Early 2nd gen Formula carbon hood and hood pin options wanted - Lateral-g Forums

NOT A TA · #1 07-31-2019, 10:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OLDFLM

I'm friends with Albert as well as Matt @ Anvil.

I've had Anvil's 100% CF hood on my Formula for over 10 years without issue and I constantly get comments on how great it looks!

I also have their CF nose, lower front valance, trunk/spoiler and the rear filler panel between the taillights on my car... again for over 10 years with no issues.

I don't think you can go wrong with Matt or Albert's products honestly!

Anvil's Formula hood is a quality piece... as are all their other products we put on my car! HTH

Hoped you'd see this thread TY and give a longevity update.

Here's "young" Ty hard at work on the hood latches. hahaha

cpd004 · #2 07-31-2019, 11:17 AM

Thanks for the replies!

Who makes the hinges you used and how do you feel about them?

NOT A TA · #3 08-01-2019, 08:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cpd004

Thanks for the replies!

Who makes the hinges you used and how do you feel about them?

IIRC the hinges were Fesler, Ty can verify when he pops in.

OLDFLM · #4 08-01-2019, 08:22 AM

Hood hinges and most of the other billet on my car is from Fesler!

Hood hinges, door jamb vents, door strikers, hood adjusters, fender braces... 7" halogen headlights and billet 70-73 Firebird tail light bezels!

All high quality stuff with no issues for over a decade!

I highly recommend them for your Camaro!

https://www.shopfesler.com/1970-1981-camaro/

OLDFLM · #5 08-01-2019, 08:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NOT A TA

Here's "young" Ty hard at work on the hood latches. hahaha

That's me cringing at the thought of drilling/screwing holes into that 100% Anvil carbon fiber hood! LOL

carbuff · #6 08-01-2019, 09:06 AM

I used the Fesler hinges on my car also. I don't know if others have experienced the same problem, but I have had all sorts of issues getting the hood to sit down in the back when I have the gas struts installed. I have a set of the lowest pressure units which will hold the hood up when open, so it's not that I'm running a set that is too strong.

One of the problems with the Firebird (which I think is different from a Camaro) is that the fenders have a lip which will prevent the hinge from going down as far as the slots would allow. That is a part of the problem. You can see what I'm talking about if you look closely at the picture below. Just to the left of the post where the strut would attach:

You can see that I'm not completely bottomed on either slot (close on the front), but I'm touching the fender. I don't really want to cut the fenders here, so see below as to how I decided to attack it.

In addition, if you use the cowl to hood seal, it puts pressure on the back of the hood which can push up on it also. A steel hood has plenty of weight to crush that seal.

I very much like the Fesler hinges, so this is not a criticism of them. But if I remove the struts, I can get everything aligned perfectly. So at the moment, I leave the struts off. I know of at least 1 other car which has a carbon hood which also leaves the struts off, but I don't know which brand hinges he uses (RB or Fesler).

FWIW, this bothered me so much that I paid a local fabricator a small fortune to 3D scan the plates, modify them in SolidWorks to raise the slot, and build me a pair. I've then had them anodized. I don't have them on the car at the moment, but sometime soon I will reinstall them and try to use my struts again.

Not sure how helpful that was, but it was my chance to vent a little...

OLDFLM · #7 08-01-2019, 02:21 PM

I don't have that issue at all Bryan... I'm running their 850N shock with the red dot on the back and it works fine. I've never gotten around to putting a cowl seal on my car... HTH:

350N = Orange (79 lbf)
500N = White (112 lbf)
600N = Yellow (135 lbf)
700N = Gold (157 lbf)
850N = Red (191 lbf)
950N = Purple (214 lbf)
1050N = Blue (236 lbf)
1150N = Silver (259 lbf)
1300N = Green (292 lbf)
1500N = Pink (337 lbf)

Black struts will be marked with color coded dots on the area where the rod goes into the cylinder. Polished Stainless Steel Struts will be lightly engraved with the pressure.
This engraving will be on the smooth, flat part of the cylinder... opposite end from where the rod goes into the cylinder.

carbuff · #8 08-01-2019, 02:29 PM

You have the full list of pressures, I only had two points which I wrote down. That list is helpful. I have the black struts with the Gold dots, so 700N (I had written down 750N, but also 157 ft-lb, so we're talking about the same strength). So you are using a stronger one than I am.

Our of curiosity, do you have the same issue with the hinge bottoming on the lip of the fender as I showed in my image? I'm guessing not if you have good alignment...

One thing about the carbon hoods: they are going to be MUCH stronger/stiffer than my fiberglass hood. The first one I had on the car buckled up about 3" in the middle the first time I drove it and was parked in the sun for 3 hours. We did our best to flatten it out, but it was never right (you can see it in most of my pictures). I just replaced the hood finally earlier this year. One of the reasons for being a bit gun shy about 'forcing' it down against the struts is that I don't want to replace it again. I'm convinced the carbon would tolerate that much better, and that was the reason I purchased the one I have.

FWIW though, I had similar issues getting that hood to sit down in back with the struts in place. Perhaps something on my car just isn't aligned quite right.

Regardless, thanx for that list, it is handy.

cpd004 · #9 08-01-2019, 05:46 PM

The back of the hood sitting high is one of the issues on my stock Formula hood. I never thought to check that lip.

It was the VFN hood that buckled correct, Bryan? I see Anvil has a mix of fiberglass and carbon as a cheaper alternative. Wonder if buckling would be a concern.

carbuff · #10 08-01-2019, 06:02 PM

Correct, the VFN hood buckled. The hood is made in 2 pieces, the lower which is the support structure and the top which is mostly just the top flat. They are then bonded together.

The channels that run front to back just aren't very strong, and those are what buckled. On this new one, I had VFN reinforce those internally by adding some metal to hopefully help solve this problem. But I'm gun shy...

I would expect the Anvil piece to be much better in this area.

As for the lip, are you using stock hinges right now? I would expect those to be fine.

I briefly had a set of the RB hinges which I tried, but those didn't seem to be much better. To be fair, I didn't spent a lot of time trying to adjust those. If I had to compare the two I would say the RB were a little 'stiffer' in terms of side to side movement which could be both a good and a bad thing. It's harder to adjust / install if there is too much stiffness. But they were a nice piece. The other issue was the position of the strut mounts. This was more of an issue specific to me as my oil tank is in the way on the passenger side, and it's a tight fit on the driver side too with my cage down bars. On a different car that wouldn't have been an issue...