HOOD MOD: need help, or suggestion
 

other than dropping weight from the hood, i've prepared it to be able to receive vent mods in the future.

so my current hood is in this state: bottom support cut out mostly the second half on the passenger side area around the immediate area above the exhaust manifold. and windshield washer bottle removed. airpump will stay intact and in use if vent are to be placed in.

where i need the help is this: what tool to use that will guarantee a "CLEAN" cut on the hood. i bought a trimmer from sears, its similar but not a rotozip. and not sure if rotozip is even the right tool to do the job.

i need some advice/tip from someone with known body work experience and metal forming skill. i know paint ain't "necessary" on the exposed metal area after the cut, mainly because aluminum doesn't rust. but am looking to get some help from an expert who knows just what tool and equipment to gain a uniformly cut, and ease of cutting.

thanks.

^^o, and also i will not be inserting a pre-cut metal sheet with vents in them, but rather make the cuts on the hood and incorporating vent design from the original hood.

this time of year in so-cal is rather cold, so doing this mod is not time restricted as i will take some time figuring out where to best place the vent where flow will most likely occur with speed, and if at best, dissipate heat at idle.

actual tuft testing will be pretty pointless at this rate as it will need the hole there regardless to determine the flow rate...

but any rate... the expertise in how to go about making the cleanest cut is my main concern... thanks alot for any help and input.

there's a thread around here about hood mods, and inside it is a link to a s2k forum that had a bunch of people do exactly this. They detailed how they went about it - so that would be a good place to start. Unfortunately I don't have the link but if you search you should be able to find it.

mysq: i have searched and searched again over the last 2 days again. and those vent MODS that you speak of is mainly "lifted" hoods with spacers/washers inserted by the hinges, which i've done in my miata. and something i am not willing to do to this car...i've already taken the step to cut out the undersides of the stock aluminum hood in preparation to incorporate a DIY hood VENT much like the ones the vented CF hoods are sold and cut out.

so...the hard part for me now is "how do i go about getting a clean cut on the top side of the hood, and what kind of cutters to use?".

i like to keep the stock alum hood and not bother repainting it. and getting a vented CF hood and repainting it is the lazy-man's approach. i'm a DIYer, so getting a CF hood and painting it is like feeling the hit of blowing money...2x.

so if anyone else can chime in or enlighten me...pls do.

bump

the idea i have here are like putting slits alongside the rotor shape of the hood.

need some cutting advices here guys...

I've always liked this M3 hood and thought about something similar...

http://www.vividracing.com/catalog/w...orsteiner1.jpg

Here's the S2K thread:
http://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php...pic=324009&hl=

I'm thinking of doing this also, I was going to use a cutoff tool and make the rough shapes into the hood. Then fabricate some fiberglass trim pieces to hide the rough cut. It will make it look kind of cheesy, but damn its going to be vented and cheap.

I know what your trying to do, and the answer is that you can't do it with the aluminum hood, its too fragile to give it a clean cut and then roll the edge.

wow, looks good, i stand corrected

I've been mulling this over in my head for quite some time. I've got the tools for it, and the patience. I just need to figure out where the holes will go.

I've seen it on a turbo'd miata, looked wonderful.

He cut 3 sides of a rectangle a foot and a half from the posterior edge of the hood, and rolled down toward the engine.

Wow... looks really nice. I'm down to do this on my 8.... as soon as I take another look on the underside of the hood.

But what I'm a little confused about, is how he was able to keep paint on the edges where he cut.

me too, looks like he spent a ton of time with a dremel getting it perfect.

It actually doesnt look half bad!

or you could just be lame and copy somebody elses work like me!



Theirs:
http://images.rotarynews.com/images/...s/dsc01564.jpg


Mine:
https://www.rx8club.com/attachment.p...8&d=1186894833

He cut 3 sides of a rectangle a foot and a half from the posterior edge of the hood, and rolled down toward the engine.[/QUOTE]

thats what i had in mind for the design... and that was also the method i had had too. i've done it on my older honda but i took out the whole hole. with this, it'll look ugly with two drill marks on the part i'm gonna roll towards the engine.

i think in the link he mentioned smoothing it out on a drum sander then using touch-up paint...i'm guessing in the case of aluminum there's no need to use some primer adhesive since aluminum don't rust, but couldn't hurt if he did though.

and thanks for the poster who sent the link...may be able to gather up some nerve and try to do it right.

I'm gonna try this on a hood of a wrecked car at my friends shop first. I'm a little nervous to try this on my hood.

^^do it...let me know how it goes.

DrewMan, looks good. Where did you get the piece? Also, are you a cop?

wow this is an interesting idea...never thought of doing it but atm im considering it. Anyone have a pic of the underside of our hoods without the fiberglass fire-puter-outer thing...just so we can see the structural integrity of our hoods. I.E. what we'd be cutting into

What about the hood from the FEED Rx-8? I think it was custom built by adding and evo bonnet. By the way it looks awesome.

http://www.nihoncar.com/en/news_pics/243/news.jpg

^^i personally don't think that is a good place to have the vent. i dunno why. but, first its not an EVO, so we don't have anything important up in front to take heat from. thats the only reason why i think its a stupid place...besides, our engine sits way far back.

if anything, i think thats only a "show" piece and meant to only look cool.
the EVO on the other hand...rightfully deserves that spot for a vent.

its called the radiator... and thats the best spot to have a vent for several reasons (like air flow)

wow im gonna have to look into this that rx8 with the evo bonnett looks sweet!!!

^ What he said

Thats one of the best places to vent the radiator. Just relocate the battery and replace the intake with a turbo or a CAI and its perfect!