Moulds to use on cars???

[PhroZen101]

I was wondering if there was any kind of mould i could use on the hood of my car for making those stick on hood scoops flesh with the hood itself. I have watched someone do this before with roof scoops and was wondering where i could get the some sort of mould like they used. Hope someone knows.

[VanishingImage]

Are you wanting a hood scoop that looks like its part of the hood? If so you'll have to take the car or hood to a shop,or if you know how to do it yourself and mold the scoope into the hood

[PhroZen101]

Ok, after some hard searching i found everything i need. I am starting my new project sometime within the next few months. Here are my plans.

Going to strip the paint off my hood and get it down to bear metal(not sure weather i am going to do the whole hood or just where the scoops are goign to be) and apply the hood scoops. Then i will start to use body filler around the edges of the scoops where it is attached to the hood. Smooth out the filler and sand it down. Apply the finish and hardener to the filler. Take it to the shop to get it painted. Then I am goign to put in some neon lights in the scoops and finish it off with a mesh grill where the scoops entry is at. I will take pics as i come along with this project.

Any opinons/suggestions for this project are welcome :)

[SC/TGrandAm]

yeah and all the money you spend doing that project you could go out and buy a real ram air hood that looks better.

[VanishingImage]

might have to agree with ^ Most of the time tho you don't have to sand the whole hood down,usually only part of the hood is sanded down,but I think a good job would need the whole hood sanded down because the paint might not stick well with the old paint still on.....But there isn't many Ram-Air style hoods made for the 96-98 GA's,AED is the only one I know of and thats an 800+ hood,if not a grand. Might be cheaper to do it like you want for cheaper since there might not be many hoods out with the ram-air style scoops already in it.

[TA^Guy]

Originally posted by PhroZen101
Ok, after some hard searching i found everything i need. I am starting my new project sometime within the next few months. Here are my plans.

Going to strip the paint off my hood and get it down to bear metal(not sure weather i am going to do the whole hood or just where the scoops are goign to be) and apply the hood scoops. Then i will start to use body filler around the edges of the scoops where it is attached to the hood. Smooth out the filler and sand it down. Apply the finish and hardener to the filler. Take it to the shop to get it painted. Then I am goign to put in some neon lights in the scoops and finish it off with a mesh grill where the scoops entry is at. I will take pics as i come along with this project.

Any opinons/suggestions for this project are welcome :)
If you have never done body work before, and my guess is that you haven't, you might want to find someone that has to help you out.

First off you don't apply the hardner to the body filler after you applied it. You have to mix it together in a proper ratio. Too much it will harden quickly and not give you enough time to work with it. Too little hardner and it won't dry. Going to bare metal isn't needed unless you have rust or something. Using 80 grit sand paper on the paint and bonding it with a adhesive would be a good start. Then use your body filler. Also check the shop you plan on using first to make sure they will spray over your body work. Some shops would rather not because crappy body work will show though and make a good paint job look bad.
Painting is about 85% prep, 10% spray, and 5% luck.
Originally posted by SC/TGrandAm
yeah and all the money you spend doing that project you could go out and buy a real ram air hood that looks better.
Actually with decent craftsmanship and a good scoop (no ricefrendly ABS junk) grafting a hoodscoop on can be done for less than $100 and maybe another $50 worth of paint.

So if you have really good connections and can get me a custom hood for $150 than lets hear it. IF not, than I'm sorry to say your incorrect.

[nice96gt]

I would just like to add something. I have helped with molding a cowl on to a hood for a totally custom job. The hood looked like it was made that way. About 5-6 months later, the area where the front of the cowl met the front of the hood, began to go a little soft. Water/moisture had collected in that area and had made it weak. The hood has to be fixed and it's just going to be a PITA. Just a suggestion to help your project out. Just make sure there is some kind of drainage for the area that is cut out so water won't collect there. You don't want to be fixing it all over again. Good luck. :)

[PhroZen101]

Thanks for all the help/suggestions...I am still reading on how to do the mixing and the application of the mixture, so i wasn't quite sure the order of it.

TA Guy - So are you saying i dont even need to sand the paint off or that i need to sand the top layer off but dont have to go to metal?

Thanks again.

EDIT: The main reason i am grafting a hoodscoop is because of the cost and because i have many different styles of hoodscoops to choose from instead of just 1-2 that AED offers for my car....just another way I am trying to be unique ;)

[TA^Guy]

Originally posted by nice96gt
Just a suggestion to help your project out. Just make sure there is some kind of drainage for the area that is cut out so water won't collect there. You don't want to be fixing it all over again. Good luck. :)
Very good idea. :D

Originally posted by PhroZen101

TA Guy - So are you saying i dont even need to sand the paint off or that i need to sand the top layer off but dont have to go to metal?

Thanks again. Correct, you do need to sand the area but not to bare metal. If you goto bare metal you will need to prep the bare metal with a product like Metal ready or something simular to prevent flash oxibation and prevent premature rust or lifting paint. If your stock paint is in good condition, just sand it with some 80 grit to make it corse so the body filler and bonding agent have something to bite onto to. I've seen vehicle when people either didn't sand or didn't sand with corse paper and after a few months the body filler literally fell right out.

Also another thing to remember is don't go to thick with the body filler. I presonally would go more than a 1/8 of a inch thick. Too much and it will take for ever to set up, and when it does it's likely to shrink a bit, and even crack of the long run.

[JoeyK]

If you use plasic filler (aka: bondo) you'll be crying w/in a few months. The only right way to do it is to use a 2 part epoxy such as panel bond, duramix or chemweld. I used chemweld myself. Yes, drain holes are a must as are access panels on the underside of the hood to remove any debris that may collect under there. (between the scoop & the hood) May I also suggest making some removable grills for the opening. ... Good luck!:)

[JoeyK]

This is what mine looks like. I think I have a few pics of it as I was making it. I'll see if I can find them if you would like to see them.

[TA^Guy]

JoeyK, just for a the heck of it what would you say the total cost of that work was. Say purchase of the scoop, filler, prep materials and paint?

[JoeyK]

Ahhh,... lemme think... scoop was like $120 if I remember right. $80 for the chemweld another $30 or so in various disks, paper & primer,etc.Base was bout $30 per quart & the clear $55 per quart. (I used one of the best clears PPG had at the time,DCU2002 & the basecoat is DBC) Keep in mind also when I painted that the guys in Indianapolis @ Automotive Color & Supply (My hats off to them, they are truely awesome!) do such a wonderfull job at colormatching that I just panel painted my hood, there was absolutely no need to blend into the fenders. Most shops would have to do that & that alone will cost you more because they will blend off the hood onto the fenders & then clear the fenders along w/ the hood. ( you'd be paying to have the fenders painted also.) Sure, you can tell them to paint the hood only but chances are you'll see a diff. from the hood to the fenders unless there's an excellent color match like I was lucky enough to have.

[VanishingImage]

For my body kit I used stuff called Rage,its two part,its a putty and comes with some hardening compound.I would also say not to get too thick on the layers,the more the more chance of cracking or not hardening good enough.The Rage brand filler I think was like 9 bucks

[JoeyK]

Especially for molding on a hood ('glass to metal) it's gotta be epoxy or it'll crack sooner or later, most likely sooner.

[PhroZen101]

Originally posted by JoeyK
This is what mine looks like. I think I have a few pics of it as I was making it. I'll see if I can find them if you would like to see them.
I like that....looks like hood came that way. So, did you do the painting yourself or did you have the shop do it? If you had the shop do it how much did they charge you? Thanks for all the help/advice :)

[JoeyK]

I did it all/ I do bodywork for a living. Mainly paintwork. Thanks for the compliment.:)

[PhroZen101]

What grit of sandpaper do you recommend I use for when I sand down the body filler after its has become hard?

[TA^Guy]

Originally posted by PhroZen101
What grit of sandpaper do you recommend I use for when I sand down the body filler after its has become hard?
well depends on how bad you spread it. If you really need to knock it down get a nice course one, but make sure you feather it out far enough to it blends nicely. And when your feathering the edges maybe use some 340 or 400 grit.

[JoeyK]

Originally posted by PhroZen101
What grit of sandpaper do you recommend I use for when I sand down the body filler after its has become hard?

You can start w/ any grit you want but I'd finish it off w/ either 320 or 400. & again,... Dom't Use Body Filler!!!! lol. Sorry hadda remind ya. Body filler would be an absolute waste of about 10 hours time.

[phatG-A]

ok here is a pic of what my hood looked like when i started out when got my hood scoop

[phatG-A]

and what it looks like now