I know that this will make the hood very flimsy, but it almost seems as if it won’t bow or sag in the center since the hood itself has a hump that keeps the hood shell sturdy similar to a bead rolling effect for flat panels. I could be wrong though. I am making a drag car out of my 91 DA. If this would work out the way I think it would, then i’d have a really lightweight hood. I mean, you couldn’t press down on it or let the hood slam really hard. I don’t know what bright sunlight would do to it, and hopefully nothing. Overall, it would be a lot more affordable than a carbon fiber hood.
Here is the Honda-Tech thread that I got this image from:
If I were in that bad of a crash, I would need a new hood anyhow, right? This is for a drag only car.
I don’t care how well it holds up to a crash. I just wanted to know if it would sag or press inwards when going down the race track. That’s really all I want to know. I do understand that not too many people have done this to a hood before.
I’m hoping that it will weight close to a carbon fiber hood when the task is completed.
That’s my team’s race car… This is a budget built race car which will NEVER see any street driving.
The hood is VERY flimsy once the skeleton is removed. But for budget weight reduction I think its a perfect way to go. Not sure what the weight is, but probably lighter than a CF hood… as it seems most CF hoods really aren’t that light.
We did not use the stock hood latch for a few reasons:
2 hood pins = lighter than the stock latch
2 hood pins = safer than the stock latch
We could sell the latch for more than it cost to make the hood pins
We knew the race would most likely involve contact with other vehicles. If we had front end damage it would be much much easier to get the hood open if using hood pins rather than the stock latch (this proved to be very important, had we used the stock latch we definitely would have been shit out of luck in regard to opening the hood)
Some other random comments I have in regard to this topic:
I would not suggest running a skinned hood w/ only the stock latch
I would not recommend this for a street car, its just not very convenient
To those commenting about “safety” in an accident, please use some common sense. Your hood is not a part of the car which is there to keep you safer in an accident. The stock hood is just flimsy metal and not structural at all when it comes to an accident. Your argument may hold a little water if you were talking about a stock bumper support vs a jdm bumper support, but not when it comes to comparing a stock hood vs our hood, or even a stock hood vs a carbon fiber hood.
For any that may be interested in our car, first please understand this car was PURCHASED AND PREPPED FOR LESS THAN $500, and is used for LeMons racing… see www.24hoursoflemons.com
And sticking w/ the weight reduction theme, here is what we did to our doors
The stock doors are insanely heavy, so we gutted them completely except for the door beam. The door beam helps retain the doors shape and rigidity. And actually the door beams still held up VERY well to all the contact the car experienced at the race. The doors were completely bashed up but they didn’t collapse past the door beam. Although we had a nice beefy nascar bar setup just in case.
Is there a roll cage in it that I see? If it’s for drag and they check you off for safety then it’s all good right. Plus if you hit the wall easy and cheap replacement from the junk yard. I would recommend the hood pins because it would suck hitting 100mph with the hood up.
If you look at the links I posted you will see that yes, the car does have a roll cage. And if you look at the type of racing we are doing (24 hours of lemons) you’ll see that it is definitely not drag racing. The only type of racing I will do involves turning, both directions I might add.
Our cage was one of the better cages compared to others in the Lemons race, they really aren’t too strict about that stuff in this series. Partially because they are all $500 scrap heaps, and partially because the tracks have been designed so that speeds do not get high enough to be really dangerous. You’d most likely be OK w/o a cage at all, unless of course you spin out and get t-boned by the 6000lb hearse which is out there with you.
and watch her shake at speeds haha you’ll be scared hehe
