Quote:
Originally Posted by carbuff
At this point, it looks like I'm going to replace the hood. The two supports are creased, just front of the hinges. I don't know that those can be fixed. We could potentially reinforce the areas, but I'm not sure that will be enough.
Vince, I was wondering about that also, the pressure. I'm thinking we need to pull the hood and see what happens when we compress the hinges. I have the Fesler hinges, I've had them for about 2 years, so I don't know if the design has been revised or not. I did swap out the struts since the ones I had wouldn't hold the hood up, thus these are stronger. But they "feel" right regarding the pressure it takes to close the hood.
The direct sun definitely heated things up to the point it softened, which started the problem... An expensive lessen.  I'm going to touch base with Albert about his carbon hoods and get his thoughts on this type of problem with them... |
With the hood strut shut should not take any effort to hold down...on my Ringbrothers version it was held compressed with a small tie strap.
I have fixed cracked ones in the past.
Do a couple cuts before and after the damaged sections. You can then push down on the hood to match the fender line. You may have to support the front higher.
I made a conture gauge that spans the whole length of the hood out of 3/4" plywood that matches the fender and hood conture perfectly( just did a trace on one side with the fender then cut it with a jig saw). Clamp it at a few spots then you can add a metal spar (aluminum rectangular tubing works well) and fiber glass mat and resin the underside while clamped in the conture gauge.
On the spar you can cut the glass hood supports and fit them in to sit flush. Its a bit or work but Erik seems like he can handle it.
Going with one of Alberts CF units would be good too.
Let me know if you do get rid of the hood. I'll be more than happy to take it off your hands.
