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Custom Cowl Hood/ Final Project

Custom Cowl Hood/ Final Project

  • raised cowl(not like current one)

    Votes: 13 34.2%

  • Cobra style cowl

    Votes: 12 31.6%

  • not a cowl hood

    Votes: 9 23.7%

  • why a hood? make something else

    Votes: 4 10.5%
  • Total voters
    38
No vented hood for me, doesn't look right on the Contour body IMO. I hear the functional aspect for heat extraction, but not asthetically pleasing at all, pretty ugly.
-J
 
Now I know why everything is made in china, people on this side of the ocean are only interested in ripping eachother off. 5k for a mold and 1200 each for the hoods? What does it cost for a jy hood? 150 tops? then some foam and clay for building up shapes etc. So then theres the mold release agent, fiberglass cloth, resin, etc. FFS I can't see a mold costing that much if you got chip foose to design the damned thing.
 
Nofrag said:
Now I know why everything is made in china, people on this side of the ocean are only interested in ripping eachother off. 5k for a mold and 1200 each for the hoods? What does it cost for a jy hood? 150 tops? then some foam and clay for building up shapes etc. So then theres the mold release agent, fiberglass cloth, resin, etc. FFS I can't see a mold costing that much if you got chip foose to design the damned thing.
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5k includes paying the employees to make the darn thing, which since most people hate working with fiberglass get payed really well.

1200 was a price thrown out for carbon fiber hood
 
Nofrag said:
Now I know why everything is made in china, people on this side of the ocean are only interested in ripping eachother off. 5k for a mold and 1200 each for the hoods? What does it cost for a jy hood? 150 tops? then some foam and clay for building up shapes etc. So then theres the mold release agent, fiberglass cloth, resin, etc. FFS I can't see a mold costing that much if you got chip foose to design the damned thing.
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Have you ever made a mold? Have you ever paid anyone to make one.

Yeah, I didnt think so. Look at how much time yamaha_racer has into copying just 1 side skirt.

Labor costs money. Shaping for custom parts takes a LOT of time. You need to make things symmetrical, make prototypes to test your mold and see the product. It is really easy to make the stuff cost quite a bit.

This is why things are sent to china. Because you can pay people next to nothing. If labor costs were not an issue, everything would be made in the USA.

BTW, after taking home a couple Ridlers, I am fairly certain chip foose can command a few hundred dollars an hour for designing.

Though, that quote does seem rather high, but they were probably just estimating high so that they could be sure the final product would come in under that price. This is why there arent more custom parts for cars though. Noone is willing to pay for anything unless they can get it for a couple bucks on e-bay.

qbcsvt said:
I really hope that Cobra R style hood is not made. I dont think it will look good at all!

- amyn
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+1, I dont see that as looking good on a contour. If it were me, I would get in touch with NPG and work out what kinda clearance issues there are for their supercharger into a contour and design a cowl hood around that.
 
FIND said:
Have you ever made a mold? Have you ever paid anyone to make one.

Yeah, I didnt think so. Look at how much time yamaha_racer has into copying just 1 side skirt.

Labor costs money. Shaping for custom parts takes a LOT of time. You need to make things symmetrical, make prototypes to test your mold and see the product. It is really easy to make the stuff cost quite a bit.

This is why things are sent to china. Because you can pay people next to nothing. If labor costs were not an issue, everything would be made in the USA.

BTW, after taking home a couple Ridlers, I am fairly certain chip foose can command a few hundred dollars an hour for designing.

Though, that quote does seem rather high, but they were probably just estimating high so that they could be sure the final product would come in under that price. This is why there arent more custom parts for cars though. Noone is willing to pay for anything unless they can get it for a couple bucks on e-bay.



+1, I dont see that as looking good on a contour. If it were me, I would get in touch with NPG and work out what kinda clearance issues there are for their supercharger into a contour and design a cowl hood around that.
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i probably have close to over 24 hours on the sideskirt mold. and i will prob have to make another to get the final product flawless.

at 10 an hour thats 240.00 in just labor. then for supplies i have close to 200 in not counting electricity to run power tools, sandpaper, paint or body filler. easily over 500 in supplies and labor for just one skirt in R&D to get a product worth selling. im not doing this stuff to make money.

im doing it because parts are hard to come by. id rather destroy something that is replaceable IE: my fiberglass sideskirt. then destroy the real svt skirts. same goes for bumpers as everything is becoming harder to find.

any other parts that i make are prob going to be just on my car. because no one is ever happy on a price even it they were free. i eventually plan on the whole front end being fiberglass along with the back bumper and trunk.

I would like joey if he gets a chance to post in here with his thoughts on this project. it would be more likely for me to sell more of the hoods if i had someone to supply them to.
 
yamaha racer 686 said:
i probably have close to over 24 hours on the sideskirt mold. and i will prob have to make another to get the final product flawless.

at 10 an hour thats 240.00 in just labor. then for supplies i have close to 200 in not counting electricity to run power tools, sandpaper, paint or body filler. easily over 500 in supplies and labor for just one skirt in R&D to get a product worth selling. im not doing this stuff to make money.

im doing it because parts are hard to come by. id rather destroy something that is replaceable IE: my fiberglass sideskirt. then destroy the real svt skirts. same goes for bumpers as everything is becoming harder to find.

any other parts that i make are prob going to be just on my car. because no one is ever happy on a price even it they were free. i eventually plan on the whole front end being fiberglass along with the back bumper and trunk.

I would like joey if he gets a chance to post in here with his thoughts on this project. it would be more likely for me to sell more of the hoods if i had someone to supply them to.
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Most places stateside that I know of that do this kinda thing charge a minimum of $80 an hour for mold making or prototyping.....
 
OE style carbon might be the best bet. We already know OE looks good, we know it's not going to let water get on everything, and molding is as simple as using a jy hood for a plug. No prototyping needed.
 
FIND said:
Most places stateside that I know of that do this kinda thing charge a minimum of $80 an hour for mold making or prototyping.....
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the skirts would cost a lot if i charged that!:crazy:

maybe bagged and npg could carry a small quantity of whatever hood is made...
 
Nofrag said:
OE style carbon might be the best bet. We already know OE looks good, we know it's not going to let water get on everything, and molding is as simple as using a jy hood for a plug. No prototyping needed.
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I agree with you that the OEM is a clean look, but I personally wouldn't spend the money on OEM CF. I want a nice clean cowl or Cobra R design for the clearance and heat extraction if I'm going to spend the money.
I'm also one of the guys here that would actually spend money for a good design.
-J
 
Nofrag said:
Oh I'd be happy paying a normal price for parts. Normal being 5-700USD for a carbon hood.
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Unfortunately, those usually arent CF. They are usually just skinned or they are FG with a CF outer layer. Plus, hoods that are sold for lower prices like that are usually things they can make in REALLY large quantities and spread the cost of mold making over many units. When you are only making 30-40 units in a run, and not sure how many more you can sell after your initial run, the costs are usually pretty high.

Also, as far as an OE style, molding isnt really as simple as just using a JY hood for a plug. Even if you make a good mold of the top skin off of your original plug that doesnt require any changes to make good duplicates, you still have the skeleton on the back. A lot of companies simply strip the metal skin off a hood and glue the CF on. Others duplicate the structure on the bottom side of the hood and make the hoods in 2 parts, then glue in the mounting points for the hinge and the striker. Honestly, hoods are a lot more complicated than you would think.

But still, why waste time/money on an OE style CF hood. There is someone out there with a mold anyways. Plus, if you are gonna put a JDM TYTE YO CF hood on your car, it is best to do something functional. Otherwise you may as well just put a vinyl overlay on your stock hood. Some of them look good enough to be indistinguishable from real CF.
 
FIND said:
But still, why waste time/money on an OE style CF hood. There is someone out there with a mold anyways. Plus, if you are gonna put a JDM TYTE YO CF hood on your car, it is best to do something functional. Otherwise you may as well just put a vinyl overlay on your stock hood. Some of them look good enough to be indistinguishable from real CF.
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For the looks and for a tad bit of weight savings?

I personally love the look of OEM CF but if you are taking the time to do a hood from scratch do something different. Do something with a small bubble to it for clearance for a supercharger and you will probably have a niche market.... at least bigger then people like me that just want the looks ;0

posteditdoug.jpg
 
OEM would be retarded as I see those along with the Cowl Hoods pop up on ebay!

I would say make some type of Cowl hood that is different. Not a copy of something else. Something with vents on the side. A Cowl that flows better with the car then the current choice.

I really like the vents that are on that Beemer.

I would be in for CF....

- amyn
 
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