Constructing a hood
Chris71 - 30/8/07 at 11:02 AM
Hi,
Can anyone give me a few pointers on designing and building a hoods.
It's intended for a fiberglass bodied Sylva Leader, with a normal (seven style) aluminium windscreen frame and a ridge of fiberglass at the back
of the cockpit. The idea is to also make a tonneau (probably done first) using the same fixings. It seems like we have three main issues,
* How do we attach it to the windscreen at the front?
* How do we attach it to the bodywork at the back?
* How do we support it in between?
I suppose the traditional answer for both the first two points is popper studs, the question is how to attach them? Looking at some photos, it seems
they didn't bother with poppers on the front, but had a metal ridge sewn into the hood which picks up on a plate at the top of the windscreen and
gets held there by the tension in the hood. Maybe I could engineer something like this too.....
Whatever the solution, I think you'd need seperate fixings for the tonneau, presumably poppers fixed to the scuttle.
I think the traditional poppers would work well at the back - what's the procedure for attaching them to fiberglass? Assuming it's average
sort of thickness (think Westfield SE body...) would I need to reinforce it to cope with the tension in the hood and prevent the GRP splitting?
Next is the frame - I'm sure there's a very good reason this, but with all these cars that go round with full height, full width roll bars
and tall screens, why can't you just hang the hood off them? I suppose a pram hood gives a degree of camber, that will naturally cause the water
to run off it and can give you some extra headroom if the line between the screen and the roll bar isn't high enough?
Anyway, I've dabbled with other things in the past, but I can safely say, constructing a hood isn't something I've ever tried.
Any pointers? 
zilspeed - 30/8/07 at 11:22 AM
Can take some picture of my hood if that helps.
(Fixing at screen top is, as you thought, a channel sewn into the front of the hood )
chrisg - 30/8/07 at 12:08 PM
This book has details of making a hood frame and fixings.
click<
br />
Cheers
Chris 
Chris71 - 30/8/07 at 01:30 PM
quote:
Originally posted by chrisg
This book has details of making a hood frame and fixings.
click<
br />
Cheers
Chris
Superb, I have a copy of that at home - and for that matter a Locost chassis!
Zilspeed - that would be useful at some point, but there's no hurry, I haven't actually bought the car yet! But I've seen a very nice
bright yellow(!) twin cam powered Leader, recently rebuilt and gleaming, the only thing it's missing is a hood or any fixings for it (currently
running with a dropped screen/wind deflector and hence no hood) I'm hopefully going to speak to the guy later and seal the deal, but just trying
to get an idea of what's involved in giving it some weather gear to pass the time at work!
Looking at your picture there, it look's like your car has the same roll bar. This one has high backed seats to make things extra tricky - no
great difference for the hood, but it means the tonneau would have to go over the top too, rather than just having 'mast holes' to poke the
roll bar through.
ned - 30/8/07 at 01:32 PM
Chris (chrisg) maybe you should register as a trader if you're going to keep pushing the hard sell 
BenB - 30/8/07 at 02:57 PM
Or change the avatar to
lotustwincam - 30/8/07 at 06:45 PM
This might help
CLICK ME
chrisg - 30/8/07 at 08:02 PM
quote:
Originally posted by ned
Chris (chrisg) maybe you should register as a trader if you're going to keep pushing the hard sell
But my kids need shoes and my granny needs an operation, and she want's to go to Disneyland.
And....er....something else, probably.
Just trying to be of service
Cheers
Chris
907 - 30/8/07 at 08:23 PM
O, come on chaps!
Sometimes this site seems to be 90% "where can I buy this?"
At least Chris's book, and the one before it, are about locostbuilding.
Just MHO
Paul G
Chris71 - 31/8/07 at 08:34 AM
Well as a former Locost (scratch) builder and someone currently looking to fabricate his own hood, I think I qualify
Lotustwincam - Thanks for that PDF, look's very useful, if a bit daunting!
[Edited on 31/8/07 by Chris71]