WTB Carbon fiber hood and decklid

I have a carbon fiber hood that will need a little work.
Would be happy to trade for a steel hood preferably uncut.
Shipping might kill us both

I've seen few carbon fiber trunk and deck lids. However, real carbon fiber is VERY expensive. Our vendor offerings tend to be fiberglass with a carbon fiber overlay to create the appearance of CF. For the look, you could simply do a carbon fiber wrap on your stock steel hood/decklid like Rob did on this car.


http://pantera.infopop.cc/eve/...191028456#9191028456

Here is a past post with some regarding carbon fiber parts - I think they were out of Sweden.
Carbon fiber parts thread

My concern would be fitment. This is why I chose a fiberglass rear decklid. (The front hood I crafted from aluminum).

I know each car is a little different. Getting a good fitment of the fiberglass decklid took a lot of work.

Here you can see the poor fitment and the work to get it to fit properly:

http://www.rc-tech.net/pantera1/decklid/dl.htm

Fiberglass over the engine compartment is going to warp all to hell because of the heat. A good example of that is the trunk liner.

If you don't use all of the fasteners then the heat of the engine will warp the fiberglass liner to the point of the the dzus fasteners no longer lining up.

I don't know about the front, but I do know from other vehicles that the fiberglass will warp in the heat of the sun like in Florida or Texas.

Just a consideration before you spend lots of time and money on these.

I was just inquiring. Replacement carbon body panels is big with most other cars, like my last car, a Subaru BRZ.

I was just wondering if there was anyone making quality carbon replacement hoods and decklids, because you could save a LOT of weight right there!

Naked carbon gets really hot in the sun, but painted (especially white-like my car) it's less of an issue, and there's some UV clear coats out there that can actually keep the heat down on naked carbon parts.

The real difference is in the construction. If they are REAL carbon, pre-pregged, dry carbon parts, then they would be modern race car quality and impervious to heat basically.

Most aftermarket "carbon" panels these days are glass, with a layer of carbon on top to look like they are made of carbon fiber. THOSE, are no better than straight fiberglass in regards to heat and warpage and fitment.

I'd expect if someone DID make some REAL carbon hoods and decklids for our cars that they'd be pretty expensive, but OH so light, and OH so cool!

quote:

Originally posted by PanteraDoug:
Fiberglass over the engine compartment is going to warp all to hell because of the heat. A good example of that is the trunk liner.

If you don't use all of the fasteners then the heat of the engine will warp the fiberglass liner to the point of the the dzus fasteners no longer lining up.

I don't know about the front, but I do know from other vehicles that the fiberglass will warp in the heat of the sun like in Florida or Texas.

Just a consideration before you spend lots of time and money on these.

My trunk liner has never warped? Or...has any of the Corvettes I've owned ever warped! But then again I have never lived in Florida or Texas! But we do have Sun here in California!

The fiberglass rear deck that I installed on the Gp4 Panera that I built several years ago hasn't warped and still fits like it did when it was installed . That car also has 180deg headers ,over 700hp and sees track time!

Ron

Never seen any fiberglass part warped because of heat, not even fiberglass parts that touched exhaust tubes, like on my race bikes - burned yes, but warped...nope.

A fairy tale imo ;-)

Ron, who made it and do you have pictures of the fit. That's a large factor. This discussion is getting too generic I think?

Yea. The trunk liners will warp but so many guys just run them without the dzus in them, they don't notice or care anyway, but technically, yup they warp. Some more than others.

The deck lids warping depends on a few factors. Some of which are how thick it is, how cured it was before it was mounted, the pressure in the the hydraulic lifts, stiffness of the support spider.

It depends on who made them too. Bob Byers fiberglass is really good.



The steel deck lids CAN warp too on the thin part between the hinges near the roof. So it isn't just limited to the 'glass decks.

It depends too on how close a fit you want on the seams.

Who cares on a track car, right?


In all fairness to fit though, ever notice how much the back of the original deck hangs over and doesn't really match up right with the back of the fenders? You could fix that with a fiberglass deck in the molds.

I'll bet the Gp4 aluminum skins on the steel spiders don't really stay consistent either?



I'm working on a lift kit with a remote release button with Pantera-Electronics.

The original factory hydraulic cylinders are replaced by air presurized cylinders that look just like the fat original ones. Uses this little air compressor and you have a dash button to open it and an electronic lock release button on a key fob.

One tap of the button, then deck opens automatically and STAYS THERE until you close it.

What's good about this set up is it LOOKS like the original cylinders with the rubber boots and it places no pressure on the decklid or hinges when the decklid is closed. Doesn't come crashing down on you either.

Even when it is open it only "holds" the deck open. It doesn't apply more lift pressure than needed and stress out the hinges.


Works off a little "unique P-E control board".
Uses a two frequency key fob so you can use it with power door locks.

This would work nicely with a carbon fiber or fiberglass deck also since it is adjustable with a screwdriver for lift pressure.

It uses the stock mounting points for the cylinders so if you go aftermarket and want to use this kit you need those mounts on your aftermarket decklid too.


Should be done by May.

The front "boot" cover. Nah. Your on your own there.


The Pantera easily becomes a 12 second 1/4 mile car with a hot engine in it.

Unless you put 5.38 gears in it like Hall did, and get Mike Cook to suicide drive it, like they did with "Root Beer" it isn't going to go much faster anyway no matter how much weight you take off of it.

quote:

Originally posted by Kid:
Never seen any fiberglass part warped because of heat, not even fiberglass parts that touched exhaust tubes, like on my race bikes - burned yes, but warped...nope.

A fairy tale imo ;-)

Not really something I am concerned about.

quote:

Originally posted by Kid:
Never seen any fiberglass part warped because of heat, not even fiberglass parts that touched exhaust tubes, like on my race bikes - burned yes, but warped...nope.

A fairy tale imo ;-)

Very, Very common on Shelbys. Hood springs warp them up about an inch.

When Shelby was in LA at the "LA Airport facility" they were having SOME issues on the unpainted hoods warping in the LA sun.

It's a good idea to take the pressure off of them.

Most of the West cost vendors sell fiberglass decklids and hoods. Is there a difference in quality or should I look for the lowest cost.

Is there a listing or could someone post links to what parts (carbon OR fiberglass) are avaiable?

I did a quick search and didn't come up with anything.

Mike,

Did you come up with some fast cash? Weren't you runnin' on empty?

Not sure why you came up empty on a search, the first four vendors I looked at all list hoods, at least. You may do better to just contact them directly and inquire.

PanteraParts:

quote:

Click here to contact us with inquiries or if you would like to place an order.

Hall Pantera aluminum hood skin: http://hallpantera.com/cgi-bin...lpantera-inc&pc=7363

PI Motorsports carbon fiber hood: http://www.pim.net/carbon.html

Precision Performance fiberglass hood and aluminum hood skin: http://precisionproformance.com/bodyparts.php

No, I'm still broke! lol.

I was just curious about what was out there.

I've done my own fair share of composites work. I could probably splash a mold off a perfect front hood, I don't think I have the expertise to pull a mold from a rear decklid though.

Thanks for posting the links, I'll check them out.

Mike

quote:

Originally posted by MarsRed:
Mike,

Did you come up with some fast cash? Weren't you runnin' on empty?

Not sure why you came up empty on a search, the first four vendors I looked at all list hoods, at least. You may do better to just contact them directly and inquire.

PanteraParts:

quote:

Click here to contact us with inquiries or if you would like to place an order.

Hall Pantera aluminum hood skin: http://hallpantera.com/cgi-bin...lpantera-inc&pc=7363

PI Motorsports carbon fiber hood: http://www.pim.net/carbon.html

Precision Performance fiberglass hood and aluminum hood skin: http://precisionproformance.com/bodyparts.php

My composites experience is also old school. I can vacum bag stuff all day long, but the newer pre-preg and liquid ingusion techniques that produce race car quality parts are WAY out of my league.

I was just curious if there were any composite hoods and decklids available.

After feeling how heavy those parts are, when I'm rich and famous it would be cool to run some pro-made carbon parts on my car, but that's more of a dream.

Probably a different car too lol.

I see some offerings of aluminum hood and door skins. How would one go about installing aluminum parts onto the steel underframes?

Are they riveted in place and then bodyworked over? Glued in place?

Wouldn't here be some heat/expansion/contraction issues?

quote:

Originally posted by mike the snake:
I see some offerings of aluminum hood and door skins. How would one go about installing aluminum parts onto the steel underframes?

Are they riveted in place and then bodyworked over? Glued in place?

Wouldn't here be some heat/expansion/contraction issues?

They are like a door skin. They come with a 90 degree bend on the edges and you have to roll them over onto the spider.

A door skin is one thing to do but something like the size of a decklid is not childs play. You need to build a table large enough to support it while you do the work.

Everything is so thin, you could TRY to spot weld it but you will likely distort the skin cosmetically by that.

If you use nothing but the crimp to hold them they will stay for awhile but the aluminum is soft enough to stretch eventually and they will move around on you.

Probably some type of an epoxy is the way to go. Don't know which one though.