i have an OEM 96-98 civic hood and i am going to pin it down with hood pins.. but i have this idea in mind that i'd like to share and get some opinions on..



Pretend this is the hood that is up for discussion.. ( although it does not really matter )
- the red lines are where it is going to be cut to remove the overall "skeleton of the hood..
- After this is done the hood will become pretty flimsy i am aware.
- i am really curious in the weight savings and just how cheap of a modification this would be..

IDEA:



the red bars represent some kind of metal sheets or Plates that will reinforce the hood overall.. as for applying them i was thinking tac weld or some kind of welding or anything this is the part where i need some help.. I am also afraid that welding will burn through the other side and just destroy the hood.. so any experts outt there or people that can enhance my idea and give me a hand it would be greatly appreciated..

PS excuse the crappy MS paint status haha but i think you get the idea...

 

If your going to add in another skeleton, why remove the oem to begin with?

 

we have did this before. it was for a dirt track car. yeah it saved like 7 or 8 lbs, it wasnt as flimsy as youd think beings it still has the perimeter brace.

edit: we didnt add extra brace like you plan to do though, guess i should have been more informative

 

just get a cf hood. my fiber images hood only weighs 13 lbs compared to the 35 lb obese oem hood.

 

You stand a good chance of localized warpage with the welding I would think. May want to get a "junk" hood and try it.

 

You can get a CF hood and paint it so you can't tell it is CF. This would save more weight than the sheet metal, and you were going to pin it anyway.

 

Your skeleton has no strength in the direction perpendicular to the bars. It would provide almost no strength if someone sat on the hood. For it to provide any real funciton, you'd have to add some triangulation to it in the same fashion as the oem skeleton.
Cutting out a skeleton to weld in an inferior one is a dumb idea.

 

You could just drill the skeleton full of holes to lighten it up but I think it will be OK if you remove it.

 

so you just cut the skeleton out and left the perimeter skeleton correct? the metal didnt start folding or creasing after prolonged use of taking the hood on and off the car?

i have a VIS CF one.. WHICH IS FORSALE BTW haha and a painted Fiberglass one i just like to try new things and come upon spare parts all the time.. I also think i can get this to be almost as light as my VIS CF one which is heavier than i expected.

My fiberglass hood serves that purpose ... i am also quite sure that this route is way way way cheaper than acquiring a CF hood and going to a paint shop to get it nicely painted to match the car...

good point.. but you dont think the metal plates spanning from the botton of the hood to the top would provide it horizontal strength instead of just veritcal strength? i mean i am not about to have people lay and sun-tan on this hood ha

in essence that would probably fall apart by itself towards the finished product hahah take a chance and look @ the skeleton itself u can grab it and like bend it almost

 

Instead of welding in a "mini skeleton" what about attaching one using the urethane based body panel adhesive that bodyshops use now in place of spot welds?? No warpage, stronger than spot welds, fairly cheap.... Just an idea so your skeleton wouldnt have that welding warpage issue.

 

no it did not. the hood is not like the rest of the body parts. hoods of all makes of vehicles tends to be built with a little bit thicker material than say fenders/quarter panels.

 

You're going to have to get it painted either way, metal or not, once you weld on it.

 

i will look into that .. thanks good idea!! still need to figure out what kind of braceing i will be using

cool you convinced me i am just going to try this because it is the result of cutting the hood in the first place .. thanks for the input!

the underside being painted wouldnt matter to me but the Exterior is what i care about .

 

you would have to paint the exterior of the hood as well. the heat from welding to the bottom of it will burn off the paint on the top of it.

 

Thank you.

 

weld != glue...it gets pretty darn hot the paint iwll just melt/boil/flame right off it

M@

 

Hey hey

I cut up a 89 civic hood today.....really simple the center section is held on by glue. Just cut the outside and put it off the glue....I did cut a little too much on one spot and it almost cut thrpugh the other side making a 1 inch mark ...but the rest of the hood you can't even tell.

before cutting it weighed about 28lbs after around 21 + have to the removal of the latch on the car and cable this thing has some bondo so that probaly weighed a bit too.

 

awesome just what i was looking for... looks good but the Weight loss doesnt seem that drastic.. i still have not attempted this yet just too lazy honestly .. did you use a Die grinder? how long did it take you (estimated) ? thanks again for chiming in!! definitely doing this sunday now haha

 

If your going to add skeleton I think you'd be better off with one diagonal brace from corner to corner instead of 3 straight up and down.

 

Hi I used a angle grinder with a 4 & 1/2" cut off wheel

it took about 5-10 minutes to cut it. I don't think you need a brace on a civic hood.

I cut this vent but I screwed it up ...its a bit crooked. even though i measure like 10 times lol

 

Id hate to see you in a front end collision. The stock hood is meant to crumple on impact. You can see the bracing design how it has "dents" in the middle and how the skeleton disperses the force from the foward most point to the entire rear. Adding bracing like youve showed will throw all the force straight though the middle. If the impact is hard enough, the hood will break off its brackets and travel straight through your face. Knock on wood.