I want to drop front end weight as much as possible so I bought the Exotic Muscle carbon fiber hood. It took 6 weeks, but got it yesterday.

it weighs in at 35 lbs. which is impressive given its size.

My goal is weight removal off front end as I plan to compete against lightweight alum ls3’s, ls7’s, c7’s and c8’s (more rear weight bias)

i had it built up a little thicker in the plenum (for high speeds), which prob added 5lbs to it.

there is also a (removable) steel plate up front that provides extra bracing for the flip up headlights. Removing that would save a few lbs.

I am boring, i plan to paint it black.
unlike other carbon fiber hoods there is no exposed weave option with this hood.

I am going to have brackets added to a spare set of headlight lids so i can swap them in place of the rotating headlamp assemblies for the ultimate weight savings at the track.

I also have a fixed headlight option im looking into (ill have that as a separate thread)


I do plan to add the ACI/Greenwood functional
hood louvers to this hood before its installed.




i also found out its not 100% carbon fiber. Its 80% carbon fiber and 20% fiberglass.
I had to get this straightened out with Exotic Muscle as it has a sticker on it saying ‘Fiberglass’, yet I paid for a Carbon Fiber hood.
Thats what they told me at least.

The body man thought it was above average for fit/finish. It still will require some finish work sanding, etc. As you can see some lines in it.

Hood also came with a scratch near the nose emblem. But the body man said thats no problem to fix.

The true test will be on Monday, we plan to test fit the hood to the car before going any further.

Ill get better photos

if anyone has any advice for me (and the hood), speak now.

 

In the weights thread I weighed the stock hood at 110 and cut all the crap off it for then 64 pounds. So yours at 35 that is really nice!!!

 

remember that 35 lbs is with no headlights, no wheel well liners, latches,

( youe 46 lb weight saving without spending $5000 by the time I get this painted and such seems like the better deal ! )



I also had a thread here showing where i made some carbon fiber inner door skins after my orginal door panels became broken at the top.

thats another 15 lbs

 

Mine was weighed in the same bare condition. When I had lights I swapped someone for the plastic lens as even the glass lens lights weighed more. lol

Did you get a vented hood? That would cut some weight.

 

That's awesome man. Can you post some photos of the engine side also? I'm assuming it's made from a mold that keeps the original shape lines?

 

Ok, did a test fit today with the new carbon fiber hood.

(After centering) it contacted the top of the drivers door on the drivers side (no gap) and also contacted the nose /fascia oon the drivers side as well.

my body shop guy said thats normal, he just needs to shave off 1/16” off the front of the hood on the drivers side.

despite that issue, he was overall very impressed with the hood. He seemed more impressed than me; as I expected high end bare carbon fiber weave which is def not this kind of ‘composite’ hood.

that said, the weight savings will speak for itself

he said something about letting it heaat up in the sun first before painting it so i dont see weird artifacts in the finish when it sits in the sun

heres some photos

No gap at the hood to drivers door side

Yellow tape showing that 1/16” will need taken off in that area

 

This body shop has taken 4 months longer than expected

But here is the finished product

more pictures to come when i install it tomorrow

Note that those headight lids are boltable.
so i can ditch the pop-ups for more weight savings when i need to

 

I liked the hood 3 pictures up before the jigsaw.

 

with boost, i’ll be running an intercooler takimg air in thru the front license plate area and exhausting it underneath the hood.

so the air needs a place to go out

il may even need to put even bigger hood vents in at some point

the intercooler i have in mind is rectangular and can fit in the nose area if i cut out plastic webbing

i may also do body work to ‘widen’ the license plate gap on the front fascia

my biggest gripe is that i didnt have a higher rise hood option for this carbon fiber part.
At one time, Exotic Muscle did have a higher rise ligbtweight carbon fiber street hood option, but the molds for it got accidently destroyed somehow.

there is a plan for all of this

 

Makes sense. I'm not a fan of screws or rivets in the center of the hood. Maybe scoop it.

 

Probably too late but the front bumper can be moved up/down & in/out IIRC to improve the gap you observed before trial fitment.

I think the vents look fine.