regarding modified bonnets... anyone modded the center hump on the stock hood to make it slightly more raised and pronounced?
Who are you talking about? Wasn't sure if you meant Arashi, Was it Arashi? I just couldn't help myself
I'll bet you told the kids that Santa(and the Easter Bunny)were "Fakes" also....... You did, didn't you??????:bash::br:
did try with a carboard box and some glad wrap but it blew off when i hit speed down the highway... looking into alternative material choices for the modification and will get back to you.
This is not my car or mod but......perhaps it is what your looking for (Had to look through a million pics to find this) :zlove:
So out of curiosity ive done some calling around to see what I can find out. So far for all intents and purposes, the material to use is Polycarbonate. Extreme impact resistance, has a glassing point of about 145 degrees, so isnt likely to melt (but this is subject to actual testing of engine bay temps) and were it to catch fire its actually a self extinguishing polymer, so its not going to burst into flames either. On top of this its also relatively resistant to chemicals and compounds commonly found around engine bays such as greases, oils, ethanols etc. The bad news is the cost. I have a relatively good hookup with a plastic place and for a 6mm sheet im looking at about $350 In saying that, I just guestimated the size needed so depending on the actual size it could be less. As far as forming it, it fan be cold formed but id be much more inclined to heat form it by draping it across a stock bonnet. Once it cools you would trim to exact size, and polish out the imperfections if need be. Then you would screw in the factory hinges and locking tab as its quite an easily toolable materiable. Id be happy to give it a shot making one, but I dont have $350 to drop into a project i dont want for my car haha. Anyone wanna bankroll a new trial product for z32parts? :rofl:
Theres no guarantee that it will work tho, and i dont like the idea of taking money for something that may not work. I may get some polycarbonate offcuts to mess around with for the time being and see if the theory is sound. If it is, i may just undertake the project haha
Someone on the forum has put a new Ford bonnet hump on their bonnet and it looked very nice, can't remember who though.:zlove:
Polycarbonate ideally needs to be injected moulded for strength and finish (this stuff can be 200 times harder than glass if injection moulded). It would also need to be a UV treated type of polycarbonate (I believe you can get this now) otherwise it will crack, craze and weather over the years from the UV exposure. (not a problem if you keep it garaged) Ideally you need the numbers to even begin an injection moulding job
Laying it over a bonnet and melting/heating it can be done, but it is a lot of work to get the imperfections out as well as the difficulties in getting the areas where the curves are cured (the Z hump) to a high quality clear finish whilst maintaining the integrity. It can be done but it is a lot of work to do it properly...........I hope you do succeed (I would probably get one - lol), but ideally an injection mould is the way to go and you need numbers for that, you will see what I mean, when you start moulding it. (A good setup can also be the difference IMO ) You really do need the numbers to justify the work in polishing / sanding / heating it But its good to see new projects too
Thanks for the concerns, i understand where you are coming from bud. The only way to make these that wont cost a fortune is by hot forming or vaccu-forming. I dont know if you know much about injection moulding, but a mould to suit the bonnet would easily be north of $50,000, and then add to that the cost of materials as well. Even with 100 buyers you wouldnt break even selling them at $1000 a pop. As for UV stability, most polycarbs these days have the UV packages added. That being said, even if it wasnt, the kind of people who buy clear bonnets generally arent the kind of people who leave their cars parked on the lawn in the sun I know this is likely to be a dead end here, but ive bought a small piece of polycarbonate to make a 1/5 scale bonnet out of curiosity. If it can be done I will do it, but i doubt it will ever by put into full scale production unless it can be done easily. I have enough back burner projects as is
