fiberglass nasa hood

[B229218]

Anybody try or recommend a good bolt-on fiberglass mach 1 hood, fitment issues better than steel dynacrap hood?

I have my HEAVY, original mach hood, but needs major welding. Below hood bolts right one, saves much weight, too.

Was looking at hood from Unlimited products in CA.  


1971-1973 Mustang hood


Features full inner structure for strength (except for MU200T). Smooth gray gel coat finish. 


Bottom has full liner. Scoops are functional.

http://www.up22.com/MustangPhotos/MU200-300.jpg[/img]

For race weight version, order MU200T

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http://www.up22.com/MustangPhotos/MU200r-300.jpg[/img]


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 

http://www.up22.com/MustangPhotos/MU200f-200.jpg[/img]


 


 Have run their tall boss 9 bolt-on scoop for years 




 


 


 


 


 

Underside showing front latch and rear mount.

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[B229218]

Anyone?

 

[Bentworker]

Anyone?

Not a NASA hood.

I'm also on a mission to shed weight from the front of my car, but I am sticking with a standard hood since I have a coupe.  One of these days I am going to cough up some money and go visit Charles Maier at Maier Racing and get one of their 71-73 standard hoods in fiberglass or carbon fiber.  Whenever that day comes I'll fit it up and report how good or bad it is on the forum.

Update- So I went and saw Charles Maier yesterday and bought one of these hoods...

The scoop intakes are just decals, and it strays from the true design quite a bit...  We’ll see what it looks like in a month or so when I pick it up.

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

I would have thought with you living in California you could find good used Ford NASA hood?

 

[slocody]

I have been looking around for the same, but haven't actually pulled the trigger so I can't give any firsthand info.  VFN has good customer reviews as far as fitment and quality (on other cars).  Let us know what you go with.

http://www.vfnfiberglass.com/71-73mustang.htm

https://www.usbody.com/

https://www.darkhorseracing.net/71-73_mustang.htm

 

[Fabrice]

Sometimes I wonder if US shops would pay extra taxes to display descent images on their websites.

Why are so often expensive items displayed in thumbnail size??

Anyway, just wanted say the first pict of the hood above is quite impressive in terms of fabrication. (http://www.up22.com/Mustang71.htm)

It features the scoops with fully open cavities in the negative space of the mould, which basically is a massive pita to make

as you can't remove the part from the mould in one go or even remove it at all. So they must use some smart trick to have that done.

if someone buys one, i'd like very much to see big detail picture of that region when it's still unpainted. Very impressive to me.

You can see on the darkhorse or usbody versions that they cut where the negative space begins...

 

[Don C]

Fiberglass hoods have been discussed before on the forum. It appears that one of the biggest problems is the hinge spring is too strong for the lighter hood, and finding a suitable replacement.

https://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-hood-struts?

 

[Lazarus]

Anybody try or recommend a good bolt-on fiberglass mach 1 hood, fitment issues better than steel dynacrap hood?

I have my HEAVY, original mach hood, but needs major welding. Below hood bolts right one, saves much weight, too.

Was looking at hood from Unlimited products in CA.  


1971-1973 Mustang hood


Features full inner structure for strength (except for MU200T). Smooth gray gel coat finish. 


Bottom has full liner. Scoops are functional.

http://www.up22.com/MustangPhotos/MU200-300.jpg[/img]

For race weight version, order MU200T

​

 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 

http://www.up22.com/MustangPhotos/MU200r-300.jpg[/img]


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 

http://www.up22.com/MustangPhotos/MU200f-200.jpg[/img]


 


 Have run their tall boss 9 bolt-on scoop for years 




 


 


 


 


 

Underside showing front latch and rear mount.

​

 

For what it's worth, I have a Dynacorn hood and it fits extremely well.  I know you mentioned weight, which obviously would be an advantage with the fiberglass, but you also mentioned fit of the Dynacorn.  Maybe I just got lucky, but I can't imagine a fiberglass hood fitting better.

 

[Hemikiller]

The repop hoods need to be "adjusted" to fit the fender curve properly, then the hem needs to be tacked to the inner sheetmetal. Any *good* body shop should be capable of doing this.

Regarding the glass hood question, I bought one of the Ram Air hoods from US Body Source about twenty years ago, when a group of friends did a big group buy and had eight glass hoods shipped up. All of them are still installed on the cars they were bought for and are in great condition. The Ram Air hood I bought fit pretty well, but it was the lift-off raceweight hood. I sold the car it was on. If you're going to do the hinged hood, make sure your hinges are in top condition with no binding, and you'll have to source some very light springs, or just go for a prop rod.

 

[MeanMachine]

I bought a fiberglass hood for my coupe a few years ago from a previous owner and don't remember which brand it is. However the fit is decent. I had to Dremel the scoops out to make them "functional". I wrapped it in a 3M product and added my own graphic to break up the sea of black, since our hoods are so large.

It was worthwhile for me, I lost close to ninety pounds off the front by ditching the steel ram-air hood, latch, springs and hinges.

 

[B229218]

I bought a fiberglass hood for my coupe a few years ago from a previous owner and don't remember which brand it is.  However the fit is decent. I had to Dremel the scoops out to make them "functional".  I wrapped it in a 3M product and added my own graphic to break up the sea of black, since our hoods are so large. 

It was worthwhile for me, I lost close to ninety pounds off the front by ditching the steel ram-air hood, latch, springs and hinges.

I like those graphics!! Reminds me of the duster 340 wedge stickers ::thumb::

 

[MeanMachine]

Thanks, to some degree, that was my inspiration. I wanted to do something that looked period correct and might be what Ford would have done with our ram air hoods

 

[tony-muscle]

I was thinking today that a fiberglass hood would be a great idea to ditch weight from the front, a lot of weight - guesstimating 70-75lbs. There are interesting options in this thread. Has anyone figured out a set of springs? That shouldn't be that hard. It will be a matter of calculating the spring rate for the new hood. My hood is showing a lot of cracks on the interior edge and one large one on the exterior. I know there is a lot of bondo on the surface and I am afraid it will need repair sooner than later. The fiberglass option is appealing to shed a lot of weight from the front which should help with my AutoX times. My question is, IF I find the right shop, can i expect a good color and graphics match? I would like a hood option with the tunnel ram openings so I can transplant my working tunnel ram from my factory hood to a new fiberglass one. I would also want to keep the hood pins. I would like the same shop to fix my trunk lid since I damaged it earlier this summer when I bumped the spoiler against the garage door. Since they will have to match the trunk lid paint they might as well match the hood.

 

[Bentworker]

Making a glass hood look good is hard work.  I can tell you don’t get one from Maier Racing in Hayward CA.  The buck is cool, it is from Bill Maier’s Trans am car, but it is very much race grade.  It is a good way to shed some weight but I gave up as I don’t want to buy $2,000 worth of fiberglass hoods to find one up to my standards.

 

[tony-muscle]

I am more curious about any of the ones listed above that have the stock look.

 

[Bentworker]

I am more curious about any of the ones listed above that have the stock look.

When you find a good one be sure to share!

 

[tony-muscle]

When you find a good one be sure to share!

Hum... it seems that I will need to gamble $500. I will first talk to the shop to see what they say.

 

[tony-muscle]

So I am taking a big chance here. I just order a the bolt-on hood from VFN Fiberglass. http://www.vfnfiberglass.com/71-73mustang.htm

Production is 5 months out so I will have a lot of time to suffer. I also found a shop nearby that will take care of the prep, fitting and painting. The plan is to transfer the RAM air plenum from the old to the new hood. I will buy a set of new outside scoops and a new set of twist locks. I will keep the old hood with the twist locks and scoops just in case I need to put it back. I need to figure a good place where to store it safely. I also need to find a replacement hood spring with a 35 lbs rate - probably a little more once I add the weight of the RAM air plenum.

Stay tune. I will report back. 

 

[droptop73]

I hung my old hood on my garage wall with some cable and hooks kinda like hanging a picture. Check McMaster Carr for some springs, they will have something that can be modified to work.