Making a fiberglass hood?

jesusgatos said:

I got a fiberglass A3 hood for my A2 and it's easily strong enough to walk on.

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Aren't A3 hoods wider than an A2 hood? I thought they placed a strip down the middle on the early ones to give the extra width? Never had an A3, thought i've read that somewhere.

No. The frontend is longer, but the hood is the same size/shape. The length is in the cowl.

PropDr said:

It's expensive to make tooling for something like that, been there done that.

I really don't think you would want to spray them with a chopper gun. They will be weak and crack easily.

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Not necessarily expensive if you know how to work with wood. Sure doing a Metal plug or foam plug can get expensive but wood is a cheap and reliable alternative if you have a dry place to work.

A chopper gun can be quiet effective if you have a plug and mold to compress the chop afterwards or even an autoclave to make the process even more promising. But then again if you have an autoclave you probably have a cold room and some pre-preg.

Maybe I can get a carbon body made for the Deuce...

He'll just use my existing hood to make the mold from. Lay glass and resin over it so it holds tight to it, pop it off after it dries and presto, instand mold. Then just do it in reverse, feather out the underhood, or if need be make another mold for the inside, then form the 2 halves into a whole and you're done. Quick, easy, pretty to look at and above all funtional. Now there may be some wood added into it for the hinge and hook parts, but as a whole, it isn't too hard from what I've seen him do with other stuff in the past.

If he has the original, he's crazy fast at popping replicas out.

dozer1 said:

Like someone else said, 3 trucks is just an average. They would start with a truck and take fenders, doors, etc that needed replacing from other trucks. The hood is just from one truck but they split it and added a strip of metal in it to make it wider. The later ones had fiberglass one piece hoods.
This is probably what you read from another thread. I dont know why else they would split the hood and add a strip of metal to it other then to widen it. Are you sure that isnt a custom made M35A2 fiberglass hood instead of an A3 hood jesusgatos?

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A3 hoods are the same width as the A2's, they're just a little bit longer. You can see where they rivet a strip of sheetmetal along the back edge of the metal hoods. My fiberglass hood was just made to the A3 length (I'll have to cut it down to fit my A2). The old steel hood weighs 57lbs and the new fiberglass hood weighs 54lbs, so it's hardly any lighter, but it feels MUCH stronger and I'm expecting it to be a lot quieter than the steel hood too. Here are some pics:

Now that makes sense. I never really looked at an A3 hood but assumed the spacer was to possibley to widen it in the front, the spacer is crosswise, lengthening the hood a little.

jesusgatos said:

A3 hoods are the same width as the A2's, they're just a little bit longer......................

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Depends where you measure.... (drawing below)

Yes, the cowl remained untouched so the hood is the same width at the back but the nose is wider, since the grille has been widened also. I think it's two inches added on each side but I don't have a A3 hood here for an exact measurement.

Maybe you have a tape measure handy.........?

Tks,
G.

Great pic G. The spacers go both ways.

G, you're absolutely right. It's exactly 2" wider at the nose. I fit it shortly after I picked it up, but had already removed the fenders. Width was spot-on at the back, was a little bit too long, but the lines up front matched the grill perfectly. Without the fenders I didn't even notice the extra inch on each side. Guess I'll have to modify things to make it all work. Shouldn't be much trouble.

It's good to see that this got cleared up. I knew it had a widening strip down the middle but was unaware of the lengthening that was done also. Good luck on the mods JG to fit your A3 to your truck.

Yeah, sorry for confusing things. I was mistaken.

A bit off-topic already, i know....
..... tried to find that thread last night where we had this A3-hood discussion already....
here it is: http://www.steelsoldiers.com/deuce/23656-m35a3-pics.html

See my post #18...... tape measures must be scary things to use since so many A3s are out there now but nobody has ever come up with the real dimensions, to either confirm or correct the assumed dims. in my drawing...

Anyone, please.... just measure the A3 grille width and height, to compare with the A2's which is 49.75"x20"

Sorry Jesus, I still think it was little more than 1" added to each side...

G.

G, I have no fear of tape measures, but this cold rain really sux. My A2 is away but here is what I see on the A3:

1. 46.5" from the cowl edge of the hood to the curve at the hold down.

2. 22" from the bottom of the grille to top.

3. A tad over 60" at the cowl end of the hood widest measurement.

4. A tad over 54" where the hood begins to narrow at the hold downs.

5. Just under 53" at the cowl edge to front tip (measuring inside).

Acehigh, Is that front width a tad over 54" as your text says or a tad over 52" like pic 4 of 6 appears to show?

My bed, thanks dozer. I actually took two pics of that dimension, and still screwed up typing it!

52" plus...

OK, THANKS A LOT, AceHigh!!
(man, you didn't have to go out in the rain just for this, hope you don't get a cold...!)

It appears to me that to gain space they have moved the grille forward all the way almost touching the bumper? That would be 2.5 inches, looking at a stock A2 here. Obviously the A3 hood is that much longer then, (A2 = 50" -> A3= 52.5", making sense with what you found in pic#5), which was solved via that riveted patch added to the rear edge.
It is also about 2.5" wider at front, which I had assumed was more. Thanks Dozer for clearing up that #4 Q., I stumbled over the same.

Looks like I have to process that data now and come up with a new drawing...

Moderators, this all may better fit into this thread http://www.steelsoldiers.com/deuce/23656-m35a3-pics.html .......?



G.

Bigmanbrock07 said:

No problems darwin. As for the hardtop I wouldn't mold the lights in it. Easier to add them later on if that's what you wanted. I'm all about function over form. So if I need to change something over stock so that it works better I'm all for it.

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the lights are not added just the place to mount them and this is where i need to mount my m66 roof support ring. here is a picture (this one only has three spots most have 5)

Bigmanbrock07 said:

Now there may be some wood added into it for the hinge and hook parts.

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there are metal hing reinforcement plates that gots under the metal hoods to keep them from cracking. this might be better than wood.

Darwint, the picture you posted is my Fiberglass Hardtop. I have been making them for many years. The 3 light mount bars are re-inforcement stiffeners too, as are the 2 smaller bars in between them. When my hardtop is bolted down to the truck, you can walk on it, which is not true with factory steel hardtops. I sell these is 3 weight grades and have them in stock. JT out