Frunk Hood Material ?
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Race Director
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From: Phila Suburbs 2023 C8 & 2013 650ix
Frunk Hood Material ?
Does anyone know if the frunk hood material is normal body panel fiberglass or carbon fiber? I would like to put my E-Zpass transponder in the frunk but I know from my C7 that carbon fiber will not pass its signal. Has anyone put their transponder in the frunk?
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The hood panel is SMC (sheet moulding compound) same as the fenders, etc.
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Melting Slicks
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SMC = glass-fibre reinforced polyester material. It is basically the same material as fiberglass, but not liquid and cloth, it comes in sheets, ready to apply heat and form into a mold. If the frunk was carbon fiber, that would be an option you would have to pay for.
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My wife and her brother brother lived down the street from Robert Morrison and he recalls going for a ride in Morrison's 1953!
SIDEBAR
Corvette Body Materials
Fiberglass isn't the primary body material on Vettes these days, but the car continues a tradition of non-traditional, lightweight bodywork that began with the very first one off the assembly line in 1953. In fact, the reason conventional fiberglass isn't used any longer is because it's been replaced with better, lighter composite materials.
Last edited by JerryU; May 15, 2023 at 06:20 PM.
Burning Brakes
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I placed my EZPass at the very front of the frunk and have had no issues in 2 months. Tag has been read with every pass.
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As already stated, it is SMC (Toughened SMC Class A bonded and painted) per the following: https://www.compositesworld.com/arti...orvette-part-2
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Sounds like you will be fine with the transponder in the frunk.
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As already stated, it is SMC (Toughened SMC Class A bonded and painted) per the following: https://www.compositesworld.com/arti...orvette-part-2
Yep that Link shows the material I mentioned that floats made by the folks who got GM started with fiberglass, Molded Fiberglass (MFG) in Ashtabula OH:Body structure: part B
"The new Corvette features not one but two trunks that, combined, hold 12.6 cubic-feet/0.36 cubic meters of cargo. Both trunks are produced in 42 wt-% chopped fiberglass/vinyl ester-unsaturated polyester (VE-UP) resin, but use different processes driven by geometry and mechanical requirements. The front trunk (frunk) is compression molded 0.95-specific gravity (SG) “float” sheet molding compound (SMC), while the rear trunk is formed via the proprietary PRiME (Prepositioned Reinforcement ensuring Manufacturing Excellence) process, a liquid compression molding (LCM) variant. The float SMC and the PRiME process were developed by processor Molded Fiber Glass Co. (MFG, Ashtabula, Ohio, U.S.). MFG produced all structural SMC and LCM’d parts on the car."Note, as that article states most body panels:
Exterior body panels are all bonded (inner/outer), painted, toughened 1.2-SG SMC (22-28% FVF fiberglass/UP resin, depending on component) from Continental Structural Plastics (CSP), a Teijin Group company (Auburn Hills, Mich., U.S.). Note even a lower % fiberglass content!
Still have friends in Ashtabula (where I managed and R&D Lab.) One own's another molded fiberglass products company said the higher volume body panels are not sufficiently profitable for MFG to consider investing in the added capacity to manufacture.
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Simple forum search and you will find 
On a serious note, look here.
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...te-status.html
On a serious note, look here.
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...te-status.html
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As already stated, it is SMC (Toughened SMC Class A bonded and painted) per the following: https://www.compositesworld.com/arti...orvette-part-2
Picked Iridium as it's one of the densest, highest specific gravity materials and it's used for some spark plug center electrodes.
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Interesting thread. When I lived in Illinois I had the big plastic EZ Pass that I needed to drive around Chicagoland. When I moved back to Georgia and got a PeachPass it's just a piece of tape with a metal strip in the middle of it that you attach just under the rear view mirror. You can't see it when you are driving and it barely shows when you are outside the car looking at the windshield. You almost have to be looking for it to spot it.