If I decided to make my own fiberglass hood, would I need all the supports like on the stock hood? I wouldn't think so, as long as I have hood pins and all that, shouldn't it be alright? How many layers of fiberglass would be reccomended? Thanks.

well, i wouldnt do it, but you need atleast 8 good layers of resin and matting, and alot of hours of aligning, sanding, and aligning. Since you dont have a mold all this stuff is going to be pretty much by eye
DONT DO IT ! :nono

yeah dude, i am so interested in this stuff as well. I tried asking people if you can make stuff like skirts and a front lip but no one replied to mine, so i'm interested as well, a hood would be bad ass. I don't see how it can be that hard

it's gonna be a long process. i tried this but it didn't work very well, the hood didn't line up right and all and all, it would have been cheaper to get a carbon fiber hood cause you won't get it right the first time. plus you'll also need the under skeleton of the hood too.

im going to go out on a limb here and say that you would need no bracing whatsoever. the fibergalss hood would only weigh about 10-15 lbs, and because of the rigidity of the material you shouldnt have to worry about flexing too much.

as mentioned earlier, about 8 layers of heavy material should result in a finished product around 1/2 inch thick.

i commend you on trying this project out, but im telling you it will not be cheap or easy. expect to spend about 100 dollars for materials+painting costs, and around 75 hours of time (assuming you are fairly experienced in fiberglass) to get it right.

Im going to burst ur buble, but if you have never worked with fiberglass before you will be crying half way down the road. with no mold you will never get the hood to fit right and match up. You wont be able to use the factory latch cause you wont have the ability to bond metal to glass yet. If you dont get a good bond between layers (since you dont have a vacuum bag setup), you will have the layers pull apart during the summer, 8 plys would be strong, but without bracing, it would be fimsyer than hell, you would need a foam core or brace it, so after wasting alot of time and cash, you will have regret it. I have made many projects, but I have done this stuff for years and I am going to college and studying composits and mold making so I do have a clue what im talkin bout.:thumbsup

and even if you had lots of experience, there is no way you could get the right curve to exactly match the lines of the car

Can't you make a mold of your hood by using your own hood? Hate to sound stupid but why not?

>Can't you make a mold of your hood by using your own hood?
>Hate to sound stupid but why not?

You could but it would require as much effort as making your own hood.

Uhm...what? I meant use the one off your car, make a mold out of a plastic type resin (not sure what it's called, but I know it's available) then use the mold to make your fiberglass hood....am I nuts?

its a bit harder than it seems, it would require you to cover your hood with newspaper persay, then covering all of it with matting and resin. after drying you would need to pry it apart very carefully, but thus you end up with a fiberglass oem hood. Oh yeah im guessing on this process but it sounds right

Well you could use your hood as a mold. I would suggest covering with aluminum foil... The biggest problem would be the latch. I disagree with the whole "wont be able to bond metal to the glass yet" thing. That wont be a problem as I see it. Im making my own body kit right now. I can tell you it is somthing that takes time and effort. I would be atleast 5 layers with fiberglass mat. then I would get fiberglass cloth to put on the top and bottom to make 8-9 layers. The cloth well give you a better surface (as well as stronger) if you dont plan on using a little body filler to smooth it up.

Well, i'm going to start by saying that it will cost more than $100 for materials. The reason companies can produce and sell them cheaper than the original material and equipment cost is because they only need 1 mold, 1 gel gun etc. After the mold is done it's just cost for the actual hood materials, so its a lerger profit on the reproduced hoods. If you're only making one hood for yourself, it going to cost as much or more than buying one, because you're spending money on a mold you're only gonna use once, so that money gets thrown away. I can do a quick write up. I posted a quick how to in another thread but here goes. To make a fiberglass hood you will need the following.

Tooling gel coat
White gel coat
MEKP (to harden the gel coat)
Fiberglass mat
Fiberglass resin
Hardener (for resin)
Mold release wax
PVA (poly-vinyl alcohol)
Stock hood, preferably a spare one
Small aluminum or some kind of metal about 3"x3" 1/2" thick
2more metal blocks about 1"x3" 1/2" thick
utility knife

Then there are some recommended, but not neccesary
Gel coat gun
Spray bottle or airbrush gun (for applying PVA)

To start off asume you are making an OEM fiberglass hood, you can use your stock hood as a plug (male mold). If you want to make a vented hood you will need to cut and weld the hump and modify it to the shape you want using clay, foam wood etc, then sading it smooth. This how to will be on an OEM hood to make it easier.
First off you need to take your stock hood and apply 3 coats of release wax, buffing out each coat. After the final coat is buffed and dried, use the spray bottle or airbrush to apply a thin coat and then 2 slightly heavier coats, letting each dry in between.
After the PVA is dried you can start making your female mold. Using the gel coat gun apply 2 light coats of tooling gel coat letting each coat get tacky. Tooling gel coat is glossier and better for the finished product.
After the tooling gel coat dries to the touch, start layering the fiberglass (resin, mat, resin, mat etc.). I usually do 5-6 layers for my mold so it's stable that way i can use it more than once. You can make the mold thinner if you're only going to use it once. After you get all the layers, while the fiberglass is still kind of wet, trim the extra off with a utility knife, be careful not to trim off too much, you want the mold to be the exact size of your hood, you can leave extra and sand when dry if you want. After the mold is dry, if you applied the release wax and PVA correctly, you can seperate the mold from the hood and have a nice smooth glossy surface. If not, you can use filler and sand (fine grit) to touch up the mold.
Now that you have your mold done, you can start on the actual fiberglass hood.
First lay down the release wax and PVA on the mold as before. Once it dries, spray on 2-3 layers of white gel coat (you can use tooling gel on your actual hood, but the finish doesn't need to be as glossy as the mold, so use white to save money). After the 2 coats of gel are dry to the touch, start layering the fiberglass. As said in the post earlier by someone, 8 layers is usually enough, sometimes i only do 5-6 depending on how thick your mat/cloth is. While it is still wet, trim the extra FG off with the utility, trim about 1/8" or more away, this leaves room for error and sanding. This is where you would vacuum bag, but it is not neccessarily needed if you don't have the equipment. After the hood dries, seperate it from the mold. The finish should be smooth, but it won't be too gloosy, but seeing you will be sanding it smoother and painting, it doesn't matter. Do a test fit and sand the adges of the hood so they are rounded and the hood fits nice.
Now it's time for the skeleton, flip the hood over and use the same process as above to mold the skeleton. After you have a mold of the skeleton, you can start on your fiberglass skeleton the same way as above. After your 2nd layer, place the 3"x3" aluminum block where the hood latch goes, and the 2 1"x3" blocks where the hinges go. This gives you something solid to bolt the latch and hinges to. Finish up with a few more layers, i typically do 4-5 layers for the skeleton. After its dry, put a heavy coat of resin or bonding epoxy on the underside of the skeleton and place it on the backside of the hood. Once the skeleton is bonded and dried to the hood, drill and tap (thread) the holes for the latch and hinges. You should now be able to bolt the hood on the hinges and do your final sanding and fitment. Primer and paint it and you're ready to do. Its alot harder than it sounds and unless you're planning on producing alot of these, then it's cheaper to buy one than it is to get the equipment and materials. If you're willing to give it a shot, go ahead, but you're probably looking at spending alot of time and money. Good luck

The guy here ^^ knows what he is talking about....but I hate to be a fart but you can do everything he said with a lot less stuff... Heres what I would do, hense this is actually how I am making my kit. Materials needed for my style.

1.Aluminum foil- Well serve same purpose as mold release but a lot cheaper
2.Fiberglass Mat.- I can get this at 23 dollars for 4feet x 10 yards.
3.Gallon of resin- Buy at Advanced auto or Autozone for 20 dollars (comes with hardner
4.Gallon of bondo- Same as above but 12 dollars
5.Sander.

Ok... You'll need your hood for one full day. Take hood off car and cover it with aluminum foil. Next mix resin and hardner. Cut fiberglass mat either to size or in strips. (Strips well be easier to work with.) Lay and cover completely and try keeping flat. The resin at autozone (advanced) well harden completely in 2 hours (at 75 degrees.) After that apply another layer, let dry. At this point it Well be hard enough to take off the mold (your hood). Sand ruff edges and spots, apply another layer. Enjoy a nice drink and put hood back on the car. Note that the aluminum foil well sort of stick to fiberglass when you remove it from your hood. But it is very easy to peal off. Keep applying layer and work on attaching latch. (you'll have to buy a spare latch.) After you have a stiff enough peice that is sort of smooth, you can cover with a real light coat of bondo. sand that *very* smooth. (the bondo acts the same as your gel coat.) Next primer and paint.

Cost well be estimated at:
2 gallons hardner- 46
1 gallon of bondo- 12
Fiberglass mat - 23
Aluminum foil - 5
= 86 # Sand paper and random supplies.

Here's my advice - don't try to make your own hood. Honestly, it is not worth the time and trial and error of fixing all your mistakes. Companies spend at least 1000 dollars making a good mold to mass produce fiberglass products. A hood is not easy to make. I wouldn't do it, especially if you are asking how to do it...

if you do it ^^^^that way, you will not end up with a perfect replica of the hood. you MUST create a mold to keep everything within tolerence. it will also result in less work once the final product is created because the top of the finished hood will be smooth due to the smooth underside of the mold. if you do like stated above, aluminum foil will be fine, but if you are creating a mold do NOT use aluminum foil because it will create a cratered surface on the final product.

has anyone thought about perhaps simply laying down rope as a skeleton during the last few layers of fiberglass on the underside of the final hood? i still think you wont need much in the way of support. of course, ive never done a project that big so i could be wrong!! :P

Ok, here is some more deterance to making you hood........ you said you are gana work with strips of mat instead of one big piece, well with all of the overlaping parts you will be there all day sanding to get a flat hood. Also, by using tin foil to make your shape, the tinfiol will be stuck to the botom of the glass, now you have a giant heat magnet under the hood, and fieberglass dosnt like HEAT, it will delaminate, the hood will flex to much with no bracing, bondo will crak and the 3 weeks strait of work and $300 of stuff you had to buy since its expensive to buy so much of the stuff you need in small quantities from the auto store. Look take it from the experts and the people that have been there and dont do it. There have been 4 others on this board that have tried and failed (do a search and you will see). If you want a light hood, buy a stock hood, cut the top off leaving the skelition and play with that or buy a carbon fiber one, just dont waste ur time!

PS have you ever worked with fiberglass before?
PSS you need more tools..........

1.Aluminum foil- Well serve same purpose as mold release but a lot cheaper (you will not get the shape of the hump right)
2.Fiberglass Mat.- I can get this at 23 dollars for 4feet x 10 yards.
you will need alot more than that, pluss the regular fiberglass and the plypeal $$$

3.Gallon of resin- Buy at Advanced auto or Autozone for 20 dollars (comes with hardner)

It takes me 1 gal to just make a few small LCD pods how are you gana make a hood with this much?
4.Gallon of bondo- Same as above but 12 dollars

dont forget the squegies!
5.Sander.
6.saw
7. lots of gloves and masks
8. roller
9. mixing cups

see where its adding up?

Sorry for sounding harsh, but we are trying to save u some cash and time

I know a lot of you guys are saying "Just Buy One" but that's not what this board is all about. I dont' want to buy a hood, I don't want to buy a new wing...I may wanna make one. Luckily my best friend is an engineer that builds rides for waterparks, so I have access to free fiberglass mat, cloth, resin, gel-coat, bla bla bla.


BCIEclipse, you're gettin points bro. That was a great explanation from someone who knows their shit.

And for the negative comments with "Just make your own"...that's cool, but some of us are adventurous and wanna try. And you know what, I've spent twice as much money on something before that I could have gone out and bought, but I was much happier that I did it on my own. I dunno, some of us just think differently :thumbsup

Ok, for everyone who said "if you are asking, you shouldn't make one." I never asked HOW to do it, I asked if I would need the bracing from the stock hood, and how many layers would be reccomended. Thanks for all the great info, but don't tell me that I shouldn't do it, because you dont think I know how to work with fiberglass. And, yes I have worked with fiberglass before. Thanks for the info though.