McQueen Glass

fibermike · Post by **fibermike** » Sat May 03, 2014 2:29 pm

Remember the old rule. "keep it simple stupid" Thats the rule i live by. why buy all that stuff that will eventually fail.A simple proprod like the ranger has is good enough for me. If your lazy get the gas shocks. The average glass hood will buckle if you leave the hood springs on,they arent built to take the abuse, the reason you get a glass hood is to reduce weight or change the design. To me engine cooling is paramount. Or you can do what travis did, put pins at all four corners and then have a hard time getting the hood off by yourself. Its a matter of personal preference. Ill stay with simplicity. You can stand on our parabeam hood and not buckle it. Ive only been doing this for fiftytwo years, although im sure I still have more to learn.

Jbfab · Post by **Jbfab** » Sat May 03, 2014 2:48 pm

Good thing is i have a ranger hood prop already. I ditched the springs when i did glass fenders. For my old pins i welded a plate to the top of the core with a nut welded on the backside. Worked fine but now my autofab pins are bigger and it will be a pita to cut them off. But guess i gotta do what i gotta do. Let me see if i can find a pic of there location. You can see it started to tear a little. Maybe this time ill make the plate U shaped so it welds to the front and backside. Think its a good laction to stay with?

fibermike · Post by **fibermike** » Sat May 03, 2014 3:09 pm

Your location looks fine to me. Like I said, we bought longer 9/16" bolts and side drilled the head. The way to mark the location is to install hood without pins, after its all lined up properly reinstall pins lower hood, hit with rubber hammer or flat block under hammer drill hole and your there.

fibermike · Post by **fibermike** » Sat May 03, 2014 3:20 pm

The autofab rubber and pins are great, only thing I changed is a carbon fiber disk to replace the rubber top gasket. Other than that the autofab stuff is right on.

Travisfab · Post by **Travisfab** » Sat May 03, 2014 3:50 pm

fibermike wrote:Or you can do what travis did, put pins at all four corners and then have a hard time getting the hood off by yourself.

Come on Mike, you should know me better by now.

fibermike · Post by **fibermike** » Sat May 03, 2014 4:05 pm

You got hinges? I was looking at the last pic you posted up. you just change them? Ive tried to remove 4 posters before by myself, pain in the ass. Wasnt trying to slam you. So you have posts on the hinge,correct? Hard to see.

Travisfab · Post by **Travisfab** » Sat May 03, 2014 4:12 pm

All good!

Yeah, I just mounted the pins on to the stock hinges. I've never seen anyone do it before. It works great for me. My arms are like 4 feet long so pulling all 4 pins & lifting the hood off is pretty easy too. My hood is super light weight though.

fibermike · Post by **fibermike** » Sat May 03, 2014 4:47 pm

Well when you were with FW its easy to have in house stuff done the way you want. I can make a hood extremely light and strong, but who will pay for it. The body i built for the "Big Oly bronco" only weighed 37lbs, hood, side panels and grill. And that was 1971. It was all hand laid honeycomb. But I like your hinge Idea.

Travisfab · Post by **Travisfab** » Sat May 03, 2014 7:24 pm

fibermike wrote:Well when you were with FW its easy to have in house stuff done the way you want.

Or if you know what your options are!

I started with a 2 pin. A lot of shops have a mold for the inner & outer, & then bond them together. I've always seen these as heavy hoods, which are good for some. On my first hood, I had our guys only mold in the back 8-10" or so of the inner portion. My idea was to maintain the stability across the hinges. I also had a couple louvers molded in. Since I'm not at Fiberwerx anymore, I'll be totally honest - The first hood I got fit like shit! The story was that a new guy built it. It was resin heavy, and when the louvers were set in, the hood was not square. It basically warped the whole thing.

After that, I went to a stock 4 pin hood with no inner structure. I asked for the inside to have core mat. They used the lighter 6 pound core mat. What I ended up with is a hood that is under 10 pounds, but is also very resistant to torsional flexing. I really like it, but I do plan on doing a support between the hinges.

I still think that if done right, the rear strip between the hinges with core mate on the front portion would be an ideal hood. I never got to check out the parabeam stuff you use, but I'd be curious about it's applications and characteristics.

Very few people understand composites. A nice gel coat is important, but the inside of any fiberglass piece is what really matters & what you should be paying for. To me, it's obvious that you use the right components, I also think your molds have the sharpest corners/lines in the industry.

fibermike · Post by **fibermike** » Sun May 04, 2014 8:55 am

The parabeam material is way stronger than carbon fiber. To me in an off road situation carbon fiber is a waste of money, other than the bling factor. Parabeam is two layers of cloth seperated by a vertical matrix. when laminated (properly) it becomes honeycomb. We do scheduled layups on all our parts (thick and thin where necessary) Its more time consuming but makes a part that we can stand behind.

The problem with this industry is that there are so many bad parts floating around that the consumer thinks all parts are that way. Anybody who has our parts will tell you that.

ChaseTruck754 · Post by **ChaseTruck754** » Mon May 05, 2014 11:00 am

fibermike wrote:The problem with this industry is that there are so many bad parts floating around that the consumer thinks all parts are that way. Anybody who has our parts will tell you that.

I've been saying this for years! The crap quality put out in most of the off road fiberglass is laughable compared to most other fiberglass industries. That's why I went to a non off road guy when we made my molds.

And as for the hood prop - they're easy. Here's one I made for the crew. Made it out of one for a dodge I think.

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robertcrav · Post by **robertcrav** » Sat May 17, 2014 5:31 pm

Went and picked up my hood from Mike...so stoked

robertcrav · Post by **robertcrav** » Sat May 17, 2014 5:31 pm

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robertcrav · Post by **robertcrav** » Sat May 17, 2014 5:34 pm

Also took some picks of a truck he's working on...I forgot what teams prerunner he said this was but this is getting the full treatment... had either McNeil or Fiberwerx glass...his rear quarters will be bonded on
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Gilbee01 · Post by **Gilbee01** » Sat May 17, 2014 7:30 pm

I want your hood.. sEND it to me.... Lol jk. How much was the hood

Rmc · Post by **Rmc** » Sat May 17, 2014 8:00 pm

What front and rear flare size is pictured on the bronco? 3 1/2 or 6"? What's the rear flare size pictured 3 or 4"?

robertcrav · Post by **robertcrav** » Sat May 17, 2014 8:11 pm

Gilbee01 wrote:I want your hood.. sEND it to me.... Lol jk. How much was the hood

Lol, I got the parabeam option, $480

robertcrav · Post by **robertcrav** » Sat May 17, 2014 8:13 pm

The McQueen glass on the passenger side of the Bronco I believe is 3.5" in the rear and set for 90" width up front, not sure what that works out to

robertcrav · Post by **robertcrav** » Sat May 17, 2014 8:14 pm

He said he is planning on some smaller front flares but wants to do some F150 besides first

Rmc · Post by **Rmc** » Sat May 17, 2014 9:05 pm

When you say bonded, meaning glued and no visible body line or no bolt heads and screws externally?

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