Due to some chatter on another site I am rescuing a thread I created elsewhere that is just over 4 years old now. This project was started in September of 07. Venting the Bonnet - A Unique Design I've been wanting to vent the bonnet for some time now and had toyed around with multiple ideas. The M7 scoop came to mind as a way to exit hot air from the DFIC, but that would mean I'd be married to the DFIC. I also didn't like the way it didn't sit flush. Then I started thinking of other vehicles with vented hoods. I really like the GT40 type nostrils and commissioned some sketches. They look rather interesting so working with my body guy we fabed up a few templates. They didn't work, there is just not enough space under hood to make them fit. The short bonnet length and stress bar didn't lend themselves for a graceful curve. One evening while surfing around looking at various solution while enjoying a few adult drinks I gave some serious thought to TVR Sagaris type vents. Good think I sobered up before pulling out a hack saw. Louvers looked to be the solution. I spend hours looking at various panels one could attach but nothing really caught my eye. That was until I saw an M3 at a DE. Molded into the hood was a set of louvers that called to me. Close together, shallow depth and not sticking up leaving a clean and purposeful look. Working with my body man we spent hours trying to find just the right ones. 50 years ago this would have been a non-issue, many respectable Hot-Rod shops had louver punches, now a shop with a punch is hard to find. This project was all talk until the bonnet actually arrived at the shop. I had ordered one about 4 months previously from my favorite parts dude. We were looking for that elusive damaged in transit version that could be had for a song. Just so happens the day before I ordered a new bumper cover a bonnet in it's shipping crate fell over when being unloaded. Not much damage but too much for resale. So long as I was willing to pay the same as the scrap yard per pound I could ahve this one. My search over I now had a bonnet. Standing there, looking over the new slightly dented bonnet with MM.orgs favorite tech we both happened to notice a bonnet of a small 70's era British Sports car. It had louvers. They were the right size? Quickly I made a template of cardboard from the bonnet in question and started fiddling around with placement. Hmmm...this could work. Measure 20 times, cut once, not a lot of room for error Nibble, nibble, cutting out the holes. Holey Bonnet Batman, you can see the floor through there After cutting and grinding we took a flange tool and made flanges so they will sit nice and flush. A bit of grinding and fitting later and it was time to call it a day. Put the louver sections in some stripper to remove the old paint and we'll pick up there tomorrow.
Figured it was time for an update. Somehow I managed to put a deep scratch in the diverter plate. Today I was taught how to fix that. Starting with 180grit paper I sanded the area of the scratch to minimize it. Fortunately the gel coat is fairly thick. After the 180 the entire piece was scuffed with 420 grit and then a scratch pad. After I finished the prep work I handed the part off to the painter. He had other plans. After fitting me for a mask he had me wipe the piece with with acetone to remove any oil and grease. Then a quick wipe with tack rag. We mixed a clear coat with some thinner adding some fisheye remover and antifog. Then I got to paint the part. A quick light tack coat, wait for it to flash off and then a thicker coat. Wait 5 min and one more coat. Here is the result, my first ever experience painting... Not a bad result, after it cures overnight I'll be buffing it out. I must say I was quite pleased. From there it was off to prep the TSW XBrace. I picked up the one production piece that was not sent off for powdercoating. First a light sanding, then sprayed with acid. let that sit for 10 min and rinse well with lots of water. A little rust flashed over, cleaned that up with a scratch pad. Hung the brace in the paint booth. wiped down with acetone. I got to paint this too using an acid etching primer. Painting tubes is not easy. Came out rather well. Tomorrow I get to shoot it with a color coat. But enough of that...you want to see how the hood ios coming along... I've been torn, should I show the progress or just wait until the job is complete. I figured I'd show how things are going. The louvers are from the hood of an early 70's TR-7. I spend two days stripping the paint from these after they cut from the donor hood. Only one small cut too.. Finally today we welded the louvers in place. Grinding being demo'ed to me... After all the welds were ground smooth and prepped for the panel bonding adhesive. Mixed up the adhesive and forced it into all the gaps. We set aside the hood to cure overnight and tomorrow I'll start sanding to out section and take a grinder to the inside to clean that up. The plan is to have it look like the hood was made with the louvers when complete.
Dry fitted the GP plastic bit that bolts to the underside of the bonnet. I'm going to need to trim the corners off as they cover a small portion of the louvers. Oh and all you GP IC owners. Did the diverter come standard with a large JCW puffy sticker on the side with the S on it? Lastly.... Today I completed the finishing of the X-Brace. Since it's going to be under the car and subject to some abuse first it was sprayed with Rocker Panel goop. This will give it a textured and flexible finish. After that dried a quick light coating of primer. Then to color coats with a flex agent mixed in. First coat is very light creating a tack coat. Next a heavier coat and finally a double pass. I'm quite proud of myself as I did the finish on this myself. The guys at the shop only guided me along telling me what steps are required along with an explanation of how to do them and why. The result. We did a bit more on the hood today too. I worked on the backside cleaning up welds and bonding material that oozed through when we worked it in yesterday. it's very good that there was this extra bonding material on the backside, it shows us that we have a good bond between the parts. After cleaning that up I sprayed a light coat of self etching primer around the area. Once that had cured for an hour we mixed up yet another material to seal and fill the surrounding area. This stuff sets fast so working with the shop lead we did one louver at a time carefully making sure all gaps were filled. Another coat of primer, this time a different color, showed all the raised areas. I ground them smooth and then sanded the entire area around the louvers with progressively finer grits to remove the grind marks. It's coming together...maybe will be complete so I can hit the track this weekend.
Some progress...slow and steady. The plan has been changed again. No way will be it be complete for me to get on track Saturday. So it looks like I'll be on track with a fancy matte gray hood (ok, primered) and an unpainted bumper cover. The donor TR-7
There was no way we were going to finish today. So we punted and got me ready for the track day. I have a Dark Sliver Extreme Scoop on hand so we installed that on my old hood since I had swapped out the DFIC stuff for the GP IC. The bumper cover was far from finished, but we slapped a coat of primer on and hung that. My Redneck Mini My little excursion had really beat the crap out of the USS, bent it too. Thats been replaced by the TSW X-Brace. This is not the TSW finish, I picked up an unfinshed one and did a flex type crinkle paint job.
NF Note - I was asked what we used to do this work..The reply We used 3M's Duramix™ Adhesive #4186. All areas were ground to bare metal with a grinder and then roughed by hand with 80 grit paper. The scoop was roughened with the same. After cleaning with acetone a bead was laid down and the scoop pressed into place. The OEM clips and fasteners were then used to hold in place. All the seams were filled with the same bonding material making sure to work it into all the gaps. Then left to set for 24 hours. At that point any gaps in the back were in-filled with a 3M paintable caulk designed to flex when cured. This was left cure for 24 hours. We then sanded the exterior smooth and to the correct profile. Low spots were filled with Duramix™Fiberglass-Filled Polyester Putty #4055, allowed to cure, sanded and followed by filler #4056, allowed to cure and finally sanded smooth with 320 grit paper. This was then primed, scuffed and primed again with a different color as a trace coat. A light sanding with 320 grit to smooth any high spots. Wiped down with a tack cloth and primed again. It now awaits the color coats. 3M was contacted before we started and a rep came out to look over the project. These were the steps and products recommended by 3M. I'm confident cracking and crazing will not occur, but only time will tell.
Oh Ah Wee...Paint on the other side too For those worried these louvers were too flat...note how it does follow the contours. Just think how much cooling we'd get with this iteration
Getting closer!!! Note the attention to detail. Primed and painted all the bits that can be seen through the grills matte black and have the bug guard from Bug guards for Beemers. Bonnet is on, most of the trim in place. Another day of cleanup and the like... but for now
Allstate has done me right. They were at the shop today, all is done, I have my Mini...at least until the next project. Obligatory in garage at night shots
Nathan that is sweet!! It looks awesome! Like the way you used the TR7 louvers too. That donor looked one one I used to own.
I remember when you first posted this for the sewing enthusiasts. I voted your MINI the "one most likely to scare the sh*t out of you if you met it at night in a dark alley." The "incident" with the right front wheel happened after this mod, correct?
Cool, I asked you about those louvers when we had lunch and now I know the rest of the story. I like them. Jim