hood prep

[mot250]

Some of you may remember I was inquiring about an aftermarket radiator for improved cooling during longer open track events. Well, I'll still do a radiator before next season but I started with a hood instead. I picked up a stock black aluminum hood which I will cut strategically located vent holes and I found a company that sells some pre-fabbed louvers I can bolt (well, screw) or rivet to the hood to dress the holes.

I started by installing the black hood over the Friday night. Some of you know these hoods are pretty light. I can easily hold the hood off the ground with one hand.

Seen below are some in-process pictures of me trying to get a good shine back on the black hood. Yes, that is an ice-cream sandwich in hand next to the camera...I started working on the left edge of the hood, the right side are considered the "before" shots.

[mot250]

In these shots, you can see the difference at the body line of the hood (I like the middle picture because it makes me look thinner after the ice-cream sandwich ;) ). I first tried claying the hood but the clay kept sticking, no matter how much detailer spray I used.

Then I tried a finish restorer, that didn't really bite into it either.

Finally, I stepped up to a rubbing compound. That does the trick but by hand it still takes a while with multiple applications.

ShowCar Steve, I'll be PM'ing you to arrange to pick up some recomended products to complete the job. The junk I'm currently using is almost gone and I'll never finish before I use up what I have.

Oh, and a picture of the car with the black hood installed. It sure makes it easier to clean up the black hood on the car rather than attempting it off the car.

[mot250]

A special thank you goes out to ShowCar Detail Steve for his help on returning the black hood to its former glory!!! :up::up:

It looks amazing and Steve made it look eazy, even though we needed to pull out the "commercial grade" equipment.

Early on, I thought we were going to need to adapt a buffing pad to a gas powered lawn trimmer:shocked:

[SonicGT]

Looks great, so do you plan on keeping it black? I assume so since you just buffed it out rather then just stripping it.

[ShowCarDetail]

Tom, you are very welcome. We used a Makita rotary buffer, a foam cutting pad, and compound on the hood to remove all the clearcoat overspray from the hood first. Then we used a polish to bring out the luster in the clean clearcoat. We then glazed and sealed the hood. It looks like the hood was in a body shop and was near the paint booth or area they were spraying. I touched the hood with my hand and it felt like sandpaper. Now shes shiny and protected against the elements.

[mot250]

Looks great, so do you plan on keeping it black? I assume so since you just buffed it out rather then just stripping it.

It looks ok all black, especially for a primarily race hood. I may consider having some Legend Lime painted around the edges later on but for now, all black as that leaves more $ for a radiator and gauges...

[SC.Vitamin.C]

Good job