Bone32

Hey guys

My hood has a bunch of chips in it and I decided its time to fix it. I figured while I was at it I might as well get a new one so I thought of going with Carbon Fiber for the weight reduction. How much of a difference in weight is there? If it's only 5 or 6lbs then I don't think I'll go for it..

Thanks

sweger

depends on the company. i dont know how heavy our stock hoowds are to begin with honestly. chck out this thread it has some useful info

https://mustangforums.com/forum/4-6l...bon-fiber.html

mustangcat

I'd guess the stock hood is anywhere around 30 lbs.
Your hood weighs 5 lbs.
Thats a weight shaving of 25 lbs. Which is nothing in weight shavings, thats equal to removing the jack and spare tire(if that).
But now your hood doesn't match the rest of your car.

Bone32

Good point.. I plan on painting it though.. And wouldn't the weight reduction add up? I was going to do the hood, trunk lid, rear seat removal and some other aluminum parts.. I think overall I could end up taking off ~200lbs. That would be worth it wouldn't it?

Jazzer The Cat

I installed a Saleen knock-off heat extractor hood and would guess the weight difference is 5lbs, at most. I never put either on a scale, but took one off and put the other on and could not sense a difference. I suppose there must be some, but was not obvious to me.

Jazzer

white venom

painting a carbon fiber hood is gonna cost ya an arm and a leg.

sweger

steeda claims their CF hood is 40 pond lighter. thats a big difference, wonder if its true

http://www.steeda.com/products/carbo...hood_99-04.php

mustangcat

Steeda is a very reputable company so it's probably true.
You have to understand though, in a 3250 lb. car 40 lb. won't help that much.
I don't know if this is the exact ratio, but it's something like this:

10rwhp = 100 lbs = .10th 1/4 mile

So my advice would be: do the simple weight shavings that are inexpensive, then concentrate on power/suspension. In the long run you'll end up being faster, and for less money.

sweger

i would think taking 40 pounds off the front would be a big benefit in the 1/4. less weight to "transfer" to the back wheels during launch. same reason a tubular k member's weight loss is good for drag racers (talking about the weight loss only, not trying to compare the other advantages the kmember offers).

mustangcat

It may help a ''little", but if it were a huge help in 1/4 mile times everybody would be changing to carbon fiber hoods. But you rarely see them, mostly because they look ricey when not painted to match the rest of the car(just like having a primer colored fender.)
Also look at the actual weight, 40 lbs., most people could preacher curl that amount of weight, let alone a big V8 engine having trouble moving that much around.

To show you how important power is, and how unimportant weight shavings are.
This car started out 2700 lbs., and ended in 1600 lbs., over 1000 lbs. taken out. And the car is still slow.
http://forums.motivemag.com/zerothread?id=776885&page=1