Bee Jay

MYBAD79 gave me this hood about two years ago. He modified it to make it a high rise, but otherwise, it's a stock '79 hood. I weighed it, 45lbs, and started removing mass. I got it down to 35 lbs without trying too hard. Next, I will try hard and I think I will vent the hood and remove the paint. Hopefully I can get it down to 30lbs. I think the aftermarket hoods weigh about 35lbs. The brown paper is about where I will cut the vent. I think I'll just mount some black screen under the hole. Maybe the Greenwood fender vents will fit on the hood now that the bracing is gone. Stay tuned.
Bee Jay

Tumarr

why the hood vents? good job though, you can never be too light.

HamadUP

45 lbs?? .. I remember one time I measured my '71s hood and it was like 24-25 lbs, it was pretty light hood, why the later models has a much heavier hoods?

gkull

Even my lite weight 81 Twin Turbo hood has the rear cross piece

Red 69

I had thought of doing this to my 79 hood, but found a good deal on an aftermarket L-88 long hood. It is lighter than stock, but I forget by how much. If I get a chance, over the weekend I will try and get a weight on it for comparison.

Removing that cross support would make me a little uneasy. It gives the hood rigidity against raising and latching at the rear. I'm curious how it works out. Somebody has to step out of the box and try another way. MYBAD79 did a good job raising the center.

69427

Excellent place to take weight out: up front and up high.

TheSkunkWorks

First off, I've always admired your willingness to experiment. That said, there being sound reasons to do so, did you give any consideration to sealing the rear of the hood at the cowl?

And, no, I haven't forgotten about weighing my stock and L88 (long) hoods against each other. Just haven't dug them out yet.

vette427-sbc

Heat and under hood pressure I assume.

Nice work BeeJay Maybe get out the sanding block with some 80 grit and thin out the fiberglass a bit. Look for the ounces and the pounds will come

riggs 74

Maybe make a mold and then make you a carbon fiber hood, wouldn't that be lighter? Or maybe cut out the center section through the center nd replace with some Plexiglas? If done right it could look pretty good.

Riggs.

Bee Jay

I'm going to take out as much weight as possible till it's flimsy like a race car hood. I might have made a mistake in taking the rear cross support out, but I can easily replace it with a balsa wood stifener like they did on the Porsche 914 fiberglass hoods. This is a spare experimentation hood that could possbily be my permanant hood. What I learn can easily be applied to my yellow stock hood.
Hey, like I said, I was bored. Where is the best place to buy hood pins?
Bee Jay

Bee Jay

My friend Gill is interested in doing just that. Is there any interest in more than one? You can get a Honda Civic carbon fiber hood for $500. The C6 guys pay $1300 for carbon fiber hoods. I guess a C3 CF hood would weigh about 20lbs. I've thought about a ZR1 style plexiglass window. They had plenty of Camaros with them at SEMA. They are sold for about $600.
Bee Jay

Bee Jay

Thanks. Yep, a lotta work to save a few pounds. Just like the aluminum driveshaft, the door side beams, the front and rear bumper removal, and the aluminum batwing. I still have some easy targets to get to like an aluminum radiator and the rack and pinion steering. Maybe some tubular or aluminum a-arms. I really would love an aluminum Gen 1 block. I'm not sure I want to go the LS route. The lighter the car gets, the funner it is to drive.
Bee Jay

riggs 74

Yea, thats what I'm talking about. You could even smoke tint the glass for street cars that aren't kept as clean as a show car, If I go that route I would smoke tint it just for that reason and I think it would be a surprise to those that realize it's transparent and they then would try to look through the tint to catch a glimpse of what might be under the hood.

Riggs

riggs 74

I was also thinking along the same lines as the Plexiglas, but instead use a carbon fiber insert running almost the full length of the scoop. This would lighten the hood, but not as much as a full carbon fiber hood. I don't think a full carbon fiber hood would look right on a C3, I think because it would ruin the flow of the body lines of the C3.

vette427-sbc

I have an aluminum quick ratio rack with no power steering... if I remember it cost me a hair under $400 all said and done. Thats a "cheap" 10+lbs right there. Add the HP gain from ditching the PS pump and you have a good performance gained per $$ mod

KevinK

Is your car big block, or small block? Aluminum heads? Just trying to get an idea of how much weight sits over your front wheels, as opposed to my 76' SBC car. I've heard that the road feedback on manual steering is much better than power steering, plus the power increase for one less drive belt, plus a weight savings....BUT, is it a pain in the but to drive at lower speeds? I kinda like power steering....just a matter of weighting the pros and cons...

vette427-sbc

Small block, alu heads/intake. 245 modern rubber and VB&P aggressive street alignment settings. Tie rods are in the power steering holes in the spindle assembly, and the rack is the quicker of the two ratios (2.5 vs 2.7 turns lock to lock) so you have a few options to make it easier to steer if its too heavy for you. Car weighed 2960lbs a few years ago, probably closer to 3000 with no driver now with a few more add-ons over the years. I like it. You know is manual steering if you are parallel parking, but otherwise you cant even tell. I have a smaller 13" steering wheel as well

Sorry for the hi-jack BJ

Red 69

My 79 L88 style Ecklers hood weighs 25 pounds stripped of brackets.

While i was at it, I weighed an 82 hood that was modified on the underside for a carb and 14 inch air cleaner. It weighed 38.5 pounds and I know my 79 hood weighs more, but not able to weigh it. This ought to provide some comparison with your lightened hood.

Chopped fiberglass is heavy, and maybe as someone suggested, it has to do with resin density. If you can get your 79 hood down anywhere near 25 pounds without it cracking the glass or paint over time, a super discovery IMO.

Bee Jay

20lbs? Really? I'm wasting my time. I should just buy an aftermarket hood. 20lbs is awesome. That's 25lbs lighter than stock.
Bee Jay

69427

Did you ever change to an aluminum master cylinder?