I've been trying to figure ways to lighten up my car for autocross. Being on an extreme budget, I haven't worked in almost a year (long story) I came up with this on a spare hood I had laying around. This hood will only be used on race days and I'll be using hood pins without hood struts. I started out at 42.8 lbs and managed to trim off 15.6 lbs. I estimated I'm only about 8 lbs heavier than some CF hoods out there. Tools used: dremel, sawsall, putty knife, hammer and channel locks.

Started out cutting out center supports.


Next removed front corners



A little nibbling at the back edge


Rolled the edges

 

After some final trimming and more edge rolling this is where I am.

Painting it flat black soon.

 

Nice work/

Subscribing..

 

This looks interesting
Subscribing as well

 

you probably already did but take out your windsheild washer bottle, full is about 8 lbs so now theres your extra 8lbs.

 

Thanks
I went back and forth about removing the latch assembly thinking the hood pins may sheer through the hood. I'll epoxy large stainless washers to the hood to reinforce the pin holes. Pins will also have to be removed from radiator support when reinstalling the DD hood.

 

I'll may be installing a drain plug, rather than running the pump till its empty.

 

nice work. 15 lbs is a significant drop

 

neat

 

is it really wobbly?

 

When I started out I was very concerned about that and ruining the hood. Before I rolled the edges it was very very wobbly, now it's only wobbly. lol
I will update the sturdiness of it once it's painted and installed on car.

 

WOW! I would never have the guts to do that. but nice work man. good luck hope no one sits on your hood someday

 

What autocross class are you in?

 

You should take a video of how wobbly it is lol not poking you, just curious.

But on the bright side.. now you have a couple inches more of hood clearance ahah.

 

FSP last season. I have to check with the rules as I go to see what class I'll end up in after all my mods this winter.

 

I'm very curious too on how it'll be once on the car.

 

I pitty the fool!!

 

come on man.....with all that money you are making off unemployment you could get a CF hood.

 

You go straight to Prepared or Modified when you start screwing with weight reduction.

That hood is definitely going to be too flimsy to DD. might survive an auto X though.
don't even think about doing a track day with it unless you want it to cave in.

 

Daily driving is definitely out with this hood, once on the car we'll do some road tests to see if I have to fab some bracing. If it doesn't work out it's not a big deal.

 

I wish it was that simple.
I hurt my knee at work, had surgery then complications held me up for 8 months. Now I'm getting ready for a partial knee replacement to finish the repair. Living on 2/3 pay for a year sucks big time, I'm very thankful for all the Org members who have help my family by purchasing parts from me this year.

 

Wow this is pretty clever and resourceful! Nice work!

 

nice work, I love it!!!

 

thats really creative! nice work man cant wait to see the end result!

 

post a pic of the front side of the hood so we can see how it looks

 

You could fab some crossing aluminum braces on the bottom to keep it sturdy and light.

Subscribed

 

No change in exterior appearance, it will look stock.

That's probably what I'll have to do. I may fab 2 lengths of V shaped channel then form the top of the V to sit flat on the inside hood surface. Then epoxy it on front to back for support.

 

lets hope it can handle some golf size hail LOL. idk if it hails in you area, just throughin out there for a worst case senario.

 

Update: I haven't abandoned this, I had knee surgery in Dec and haven't been on my feet in a while.

As I said, this hood will only be used for Autocross and track days.

 

What about coating the underside with fiberglass. You can buy those kits fairly cheap and it's easy to do. It will add a few more lbs but might stiffen it up.

 

Finally got around to spraying the hood today. One more coat of flat black then tomorrow we'll install the hood pins and do the final assembly. Sorry for the lousy phone pics, more pics to follow.

 

Since you're using it for track, maybe look into something like this http://www.talkjdm.com/showthread.php?t=1665
You probably need to install latches for sure.

 

^^ That looks siK. Talk about an awesome DIY.

 

nice looks sick

 

Yeah at speed it will show signs of craving in, due to the air pressure against it.......

 

This mod would relieve any of that pressure and keep the hood from caving in... and it would look sick on your Maxima.

 

very clever, nice work.

 

i was wondering when this was guna get finished lol looks good alot of work but definitely creative

 

Cross bracing is going to be necessary, but I wanted to get a coat of paint on it. It was getting some surface rust where it was cut.
I like the venting link. perhaps some slits up both sides of the center contours.