Jeff, yes, we started with about 4 healthy tacks before the 45 degree welding started. Your car's pretty wicked and I was glad we were finally able to meet up.
Fast 102 vs. HoodWith the headers basically done and the engine bolted in I'd started to finalize bits on the topside of the engine. If you've been following the thread you know I'm running a Fast LSXR 102 intake manifold. What I have yet to really admit is that this intake manifold just didn't fit. My life would have been so much easier with a 90/90 setup.... Damn, but when you try to do something max effort that's sometimes what you run into. I'd already cut and smoothed my firewall, redone my fuel line cross over, decked a chamfer into of my throttle body and I was STILL contacting the Ronin reverse cowl hood I wanted to run. Not bad, maybe 3/8" or so but I was already down as close to my steering rack as I dared and it just wasn't clearing hood.
The other thing I hadn't admitted is that my FAST 102 came off this guy's personal LS454.
It'd been on a dyno a few times but was otherwise brand new. Anyone know him? Had one heck of an entertaining lunch having him tell stories and break down his thoughts on engine theory.
With all the hood fitting I'd been doing I'd already scratched the heck out of the paint on the FAST's lettering (guess what turned out to be the point of minimum contact on the manifold). Frankly I wasn't a big fan of the garish raised letters anyways so I decided to shave them down a bit. I didn't go all the way flush because I'd lose the texture in the area around the sanding and I didn't feel like smoothing the whole damn thing. It's a subtle change that unless you're in the know, most folks will probably never spot, but I gained almost an 1/8" where it counted and I think it looks nice.
So that meant I'd done basically all I could on the engine bay side of the fitment and I still needed to address the hood. Ronin had a QC reject hood sitting on the corner of our composites shop for a while now that I decided to make functional for myself about a year ago. The hood had had the upper and lower halves glued in a rush job before they were sufficiently dry and had warped badly (just about all over) as it cured. That said, since I was going to cut out the bottom to make my intake tract work anyways I decided to see if I could salvage it.
Note: this is
NOT a production quality Ronin hood so I don't want to freak anyone out with the following pictures but it was something I'd been starring at forever trying to figure out how to solve.
Previously I'd started with a rough pass in bondo just to get the thing smoothed out. It's sat like this in my rafters for more than a year.
The point of contact was just to driver side about at the rear of the center spike detail. Effectively right in the middle of the big span in the middle of the hood. Cutting out the edges of this span just seemed impractical and body work/re-glassing major shapes like that takes forever. As such I finally convinced myself I needed to make a power bulge. I only needed about 3/8" but the contact just wasn't acceptable and I wasn't ready give up on the FAST.
I did a bunch of looking online and just about convinced myself that the MG RV8 had the best bulge I could hope to find.
There's even a company in the UK that sells stand alone bulges in fiberglass.
http://www.honeybournemouldings.co.uk/fibreglasspowerbulges.htm
At the end of the day I decided I didn't want to pay international shipping for something that was still bigger than I needed and I wasn't convinced was really going to look right anyway. It would mean I effectively would have a reverse cowl with a power bulge right behind it. You know you're kinda in uncharted water when you find yourself wondering if you can take a splash mold of your BBQ cover to have a fiberglass bulge to start from. Not good.
Instead I said screw it and decided to just make my own. After a little bit of research to make sure my resin wouldn't attack foam I decided to make the like the Lithuanians and just go for it.
http://www.ridelust.com/a-lithuanian-a-destroyed-mercedes-cl-and-some-polyurethane-foam/ Roughed out shaped:
Next day (holy hell this stuff expands):
Started carving on it and found it why it'd expanded so much. This was the BEST part of the surface internally.
The worst parts had holes that were an inch across and uncured goo in the middle (24 hours out on what should have been workable in an couple hours).
So basically I failed miserably... Sanded all the crap back off and was back where I started. Not everything goes as planned and to be honest I wasn't that thrilled with a bulge to begin with.
At this point I had to make a call, I really wanted to run a Ronin hood (or at least a hood that looked like a Ronin hood even if I'd cheated it). I'm starring at this thing from all angles and debating how much cutting I'm going to have to do and it's just kind of a sucky afternoon. The spot I need to raise is right in the middle of a huge curved expanse. And then it hits, me...
The spot I need to raise in the middle of a huge CURVED expanse. If I cut the expanse apart I can wedge the middle apart slightly and it SHOULD raise the expanse just like I was wedging a bigger capstone in a curved stone bridge. After about a five minute debate and a sanity check with the wife I break out the angle grinder and cut the entire center area of the hood from behind the vent to where the ribs start in back. If this doesn't work I'm literally throwing this hood away and/or selling my fancy pants FAST 102.
Ram in some shims on the gap I just cut and low and behold I gain a 1/2". Glass it back over on top, kitty hair and more glass on the bottom and presto chango, I have a hood that clears.
If you look closely you can see the cut line under the glass.
I left it in the sun for a few days to let it heat cycle and work out any internal stresses and it still clears by 3/16" or so. Still need some more body work to make the curves perfect, but I was stoked that I finally figured it out.
-Joel
PS Ronin's hood should clear all factory intake manifolds as well as Fast 90s and 92s. It's only with the 102 you have to watch out. I can't tell you whether it'd clear with a factory hood but it'd be damn close.
