5150 LX: The photodoc of the hood carnage, as requested

[ersunl]

Well, with all the tranny rebuilding, seal changing, oil leak finding madness going on, I finally took a break and got to the hood today. I snapped a crapload of pics along the way, so if you want to see 'em all, just browse the directory where they are linked from.

The first thing I did was round up the following:
--a Dremel with cutting wheels (lots), medium grit grinding stones, sanding wheels, and cutting blade (looks like a dril bit but used to cut accross)
--an electric drill with a small drill bit
--a small hacksaw, the style with the blade open at the end
--SHOPVAC!!!
--furnace tape
--a fine file
--a paper face mask/filter... this crap is a lot grosser than I was expecting!
--a few old rags to wipe down the dust
--gloves, because the Dremel can get damn hot

Sorry these pics are huge, but I'm tired, so maybe I'll resize them tomorrow. :) They may seem a little out of order, I just pulled a good one for the step I'm explaining.

It took a lot of experimenting before I found what seemed to work the best for me. Of the 4 holes in the back of the hood, the last couple flew after I had this down.

First, put down some tape (I only did this for the front scoop, but probably would be smart to do it all around) and score a line through the clearcoat, paint and primer several times. This will ensure the paint will not chip away... or will chip a lot less anyway.


Next, drill a series of small holes, closer together than the width of the drill bit, around the perimeter of what you are cutting.

[ersunl]

After this, there are 2 methods I used to "connect the dots". On the round edged, I used the cutting bit in the Dremmel to go from hole to hole, and on the straight runs I just took it out with the hacksaw blade.


Then to get the shape just perfect, I used the grinding stone to take down any extra fiberglass.


Then I went over the edges on last time lightly with a file, and maybe a sanding drum or sandpaper to get it good and smooth.

[ersunl]

Sooo... I was pretty comfortable with that. So on the the scoop.
First I taped this baby to limit the chipage.


Then scored a line... very carefully, and removed the inner tape.

Then as before I drilled a shitload of holes.


I attempted to use a cutting wheel on the front, but kept breaking them. I would have just drilled holes everywhere if I were to do it again. The hole/hacksaw method is fast if you don't mind drilling a lot of holes w/ a sharp bit.

[ersunl]

Then just use your best artistic judgement to get a good shape, clean up the hole a bit, and step back and take in your wonderful mess! ;)


Anyway, it wasn't perfect. There were are few chips, but they aren't very noticable, and given my tools and the fact that it was already painted, I'm pretty happy with the way things turned out.



If you've made it this far, congratulations!!! Your service provider will now canel your service for downloading these ungodly huge pictures. :)

-Eric

[468LC]

Looks good eric.:)

Can you drive the car in rain now?

What brand of hood is that again?

[ersunl]

Never did, don't intend to in the future. :) I guess in a pinch a little water may get in. Either way, it's past the distributor so shouldn't be too much of a problem.
I might put some sort of screen there to keep out leaves and such.... I'm just excited to see if I can keep it a little cooler under there.

As for the brand, don't be fooled by the pretty paint!! I bought it from a person, not directly from the company, but I *beleive* it's an ABC Customs. If not, it's another similar cheap knockoff brank, because the fitment kinda sucks and there's a gap on passenger side. A few other issues too. Cervinis all the way next time... :(

Now if I can ever find that paint code I'll be good to go. (Can you believe I looked through about 6 pages of paperwork from the paintshop and the exact paint code isn't in there!?!?!?!)

-Eric

[5150 LX]

Looks good!! I guess I'll be having some fun too :D. I'll be sure to knock mine out before I paint it though.

[5150 LX]

Finally got around to doing mine.....

For the rear vents I located a "dot" pattern online. Took masking tape and traced the pattern of the vent, transfered the tape to the grid of dots I printed onto paper. Cut out the stencil and then attached it back to the hood vents using spray glue. I thing proceeded to drill a million friggin' holes with a 1/8" bit. I will probably spray the vent area in black once I get the hood painted. Here's the unpainted finished rear vents:



Tried the same method as above for the SVO scoop but initially used too large a drill bit and I screwed up after about 30 holes so I had to completely cut out the scoop. I then cut & shaped a chunk of metal screen I had laying around and epoxied it into place. As with the above vents, I will probably spray the finished vent area black. Anyway, here's the pic of it:



Still need to finish the prep work & drill for the hood pins before I can shoot the paint, slowly getting it done though....