassis, I'm devoting 100% to getting the front end ready for paint and making it as durable as possible... Seems like you have been doing this fiberglass work for quite a while Terry, any tips would be much appreciated... I plan to "Borrow" from your radiator mounting... Mike ------------------ http://hometown.aol.com/dat74z/myhomepage/auto.html "I will not be a spectator in the sport of life!" mjk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RON JONES Posted March 21, 2001 Share Posted March 21, 2001 Terry has you cover here Mike.I would mount the front end and only have the hood removable.In my case,I don't have any of the stock sheet metal in the engine compartment.I assume you still have the sheet metal that supports the fenders and struts.If so,I don't see any reason to have it removable.I'm not to sure if you have ever seen any pics of the way my front end is set up?I'm going to e-mail you a few.My front end is home made.its just two stock front fenders with some support rods welded in between them in the front and a fiberglass Air Dam molded to the fenders.You'll se in the pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrayZee Posted March 23, 2001 Share Posted March 23, 2001 it would be interesting to know the weight difference, do you know the weight of your car now? take it to a truckstop with a scale and check it out.. just a suggestion, I'm sure a few people might like to know how many pounds you lost. : ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueovalz Posted March 23, 2001 Share Posted March 23, 2001 With a full 8pt cage, it weighs 2260 empty. The biggest saving were in the doors and hatch cover. The OEM fenders are real light, and my hood has enough material in it (with the ducting) that it is only slightly lighter than stock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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