[KC_skyrider]

Hey guys just wanted to share a little information on a project I started and might offer to the community. I decided to design a "Powerdome" into my hood. The prototype was made with a polyester resin and heatcycled causing less than beautiful results. Recently I fixed this and in the process made a mold of the hood. I've decided to produce a full composite hood. Right now I'm looking at a dry carbon fiber hood made using vacuum infusion. According to my math the maximum weight for the finished product would be 15lbs with a standard roll on layup. The vacuum infusion will likely knock a considerable amount off this number. The hood will be a 4 layer construction two 11oz biaxial layers and 2 5.7oz twill layers and include the full support structure underneath the actual hood. The total thickness of the skin will be 1MM. Overall this project should provide the lightest possible hood with maximum strength. I can say that my much thicker mold with ALOT more epoxy and wood frame already weighs about half of what the OEM hood does. Over all cost of materials is about 300euro from my current sources. If this project yeilds the results I am looking for I might consider producing more hoods for the local community. Please feel free to share opinions or comment. And I'm always open for suggestions.

[Trickcruiser]

I am shopping for a hood now and am very interested in your results!
Any photos to share?
Good luck!

[e46m3to335i]

+1, You got any pics KC????

[KC_skyrider]

ask and you shall recieve. here is the mold we produced including the under-support. and the actual hood for the mold as well as our spray process. the composites are on order for our prototype if the quality meets my standards we will sell these on with a price system like this materials+consumables+standard labor= final price. with this system you can choose your fabric from carbon fiber to kevlar carbon color weaves even fiberglass. we will use vacuum infusion meaning we should have a great "dry carbon fiber" hood for serious weight reduction or we can add a resin layer and clear coat for regular "show" carbon. also we can paint to match for a stealth approach.

now for input. would you mount this like oem or perfer hoodpins/aero-catches? mine will be aerocatch for ultimate light weight but we need to order studs if we eventually mount one using oem hinges

[elsabor67]

Nice. Looks like a perfect fit.

[e46m3to335i]

I must say im impressed KC. Any pics of the underside of the finished product?? Could you PM me price details for one with oem hinges and one with aerocatch. Both being painted in BSM.

Both of our cars look pretty much the same except for the red stripe on yours and mine has non-m sport flat black 18's....

-Nick

[elsabor67]

Originally Posted by e46m3to335i

Both of our cars look pretty much the same except for the red stripe on yours and mine has non-m sport flat black 18's....

-Nick

Too bad i'm not up there anymore. If not, it would be 3 similar looking cars in that area

[KC_skyrider]

the pictures here are of the mold and of my oem hood being painted after we reshaped the powerdome. the material is on order to make the first composite hood. after we are confident in our process we will start considering a price. however i'm sure we will beat any manufacturers price and without hiding layers of fiberglass in the core or as part of the bracing and painting over it. (seibon) also if you want to save money we will make a full fiberglass hood but sell it as such.

as far as painted hoods go we can color match any bmw paint code however due to the nature of metallic paint a perfect match is impossible without spraying the whole car at the same time.

yesterday i had a wrench slip off a bolt and busted my knuckle on a sharp edge. so once my tendon is reattached some time next week i'll get started again on my hood. i am building this for myself so i will be taking my time and doing it correctly. if i do get a product that meets my standards, only then will i consider offering this for sell. I just want to measure the interest in the area. and know what to expect when im done with our prototype.

[KC_skyrider]

Originally Posted by dzenno

hey great job man! looks great

thanks man. we've put alot of work into this project and started over a year ago. Once we're done im sure we'll have the strogest lightest option on the market. but i want to make sure we do this professionally to avoid offering a fibre optics quality part.

[Babyjoe1973]

Hi,

is it possible to make them with the M§ inlets? I`m very interested in the hood!!

Regards
Babyjoe

[KC_skyrider]

Originally Posted by Babyjoe1973

Hi,

is it possible to make them with the M§ inlets? I`m very interested in the hood!!

Regards
Babyjoe

its very possible but we would need to lift a mold to make them. right now options are rent an M3 or spend days trying to freehand it unless you know an M we could steal for two days then we could perfectly replicate the powerdome and vents and make a 1er hood from this. the process is fairly simple and due to our wax and our release agent it will cause 0 damage to the donor surface

[Trickcruiser]

"yesterday i had a wrench slip off a bolt and busted my knuckle on a sharp edge. so once my tendon is reattached some time next week i'll get started again on my hood. i am building this for myself so i will be taking my time and doing it correctly. if i do get a product that meets my standards, only then will i consider offering this for sell. I just want to measure the interest in the area. and know what to expect when im done with our prototype."

Man I hope you get yourself taken care of and best of luck!


The hood looks great and I can not wait to see the final product.

[KC_skyrider]

Originally Posted by Trickcruiser

Man I hope you get yourself taken care of and best of luck!


The hood looks great and I can not wait to see the final product.

i love full healthcare. i went awhile without and never again. looks like 4 weeks in a cast, dont worry i'll be working on this hood one handed if i have too thanks for the compliments.

[KC_skyrider]

biaxial fabric has arrived and quality is amazing. so we used the same source to purchase our twill fabric and epoxy. i've been doing alot of research and i'm startled at the carbon-fiber market. i'm starting to believe there is not a manufacturer of a pure carbon fiber hood for our cars. i believe many hoods are made of fiberglass which is much cheaper then finished with a single carbon fiber layer. or for over $1,700.00 i've found a company that has top and bottom carbon fiber but claim only a 55% weight reduction. which seems like far too much material if only carbon is used. the prices are insane, then to be cheap and use a fiberglass core is greedy. in a few weeks i'll have all my materials and be out of my cast. then i'll see if these hoods are a $1000 project

[Babyjoe1973]

Let us make a GroupBuy! :-)

1. Babyjoe

[e46m3to335i]

2. e46m3to335i

[KC_skyrider]

Let me make sure i can make a better product cheaper. if it comes out well you guys will definately be the first customers. Price isn't a problem just want to make sure our VARTM process leaves the hood free of defects.

[e46m3to335i]

Any update KC?

-Nick

[Babyjoe1973]

I´m waiting, too! Hope it will be available soon. Or I must buy the iCarbon one here in Germany!

Babyjoe

[KC_skyrider]

Hey guys sorry for the absence. My friend with the shop is hard at work in his auto Meister school to be a master mechanic. He's studying his butt off and rarely around. At the same time I learned I'll be a father soon. Also there's an issue sourcing our epoxy resin for when we both have time around the shop again. For now this project is on the shelf. I will update the thread if this changes. When and if we start back on this I predict we'll be looking to get our hands on a 1M and just replicating that.

[KC_skyrider]

Baby's Born, Marcel is a meister-mechanic, and our first hood has been made. Looks like we need to use a little more material to achieve the strength and integrity we were looking for. Also we pulled way more vacuum than expected with our vacuum bag which caused a minor deformation of the mold. (good thing) Looks like it's time for new materials a new mold and round 2 on the project.