Wait, Matt, no Carbon Fiber hood anymore? I mean, why? The CF detail on the hood looked great, it made the car more awesome than it was already! Well, I bet you have something in mind.

Matt, where can I get a set of these hood vents made? Are the premade and just cut in and weld or what? Or is this strictly a custom job?

The hood was done by Precision Metalcrafters.. it's a custom "one off" deal on an aluminum hood.

The problem is that the alum is so thin that it was a biatch to do withou warping.. would be better off with a steel hood.

The alum is nice for weight.. not so much for welding on.

My understanding is that they are an option with the CA subframe. BOS made a custom firewall bracket that lined up everything for the DSE subframe.

Thanks Steve, yeah I have an original steel cowl hood that I wanted to fab up some kind of vents like this one.

They are not on the website and you can buy them 'ala carte'. Just call them up and ask for the parts. They come in 120 DOM and Chro-Mo. IIRC, the DOM's are in the $300 range plus shipping...

Speaking with a number of guys smarter than me, without A piller cage down bars all I would be doing by installing these is adding weight and flexing the firewall. I know BOS and JCG Chris made some really awesome brackets for the down bar firewall mounts, but I've decided to wait until they get mounted and tested before doing any downbars.

(edit: credit here goes to AME Matt and RideTech; both said the same thing. I am wondering if the Hotchkis version does any better?)

Having said that, they do look hardcore and I'd love to find a reason to buy them...

Ron, I think you're pretty much right on with everything you said. I seem to remember the '69 DSE test car having the bars (I could be wrong) and don't recall it having a full cage. I'm hoping that with solid bushings along with subframe connectors and everything else, the body will be rigid enough that the bars will be mostly cosmetic. I'm sure it is going to sound very "show-touring" of me, but the major reason for the bars was to serve as mounts for the shock and brake/clutch reservoirs although the brake/clutch ones ended up on the firewall. I think they should fulfill that purpose, without hurting anything (they work ok for Hotckis, right?) and I'm not too worried about a couple pounds over the front. I set out to build an enjoyable driver's car that can eat up highway miles, and make a mediocre driver like myself have fun out on the track.

On a side note, I'm pretty sure Brett with the champaign/gray '67 Camaro convertible that's been running around socal lately added frame to firewall bars to support his Martz clip with what I'd call very good results. In his case, I'd guess the bars made a big difference and his firewall has proved to be up to the task of holding them.

Cris, I would have called you, but I thought the Wilwood guys were on the same page with you regarding brakes for the floater. Oh well, live and learn. I'll give you a call Monday and see what you're up to. I've got W4As coming for the rear and haven't given too much thought to a parking brake. Also, I'll check tomorrow to see how the drive plates fit to the wheel center holes. They should be cut to the same exact size, but I'll double check.

Matt

Hey Matt - I know you and I are solid and much respect to you and your build; you know I freakin LOVE your car, so nothing meant toward you by commnets above. Your car is built right and by the right shop for your exact/intended purpose! A couple more notes on this subject - first off, these bars don't hurt and will have some measurable effect even if you're not able to raise the entire front end without any noticable flex on the front end. Being an enthusiast not an engineer I spoke to guys that knew more about this stuff and will contiune to do so. I also ran into TCI Sal yesterday in Pomona and we spoke about this exact issue before I posted this last night (BTW, Sal does not run a cage in his red Camaro and feels it's fine for track purposes - so there you go! A direct quote, "We're out to prove you don't need 'em." Last I checked, his car runs some pretty respectable times :lol: ). I took a hard run at this issue and made a decision that was right for me. What you're doing is perfect for your intended purpose. If I didn't have so many other priorities at this point of my build (and more $$$) I might much have sketched a design for a cage set up under the interior firewall to mount these to. I think Unibody car's subframes can only flex from the stresses of 1+G's in a hard corner and we spend so much money trying to figure out how to not do that. For me with kids the only answer is to not fully cage the car (yet). And just so you know, earlier in design I was trying to get RideTech to make me a set of stainless Tigercage firewall downbars and they talked me out of it - now who's show touring? Haha..

Cheers Matt. See you @ SEMA...:cheers:

Very nice Matt! She's coming along.
Keep up the great work.:thumbsup:

I feel the down bars are a good idea but only if it's tied into the structure of the car. I've felt cowl flex in my car but don't feel bolting them to the firewall is anything but cosmetic.