[urq] Update on the hoods!

Sat Apr 14 23:32:29 EDT 2007

Hi everyone well I have a new update for you all on the carbon hoods.

Let me start at the beginning I was told by Will at Fiber Images (FI) that
my hood was ready to come and pick up!

I get up to (FI) and they are working on one of the hoods and he told me
they were just finishing it up for me, to take now this is suppose to be one
of the hoods set up without the hood pins and with the stock hood lock
provisions. 

I ask if I can check it out and he says sure come on back so I go look at
the hood and it has the stock hood provisions on it but it but when they
flip it over it has all the indentations for the aftermarket hood pins on
top!!

So I said wait a minute what are the indentations on the top for that not
right! It should be flush!

Then he told me the whole story...

Ed contacted Will @(FI) to build our carbon fiber hoods and said he would
send a perfect copy of the hood for them to make a mold from by the end of
the week Will said OK and 3 month later Will @(FI) received the hood? The
hood had hood came to him with a large hole for the hood pin and 3 small
holes around that for the mounting plate.

So Will called Ed to say he got the hood and asked if everyone was going to
use the same style hood pins or did he want him to fill the small holes
around the hood pins and leave just the larger hole in the center for a guid
and then Will said I will have to charge you a little extra for the body
work to the hood if you wan me to fill them.

Ed said no just leave them!!!

So that would mean we would all have to use the same hood pins that Ed
originally used a (SPARCO) designed hood pin.

So Will @(FI) gave his terms and pricing for 20 hoods minimum to Ed so Ed
said here is the money for 10 hoods now and pay for the 10 or more hoods
later down the line after we see how they turn out!  

Will said Ok but lets get this done before the end of the year (last year)
because I will be moving my shop at the beginning part of the year.

Will shipped off 6 hoods so far for people who wanted the hood pins he
opened the sealed boxes to show me the others that have been waiting to ship
one of them was supposed to go out later that day!

By the time Ed had contacted Will about doing the hoods without the hood
pins Will had already made 9 complete hoods and un able to go back and ad
the provisions for the factory hood locks left only 1 left that he could put
the provisions onto but would still have the marks on top for the
aftermarket hood pins.

So Will @(FI) waited months for Ed to send him a stock hood too so he could
start to retro fit the molds and make hardware for the new hoods.

Will told me the commutation has been lost between Ed and him for over 3
months now and at this time he does not know when or if they will continue
with the hoods as they (FI) has not received any money for the 10+ hoods in
question!!

So after talking to Will in his shop and comparing the hoods and lock
systems I decided to pick up one of the hoods that he had for hood pins and
this is why.

The hoods that he will be doing next if he does them at all will not have
the safety latch in the center of them there is not enough room to mount the
latch because of the vents directly on top of the latch, I know some might
not care about a safety latch because you are thinking my hood has never
popped up me yet!

But we are talking about a hood that is very light and stiff and only weighs
11 lbs if the vibration of the hood at high speed causes that stock hood
latch to fail just on one side it will just destroy the hood and more to be
sure of?

My car is used more for show and yes the hood pins look ugly especially on
show cars!

And I will not jeopardize my safety or anyone who drives with me that is why
I choose to go with hood pins.

Also I know what you are thinking now Ok this guy went to (FI) and picked
out the nicest hood they had for his show car! Well I did have 4 to choose
from?

But as it turns out there quality is SECOND TO NONE! And I mean that I would
have put anyone of the 4 hoods on my show car so be assured you are getting
a great product from them and you will find none better!

I would contact Ed first thing on Monday or email him to find out WTF is
going on with the hoods.

I hope this long email will help you out and you can also email me for more
photos or questions.

William Stedman 

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c375/wstedman/DSC_5787.jpg

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c375/wstedman/DSC_5789Custom.jpg

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c375/wstedman/DSC_5890.jpg

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c375/wstedman/DSC_5892.jpg