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Hood pins cracking fiberglass hoods

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As we change up our cars and put on aftermarket part's and one of them being fiberglass hoods has any body experienced there hoods cracking around where the hood bracket attach's to the hood its self. I have of course done allot of reading on this and some people say it happens and some people say it doesn't happen, the manufactures say yes and no. The ones that say yes are trying to sell there product ( of course I would to ) they have a complete hood pin kit that use's a urethane type bushing that goes through the hood and is suppose to keep the hood from cracking. Has any one had this experience with there hoods cracking and if so what did you do about it and what kind of kit did you use or would recommend for a fiberglass hood.

redhotboss444hp
 

ArizonaBOSS

Because racecar.
Moderator
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Arizona, USA
Can't speak for all hoods but I (like Cloud9 above me) have the Tiger Racing fiberglass hood and mine is held on with the stock latch and two Sparco pins. No cracking etc after roughly a year of use including numerous track days.

I have heard of some CF hoods cracking.
 
Thanks guy's for your your knowledge and feed back, I my self have never seen a fiberglass hood crack like they are saying and I have been around fiberglass and phenolic type of products for many years as I am a Quality Control Inspector for the aerospace industry, just wanted and needed others feed back before I get started on my hood and more comments or thought's and experience's are still welcomed.

redhotboss444hp
 
I have a fiberglass hood (not on the Mustang) and use the same standard hood pins that are found on the Boss race cars and everything else. I do not have any cracks at all. If there are cracks occurring, my guess is that the hood pins aren't properly adjusted and there is too much pressure being applied at the point the pin goes through. The hood does not need to be "cinched-down." It only needs to be a snug fit. Operating the pins should be easy. If your friend has to sit on the hood to get the pins to be able to go in, you are doing it wrong. That comment wasn't to the OP, just a general statement for the general question. ;)
 
Thanks guy's for all your help with this matter, as I had said earlier I my self have never heard of this cracking ether and yes I will take the note from Jimmy and I will make sure that the hood is just snug not tight, again thanks guy's.
 
I also have the Fiberglass tiger hood. I use 4 sparco hood pins without the stock latch. I've had this setup for about 14 months and have not seen any cracking on the hood
 
Ditto again on the Tiger hood, I went with Aerocatch latches, I would suggest with the fiber glass hood to drive the car for a while with the hood on before painting. I had read on another Boss site that the fiberglass will expand and contract for a while as it goes through heat cycles, once it has done that for a while then it should be safe to paint without cracking the paint.
 
Wow thanks for all the help guy's, Brandon302 I did not know that with the fiberglass hoods that putting it on and driving it for a while was a good thing to do for the the expand and contraction of the hood, good point though I will take your advice any body else do that with there fiberglass hood's.
 
I wished I had since I love the paint job my body shop did, though after a few track days I can see very fine cracks in the paint under the clear, still better then the stock hood though.
 
I have the CF Tiger hood and it has many cracks all over, not just near the hood pins. Some may be just paint but others are fairly deep, nothing all the way through to the underside.
 
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It's been my experience that CF hoods that are actually nice, probably aren't worth it. The ones that are well finished usually have at least one layer of fiberglass in them and a ton of clear coat, usually making them heavier than the (in my case) aluminum over steel frame stockers. The real deal C/F hoods are usually crap in the fit and finish department but are significantly lighter, they also crack easily. It's one of those deals where the racers have no problem changing out hoods year by year, but to try and use a race hood on a daily driver is IMO going to be problematic.
 
blacksheep-1 I hear what you are saying on the point of a guy who race's every year doesn't care if he has to change out his hood and I do race my boss but I would still like what ever hood I have to last as long as I can get it to last if you know what I mean, money doesn't grow on tree's hahahaha, wish it did but not the case where I live. So I guess find the best pin's that will help in this case and adjust the hood the best you can and just keep an eye on it (a close eye) lol.
 
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If you're any good with fiberglass you may take some kevlar, place it around the pin area, "roll it in" and then glass over it with one or two layers of glass cloth. (Do this on the bottom of the hood) and keep in mind that the kevlar, if not totally encapsulated will "shed" or come apart, if you drill through it, then it will be exposed, so leave an edge for the hood pin hole that is larger than the hood pin, and then glass over the hole and redrill it, the size of the pin. (not effecting the kevlar) the point is, kevlar needs to be totally encapsulated in something else, glass, C/F whatever. That should mostly solve your crack issues.
 

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