And so it begins....323BG hatch ----> V6 powa with a few extra surprises

[progt91]

Today I got the 'vertical hood' mod done by shaving the hinges a bit. No more hood removal when I take the engine out now. And no more busted foreheads on the corners either.

Im curious to see the hood hinges. ive always wanted to do this but i thought the hood corners would dig into the plastic wiper cowl. If you end up test fitting it could you take a pic of the corner where the hinge and hood meet at the high upright position.

[Ace]

im interested as well. ive got mine to go into the next hole easily but it stops after that.

[Dan [Sac]]

It doesn't interfere with the cowl. The corner of the hood will dip down and hit the hinge in a different spot, but that can be solved - however, the issue becomes the fenders - they rub against the hood at about 80ish degrees or so, and will take paint off if you push too much.

It's still almost vertical though, and to prevent over-opening and the aforementioned paint on paint action I'll install a couple of struts so I won't need a hood prop to keep it open (kill 2 birds with one stone).

The pics should do all the 'splainin'.






















Also got started on the hood pins. One side almost done, one side to go. This is pretty petty work with lots of time consumed in details and caution - better to go slow and shave it another 0.5 mm than overcut and be fubared.

For the final positioning, I'll have to add a slight bend into the pin stud tabs. 5 degrees is acceptable, but I think I have closer to 10 degrees in the hood slope toward the front, and the tabs are horizontal. Either that or I'll add beveled bushings/washers to tilt the studs a little bit.

The Aerocatch pin set is top notch, very pleased with it.

[smoke187]

nice work on the hood latch

[progt91]

sweet, Thanks for the pics dan. Those really help a guy out.

[Ace]

i think it works out different on the pro cause it doesnt have the raised edge. theres a little tab that stops it from going back further other than that i dont see any reason it wouldnt go further.

[progt91]

i think it works out different on the pro cause it doesnt have the raised edge. theres a little tab that stops it from going back further other than that i dont see any reason it wouldnt go further.

very true, I might have to look into that

[Damkid]

That makes me want to get a set of those hood latches

[Dan [Sac]]

They're a pain in the ass to put on...and the last issue is that the hood is slightly curved at the front of the car, whereas the Aerocatch flanges are not - one way to get around that is to mount them 'horizontally' on the hood (with the end points toward the fenders), but I don't know how well that looks visually.

Where I picked my location the hood is triple layered, so that makes cutting longer and more complicated. Not the easiest thing, but if you do it slowly it's doable.

The hood latches were $115 for the pair from Aerocatch. There are a ton of cheaper copies floating around, google/ebay will net you anything you'd want. I wanted them because I see them a lot on touring cars, which means they're good enough to hold up under race conditions on cars without OEM hood latches.

[Damkid]

Well i'm getting a carbon fibre hood for my festiva, and the current fibreglass hood has the traditional style hood pins and they work, but they're not as clean looking as the Aerocatch ones, plus black hood pins on a CF hood would look better

[WhiZ]

Wow... Just used a long time on reading this thread and looking at your amazing project.. Can't wait to see it all done.. HURRY FFS :D

[nerd racing]

we want updates! lol

[Dan [Sac]]

Thus far I've been working on the engine, waiting for the valve covers to come back from the powdercoaters. Got the lower radiator support notched for the supercharger outlet manifold, and I've been wearing my skin out sanding the spoilers.

Both spoilers were pretty ****ed up (no more mounting tabs, everything just ripped out) so I have to pretty much rebuild them. I've filled the mounting area with 3M 8115, and now I'll drill a couple of holes in it, and insert some threaded sleeves so I have a way of attaching them to the car. I hope to be putting primer on the spoilers & bumpers on monday at some point.

As soon as my valve covers get back I can get the engine back in there for the first test start.

I've also been doing a bit of side work on a custom aluminum intake manifold for the drag Probe - when I was looking for quotes to have a custom one made, I was getting averages of $2,500 for one....not so much in my budget. My goal is see if I can make one myself for about 5-10% of that...and not make it the ugliest thing ever.

[MD323]

Yeah I had to make my own mounting for the lower, I used the superfast urethane to attatch a fiberglass mountingplate with bolts to it

[Chad]

Yeah I had to make my own mounting for the lower, I used the superfast urethane to attatch a fiberglass mountingplate with bolts to it

yeah that spoiler was a pita!.....


and wow this build is crazy i never looked at it until now nad i just read all 20pages ... keep up the work man its simply insane