How to make fiberglass hoods?

COPPERHEAD42 · Jan 25, 2011

My dad bought a twisted customs cts hood and im wanting to use it as a mold to make my own. Anyone have any links to any good tech on how to do this? Advise?

blacksheep10 · Jan 25, 2011

Yeah, there is a thread that is pretty damn informative on pirate. For some reason I want to say it was rockstomper or stinkbug or somebody.
wish I could find it now.

COPPERHEAD42 · Jan 25, 2011

Ya stinkbug has one but all his pictures are gone

zukiscott · Jan 25, 2011

I believe Draggbody has done it in the past , think their was even a tech thread on it , been a while though :dunno:

COPPERHEAD42 · Jan 25, 2011

Maybe he will chime in, I dont want to spend 800 bucks on ahood

Rockwells607 · Jan 25, 2011

muscle car on the power block had a pretty detailed show on how to make a fiber glass hood from start to finish including the mold

kid rok · Jan 25, 2011

I down loaded a detailed how to make fiberglass molds info thingy about two years ago. If I can find it I will send it to ya.

crawler1 · Jan 25, 2011

Post that info up .. I been looking at making molds to make my hoods out of lexan .

payne97 · Jan 25, 2011

if u can make1 from lexan id like 1 lol

kid rok · Jan 25, 2011

Can't find it. I think It went MIA on my old computer. I had to buy it, and it gave you materials needed and step by step instructions on how to make molds. Go to some of the desert sites they have alot of info on fiberglass. RDC or Desert rangers.

crawler1 · Jan 25, 2011

payne97 said:
if u can make1 from lexan id like 1 lol

MY big brain storm is build a hood out of 16 or 20 gauge aluminum , and place a sheet of lexan over it . make a box out of plywood kind of like a oven , and place a blower heater facing in a hole you make on one side and heat till the lexan molds around the shape then just trim the excess .. Just my dumb two sense ..

Will probably never work but it sounds good in my head

InDaShop · Jan 25, 2011

crawler1 said:
MY big brain storm is build a hood out of 16 or 20 gauge aluminum , and place a sheet of lexan over it . make a box out of plywood kind of like a oven , and place a blower heater facing in a hole you make on one side and heat till the lexan molds around the shape then just trim the excess .. Just my dumb two sense ..

Will probably never work but it sounds good in my head

There is an awesome place in Tulsa that will heat and blow it for you if you supply the molds. I dont know how Lexan would react to being blwon though. Most of those bubbles that are blown are in Lucite.

So you do your mold.
Then they hang the lucite and run it through a big ass kiln to get it hot on a hanging rack. Then they clamp it while still very hot to the mold with a plywood backing, and add air pressure between the plywood and the lucite blowing it into the mold.

I'll dig for the article I have on it. It was from Darryl Starbird on blowing a double hump canopy for a kustom car.

crawler1 · Jan 25, 2011

Doesn't sound to bad .

I live about 1 hour from the GE plastics plant were i get all my sheets of clear plastic , And have a few friends that have worked there for over 25 years . I may just need to get a hold of them and see what they can tell me , or a good easy way of doing it .

InDaShop · Jan 26, 2011

found it online.

http://www.rodandcustommagazine.com/techarticles/1101rc_star_kustom_shop_bubbletop_fabrication/index.html

B Gillespie · Jan 26, 2011

My TC CTS hood had poor fit/finish.

COPPERHEAD42 · Jan 26, 2011

B Gillespie said:
My TC CTS hood had poor fit/finish.

His is pretty nice I think? But I honestly have nothing to compare it to. Ill take some pictures of it tommarow and post them. Could I even use his as a mold? Or would it not be sturdy enough

race_jeep · Jan 26, 2011

http://hardlinecrawlers.com/forums/index.php?topic=5090.0

B Gillespie · Jan 26, 2011

COPPERHEAD42 said:
His is pretty nice I think? But I honestly have nothing to compare it to. Ill take some pictures of it tommarow and post them. Could I even use his as a mold? Or would it not be sturdy enough

Mine was thin in several places. We had to add glass to strengthen a few places and fill one hole. It should be ok to use as a mold.