MHP

After receiving an email from Keith/DadsC63 (aka the straw that broke the camels back) I'm now curious to see how many C63 owners would be interested in a lightweight (~15-20lbs) heat extracting fiberglass hood?

The hood would appear identical to stock less a pair or single large heat extracting vent.

We thought about carbon fiber but the weight savings vs fiberglass would be minimal (maybe 3-5lbs), the cost would likely be 3-4x as high vs a quality CF version, and we figured since everyone would be painting their hoods you wouldn't be able to see the CF anyway.

Thoughts, interest?

I'm thinking we can save 30lbs + off the front end and help cool down the engine at the same time.

Price would depend on the amount of committed buyers we had for the first run. It would be a GP (initially) just like the airboxes.

The quality would be top notch. The vendor that would be building them for us has been contracted by OEM manufacturers to make lightweight hoods for SE vehicles.

Thanks!

Jae Duk

I'll be interested if the price is right

mthis

would it have holes so we can run the air into the intake or something like that? like a ramair i guess

Dads C63

Andy,
Great idea!!

Since my car is a dark color I would prefer the CF hood but I understand that majority rules and cost is a concern. I think a small ram air inlet could be configured in and look good on the car along with heat vents on the sides/rear of the hood. Hopefully we'll get enough interest.

God Bless,
Keith

passcheco

I'm not sure I would put a fiberglass hood on my car, what would be the effect of a front end collision?

MHP

The hood doesn't do much of anything in the way of dissipating energy in the event of a crash.
Weight off the front end is the next best thing to eliminating rotating or unsprung mass, really helps on launch and you can feel the difference on turn in--especially when the center of gravity from said mass is as high as it is.

Thanks

MHP

Ram air would be a different story, though possible, our hoods may end up looking like a LS1 Trans Am's (if we do heat extractor vents as well).
I guess we could always make 2 versions. It's definitely going to take more time to bring a functional Ram Air hood to market than a heat extracting version.

passcheco

Thanks for the info

MHP

I'm thinking we'll need at least ten commitments to make the price quite feasible for everyone. I'll post more info on this when available.

Thanks

MHP

Keith,
Would you paint the CF hood?

If there are enough willing I'll talk to my CF guy next week and see what he comes up with price wise. Definitely not going to be cheap by comparison but options are always nice.

ARC101

Would this be a fully finsihed (2 layer) hood? In other words, top and bottom? Love the ram air idea but not sure how the body lines will accomondate it??? Where we you thinking of place the heat extractors? Just trying to get a picture of how it would look...

Dads C63

Andy,
If the CF job was well done I would not paint it. I think the dark color car would look killer with a well done clear coated CF hood. Thank you for your help.

God Bless,
Keith

MHP

FWIW gents the stock hood weighs 59.4lbs. So we're looking at a weight savings of around 40lbs off the front end with a fiberglass hood.

Sincity

Exactly. It doesn't really do a thing. Though the hood has crush zones (to fold up in event of in impact), the crush zones in the upper rails/apron (if this car is equipped with them) and lower rails dissipate impact energy. In this case, the hood merely shatters upon an impact.

This is a great idea! Not everyone wants to display exposed CF on an outer panel; kinda RICEY IMO. Plus the cost savings on CF vs FG is significant.

qship5

Andy,

Anyway to do some type of a mocked up image to show us what this hood might look like? I might be interested, but would like to see some image of what it would look like.

Thanks,

Mike

hooleyboy

I sense an MHP body kit on the horizon. I would think VIS would be doing a hood too. IF you do the hood might as well do the trunk too. Even if the hood idea falls through, It this kind of thinking i wish we had for us C55 guys. Hay if you made a hood for the C55 it would also fit the CLK (w209)

scarbrtj

Love the idea. Count me interested.

MHP

Mike,
I'll get one (image) as soon as I can. I really like the design of the stock hood (I think most do?) so we'll keep it as close to stock as we can while adding functional extractors.

Thanks
Andy

MHP

Only if it's functional.

The trunk lid is Al on our cars and very light as is, I like your line of thinking though.

MHP

Thanks Todd!

Dads C63

Andy,
I noticed the Brabus Bullit has a hood with heat extractor vents on it. Do you think we could get them imported or too costly? Aftermarket cost and then freight? Thanks again for your help!

The Viper just has bolt on's. Bellanger headers, high flow cats, and Bellanger exhaust, filters, 3.33 gears, Quaife rear and HD half shafts, five point roll bar, six point harness, etc. Runs high 10's, low 11's all day long on motor.
We just put nitrous on it but we are waiting a tune. Looking for a nine second pass with just a 150 shot. Should be doable.

Keith

MHP

Forget anything Brabus Keith, they're a joke. We can smoke their product quality and pricing without having to import anything.
After the exhaust goes on I'm making the trip to HO Fibertrends and we'll see what we can do for a fiberglass hood. Anything on the CF front? Even with glass 40lbs off the front of the car is going to help a lot.

We should be able to tune the 08-09 Vipers shortly, 08+ are definitely the ones to have if you're staying N/A.

clktoc63

Given that there's talk about a mock up, I thought I'd play around a bit. I too like the lines on this car and wouldn't want to mess it up. How about a Power Dome Induction hood?

i.e. use the existing power domes and raise and extend them allowing air to exit out of the back. A bonus is that this should reduce high pressure under the hood and allow more in through the front...into the radiator and the air intakes.

Excusing my weak photo editing skills, check out the mock up I did on my steel grey. The car looks much more muscular without changing the lines at all.

MHP

clktoc63,
The guys over on svtp would love to see that! A Benz with a cowl hood.

I'm a big fan of the stock hood as well. I'd really like to see the aftermarket version as close in design to the stocker as possible--while incorporating heat extraction functionality.

Dads C63

I actually like the cowl look.
I'm torn between the cowl look and the stock look with vents on each side. Both should look good but I believe the heat needs to come off the sides due to being just above the exhaust/headers.