Gutted stock hood

[Wayne L]

Has anyone gutted thier stock steel hood like on a stock car,  for a street/strip car?  My flat hood (69 dart) was 59 pounds.  After removing the inner panel,  latch assembly, and cutting a 16 inch hole to clear my air cleaner it weighs 28 pounds.  My plan is to add a fierglass hemi scoop and try to stiffen it back up without adding back alot of weight.  A quality bolt on fiberglass hood shipped to montana is about $1000 so, I thought I would give this a try.  Any ideas  or pictures would be great.  Wayne

[flyboy01]

Post some pictures of the hood you gutted.

[Wayne L]

Im not sure if I can post pictures yet, new member, isnt there a certain number of posts required first?  What I have left is just the outer skin.  The four edges are still rigid, but the hood seems to twist diagonally.  Let me know.  Thanks  Wayne

[Dodgeboy]

I would like to see what you have done. You can upload the pictures to photobucket.com (it's free) and then link your post to them. Then they will show on your post when we look at them.

Thanks,

Roger

[flyboy01]

or just make 5 more posts. Just post a few smileys.

[Think3205]

 

[BBLM23]

I have a gutted stock hood and deck lid on the K, I hate them. Still not that light and very flimsy.

[Wayne L]

I talked to a local guy that builds stock cars and he explained how to do this using 1/2" square tubing.  Im picking up the steel today and will try to post pictures tonight.  Wayne

[Capt Jack]

I have a gutted stock hood and deck lid on the K, I hate them. Still not that light and very flimsy.

I did this years ago with another car.  we cut all but the entire framing out.  theyre very flexy, noisy and get bent and stay bent.  not to mention it always felt like it was going to be ripped off the car at speed.
if you treat it like a cheapo lift off fiberglass hood they last a bit, but seems they almost have to have some sort of reinforcement to them.

doubt Id ever do that again, at least not to that extent

[MyCreation68]

ever thought of glassing your own hood? or making a carbon fiber or fiberglass inner shell? Fiberglass you only need resin and the sheeting, and you'll have to make a mold of the inner structure. Carbon fiber is nice and light but you need to do a more specific way of curing it.

[oldkimmer]

..................I have a gutted hood on my duster, I use a prop rod to hold it open, took the springs off of the hindges...I have hood pins also, but need to add a 3rd 1 in the center as it bows up at speed.....as the big hemi scoop sucks in alot of air...I wouldnt do it again without some kind of bracing.......kim.........

[Wayne L]

or just make 5 more posts. Just post a few smileys.

I have a couple pictures to try so here goes.

[Wayne L]

Post 8

[Wayne L]

Post 9

[Wayne L]

Post 10

[Wayne L]

So here is my hood with the bracing installed.  It's 1/2" X 1/16" wall square tubing.  This worked out suprisingly well, almost all the twisting is gone.  Im also going to run beads of panel adhesive to bond the bracing to the hood skin, which should help even more.  The hood is now 35 lbs.   Tomorrow I will order the hemi scoop.
Wayne

[Wayne L]

Here is another angle. 

[satellite65]

That looks NICE!

[mrspeeddemon]

where are you located int mt?- I'm in great falls -glad to see theres another a body freak around!!

[flyboy01]

That looks great! how did you get the bracing out without bending up the skin?

Another idea, how abount welding in some plates where the hood pins will go, that might help keep it on.

[Wayne L]

Thanks for the input.  To answer some questions I live in Bigfork Montana, north end of flathead lake.  The inner panel actually came out easy.  I drilled out the spotwelds around the perimiter and the 40 year old seam sealer was already seperated.  I like the idea of reinforcing the pin locations, good idea.  I would also like to modify the hinges to keep it bolt on, pin front.  The scoop is weeks out so I have some time to still work on it, I might have it soda blasted to clean it up a little better.  The 1/2" tubing was easy to bend, I tack welded a peice of 1 3/4" pipe and 6" well casing to my bench.  I used the inside edge of my fenders and cowl to check the shape of my bends so the hood would match.  I can't say for sure how well this will to work until its back on the road, but its better than I expected so far and about 25 pounds lighter.   Wayne