Well I have come to the conclusion that as much as I despise hood pins, I need em. Safety first. My main question is are there any tips you HT'ers can give me before i drill into my $500 carbon hood. I mean hood pins are pretty self explanitory, but any tips would be great! I have heard that a good tip is to put a "dab" of grease on the tip of the post to determine where to drill on the hood.
THANKS IN ADVANCE!!!

 

I like to use a dremel with a cut off wheel, it makes a very clean cut, and doesn't crack the resin

 

Um yeah, first of all, the dab of grease trick doesn't work at all, since you're closing your hood at an angle. For this trick to work you need to remove the hood from the hinges and drop it straight down. This is difficult so bring a friend. Another alternative is to park your car in the garage that has a lot of wood frame overhead. Then hang down weights on strings and use broom sticks or boards or whatever to aim them directly over the pins that you've already installed into the body of the car. Leave some room for the hood. Now take the pins out, rest the hood on the body of the car, and drill right where the weights are hanging.

 

The grease thing works but u have to lower the pins till they barely touch the underside. Thanks for the info so far....

 

how about the good ole fashion ruler. i heard its measurements are really consistent. hehe

i say you tape off the area of your hood with masking tape... then measure it all out.

 

Here's how I did mine, and it came out pretty good:

I drilled the holes into my front frame support for the pins. I installed the pins and dremel'd some stuff out so they fit nice.

I lowered the pins all the way down so they sat really low and then dabbed some Ultra Grey Silicone onto the top. I then dropped the hood slowly, then lifted it back up.

I then dremel'd out a small square access hole so I could see up past the skeleton and to the actual carbon fiber shell of my hood. It made things MUCH easier.

I then did the silicone dab thing again and let it mark a dot on the shell from underneath. IIRC, I had to raise up the pins a bit.

I then started w/ a small drill bit and drilled up through from the bottom where the dot was. I then began workin up through bigger bits, drillin from the top, till I got it just big enough.

I then bent the bracket thing that goes on the hood to fit the contour of the hood and sat it on the hood across the hole.

I then marked and drilled the holes that hold the bracket on and used pop rivets to hold them in place.

Voila! One more tip: I found that using the drill at high speed while gently applying pressure worked best at preventing cracks, but that was just me.

Be careful and take your time!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by LudeyKrus &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">One more tip: I found that using the drill at high speed while gently applying pressure worked best at preventing cracks, but that was just me.

Be careful and take your time!</TD></TR></TABLE>

dont use too much pressure on it..... you dont wanna scratch your hood..

 

Wow, thanks LudeyKrus. And thanks everyone else. I am going to be doin this on Sunday. I am using the small Moroso kit. I hate hood pins but this kit is real small, here is a link to what they look at=https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=922454

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 1SICJDM &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> I hate hood pins but this kit is real small, here is a link to what they look at=https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=922454
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Those are the exact ones I have on my car

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by LudeyKrus &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Those are the exact ones I have on my car </TD></TR></TABLE>
Best pin set I have seen yet!