Thanks for the info guys! I ordered some SEM 39747 and a qt of Evercoat 994 last night to get me started
Should I use some lightweight filler of some kind (maybe reinforced w/ fibers) to mold-in the vent on the under side of the hood? Some of the gaps between the new vent and old hood under-structure are quite large. What would be the best approch to here?
GoKart, did your vent "clear" the under-structure of the hood fully? Mine made contact in a couple spots which made me had to press down and kinda flex it to fit. I hit the high spots with a lil grinding and it sits just about perfectly now. The high spots were the left & right edges of the weather-strip molded groove and the front edge of the other rear most molded under-structure groove...
[This message has been edited by ALJR (edited 04-01-2012).]
Originally posted by ALJR: GoKart, did your vent "clear" the under-structure of the hood fully? Mine made contact in a couple spots which made me had to press down and kinda flex it to fit. I hit the high spots with a lil grinding and it sits just about perfectly now. The high spots were the left & right edges of the weather-strip molded groove and the front edge of the other rear most molded under-structure groove...
Yes. I just cut a little where necessary until there were no obstructions.
Yes. I just cut a little where necessary until there were no obstructions.
I didn't want to "cut" as it would have removed the flat section of the under-side where the trunk gasket sits... Just ground down the top side of that area to get the vent to sit flush w/o pressure...
I know I "shouldn't", but I do When I cut the openings for the actual "vent" portion (after removing the top skin); I made the two openings too large, which made the under-structure too deep to meet up w/ your vent. Leaving about a 1/2" gap between your fiberglass vent and an area of the supporting structure under the hood...
NEW! I now have the "Slide & Lock" fender vents ready. No molding or body work! $125 shipped. Check them out on the "Fender Vents" page in the link below. ~ Paul aka "Tha Driver"
How much to get shipped to the Toronto area (L5R 4A1) cut to fit a 88 GT.
I tried to check postage but the USPS site gave me an error: "Calculate Postage is temporarily unavailable.". I'll keep trying. ~ Paul aka "Tha Driver"
Working now: cheapest is $40.80 to Canada according to that. It would make the total $160. EDIT: But I need a U.S. POSTAL money order or cash... ~ Paul aka "Tha Driver"
Working now: cheapest is $40.80 to Canada according to that. It would make the total $160. EDIT: But I need a U.S. POSTAL money order or cash... ~ Paul aka "Tha Driver"
Understood. Actually my company has an office in Buffalo. Let me ask one my colleague if hes willing to store some stuff under his desk untill I make it out there in a few months. Sound reasonable?
Understood. Actually my company has an office in Buffalo. Let me ask one my colleague if hes willing to store some stuff under his desk untill I make it out there in a few months. Sound reasonable?
Sounds good to me. At least it's a small package. PM or email me for my address. You can email me at ImThaDriver at yahoo. ~ Paul aka "Tha Driver"
I know I "shouldn't", but I do When I cut the openings for the actual "vent" portion (after removing the top skin); I made the two openings too large, which made the under-structure too deep to meet up w/ your vent. Leaving about a 1/2" gap between your fiberglass vent and an area of the supporting structure under the hood...
Same problem I had. Its easy to guage the size of the overall cut to make in the top skin, but then your "on your own" to figure out how much of the bottom to cut. I measured a million times, made marks, rechecked and finally made the cut, and still cut too much. I had to make some fiberglass "cups" to fit on the sides. I didn't want any air to get blown in between the top/bottom skin. I had asked to see the bottom view on a few who had installed the scoop, but never got a photo. I plan to update my thread soon with some new photos showing the bottom and what had to be done to make it look good.
This pic shows the top fitment w/ the vent in place. Tape was use as a guide for centering...
This is a pic from above w/o the vent in place. You can see where I bonded in a pice I cut from the top skin to fill in the opening above the trunk and some small support tabs. You can also see where I had to file down some of the reinforcement under-structure to make the vent fit flush w/o force...
This pic is of the bottom w/ the vent in place. You can also see the piece I added to fill the trunk hole...
These are some close-up of the bottom-side vent, where I have a large gap that will need to be addressed (somehow)...
That would leave an even larger gap on the left and right "sides" of the vent back by the trunk seal that I would then have to deal with...
i'll take some pics, or upload the ones I have, of what I did, but bottom line, you need a lot of filler and maybe some glass to fill the gaps. I used some of the cutout top panel to fill in areas so I would not have to use too much filler (SMC). In the corners I had to make little pockets using fiberglass. I fixed them to the hood/scoop, and then filled over them with SMC and the SMC putty. It took a lot of work, more than the top, to make it look right, and in the end I realized that the only one who would ever see it was me when the hood was open. So, in this case, I got "close enough".
and in the end I realized that the only one who would ever see it was me when the hood was open.
Rob
Ya, my OCD is getting the better or me
Not really trying to make it "show-quality"; rather just clean and not butchered... Im trying to make all my mods look as though the car came with them, not some autozone sick-on ricer crap...
Would love to see some pics! How/what did you do for a vent screen/grill? I am leaning toards the honey-comb perforated metal. However, I feel it is quite "see-through" (good for venting) and I don't want a clear view of my radiator/fan... Again, maybe my OCD is overthinking things...
[This message has been edited by ALJR (edited 04-04-2012).]
Originally posted by ALJR: Ya, my OCD is getting the better or me Not really trying to make it "show-quality"; rather just clean and not butchered... Im trying to make all my mods look as though the car came with them, not some autozone sick-on ricer crap... Would love to see some pics! How/what did you do for a vent screen/grill? I am leaning toards the honey-comb perforated metal. However, I feel it is quite "see-through" (good for venting) and I don't want a clear view of my radiator/fan... Again, maybe my OCD is overthinking things...
The expanded metal in the link Gokart listed is what I like to use for a lot of things. It's 3D so if you orient it correctly you can't see through it very well (especially if it's dark or painted black behind it). ~ Paul aka "Tha Driver"
I was going to attach the screen last but I'm getting bored waiting for warm temps to color and clear. I'll just mask it off before I finish the painting.
I was going to attach the screen last but I'm getting bored waiting for warm temps to color and clear. I'll just mask it off before I finish the painting.
Originally posted by ALJR: Looks good! Any underside pics?
Thanks and will do but I won't be going back to it until next week. I can tell you I ended up doing what qwikgta did with his. I'm trying to get it really nice under there as well. My car is a daily driver but if I decided to go to a show or two remember that most events you'll have your hood open!
I am making the vent opening bigger and wanted the lines to follow the headlights, so I had to move the whole vent further back and additional 3/4"; so not it measures 8" from the front lip of the bumber...
The hood I was using, I purchased just for this vent-mod. Unfortunatly, it has allot of minor cracks around both headlight openings. I started to fix them, but quickly said to myself, WTF am i wasting my time (and money) on fixing this POS hood when I have a perfectly good hood. I kinda wanted to keep the original hood (with its body panel tag intact) just in case the Fiero price goes up. But ohh well...
Good thing is, its allot easier the second time; the under-side structure fits allot better and will be easier to fill and look nice... Will post pics tomorrow of work to date...
Originally posted by ALJR: Looks like you cut quite a bit out; even the trunk gasket surface... Or am I just not seeing it right?
Not sure what you're referring to as "trunk gasket surface" but yeah, I may have. Looks cleaner and what was left wasn't helping it structurally anyway.
Not sure what you're referring to as "trunk gasket surface" but yeah, I may have. Looks cleaner and what was left wasn't helping it structurally anyway.
Yes, it does look clean! I was refering to the part of the hoods underside structure that the front trunk gasket seals agains...
Yeah I designed these so that you could leave the gasket surface intact (& not cut out any sheetmetal). I could have made them deeper & longer if not for that. ~ Paul aka "Tha Driver"
Paul, lmk if I posted too many pics in your thread. I'll delete upon request. I'm just freakin' excited right now about how awesome my Fiero looks with your hood vent
[This message has been edited by Gokart (edited 04-26-2012).]
dayum that looks really good. I think that hood scoop will be one of the mods on my fiero I am picking up this weekend. Sure looks nice and smooth and really matches the lines of the car. Nice job Driver...peace
It was mostly cloudy yesterday afternoon so the pics are kind of dark. I'll send you some better ones when the conditions are better for your website. Thanks for the compliments and anyone that likes the way this vent or any of Paul's products look it's not a difficult project. It just takes time and patience. There are plenty of members here that are always willing to help....including Paul. To them I'm extremely grateful Marc
[This message has been edited by Gokart (edited 04-27-2012).]
My electric is probably going to be cut off Mon. or Tues., so I won't be able to answer any emails or PMs for a while after that. Just wanted to let everyone know in case you tried to contact me & didn't hear back. EDIT: I have a guy bringing me his airplane for finish fiberglass work. He bumped up his schedule to help me keep my electric on. If the folks there will delay for a couple days I should be OK. ~ Paul aka "Tha Driver"
how much to ship the stm hood to calgary alberta canada, t2l 1j4 just so i can figure out if its doable in future
USPS website says $124. ;-( It's $150 for the hood vent, so a total of $274. Might be cheaper shipping via FedEx, but I have no way of checking that. But for future reference? The price will probably go up especially if there is anything happening in the middle east. ~ Paul aka "Tha Driver"
My electric is probably going to be cut off Mon. or Tues., so I won't be able to answer any emails or PMs for a while after that. Just wanted to let everyone know in case you tried to contact me & didn't hear back. EDIT: I have a guy bringing me his airplane for finish fiberglass work. He bumped up his schedule to help me keep my electric on. If the folks there will delay for a couple days I should be OK. ~ Paul aka "Tha Driver"
Well the guy got called to the far east today & can't bring the plane. So I guess my electric will be turned off after all. They did give me an extension to Friday.
.JPG)
