Anyone ever tried doing a plexiglass hood ?

phunk

take a good look at that car. pay attention to everything but the hood. then ask yourself, do you really want to have anything at all in common with this car?

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ND370z

what is this fast and furious?

Skeeterbop

with this setup I shall laugh at paintchips! If it got chipped from the inside I would just go down to the hobby shop for the correct color paint and fix it for $3. I say the hobby shop because more than likely that is where i got the paint the first time.

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Srenity: "Yeah no rest needed to spread the love when your 20 that's for sure...."

alcheng

Hopefully the paint that chipped inside will not melt/chemical-reaction with the engine bay.....

Skeeterbop

haha, i hadn't thought of that, but it does withstand the heat from the nitro engines which run just as hot as any car engine. But if you prep it right the paint actually bonds to the plastic and shouldn't chip off. It may rub off, but it shouldn't chip or flake.

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alcheng

Honestly, it shouldn't, as long as you use the paint for R/C body, not regular model.

Skeeterbop

I got a question. Why stop at the hood? Why not replace all the panels you can with polycarbonate/lexan. Then paint it however you want from the inside using the R/C paint. Then you don't have to worry about dings and dents

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gomer_110

As someone who owned a Saturn at one point I have to say that plastic body panels are not the greatest idea ever. While they won't ding or dent they instead shatter or crack and break.

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'11 370Z Nismo #528 Fast Intentions | Stillen | Motordyne | Uprev | CSF | Zspeed | Z1 Motorsports | AST | Swift | SPC | SPL | Whiteline | Hotchkis | Bride | Schroth | Robispec | Cusco | Nismo | Volk | Forgestar | Hoosier | RJM
'17 Titan Bone Stock

Skeeterbop

I wouldn't see it shattering. I could see it cracking though.

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gomer_110

It will shatter when it's below freezing outside. I slide off the road and tagged a telephone pole in it and the rear quarter panel looked as though it exploded even though the rear wheel and suspension took the brunt of the force.

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'11 370Z Nismo #528 Fast Intentions | Stillen | Motordyne | Uprev | CSF | Zspeed | Z1 Motorsports | AST | Swift | SPC | SPL | Whiteline | Hotchkis | Bride | Schroth | Robispec | Cusco | Nismo | Volk | Forgestar | Hoosier | RJM
'17 Titan Bone Stock

Skeeterbop

ouch, that sucks. In that case we need to figure out a way to keep the panels warm in the winter.

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Rooster89

Were the 90s really that bad? the skyline gt-r, the supra, the nsx, the 300zx, the 3000gt, and many more japanese performance vehicles were dirt cheap. and everywhere. and because of that americans starting saying, "hey maybe there is a replacement for displacement." or at least that displacement wasn't everything. the 90s gave us leaps and bounds for car technology so much so it brought us out of the dark age that started in i don't know. 74/75.

The see through hood is something I wish I could do but practicality it lacks. Although I will probably always fancy the idea.

some people like 93 civic hatchbacks running 14-18 lbs of boost. to each their own right?

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11Thumper

Why the **** ***-**** *** **** ***** would you ever do that to a 370z?

ImportConvert

I'll throw in here.

I have owned 2 F-bodies, both 4th gen. As you know, they all use composite panels of some ilk everywhere but the rear 1/4. One had a metal hood, though.

I sold the first one after it was 9 years old and had 170K miles on it. It had a re-paint at 140K miles, and I took ownership at 148K. Other than the rear 1/4's it was completely flawless. Nothing got "shattered or cracked", either.

The other, I sold it after it was also about 9 years old, and I drove it from 72K miles to 149K miles. The hood was messed up due to paint peeling issues common on GM cars of that era. Not the composite hood's fault.

It too, was flawless in every way except the rear 1/4 panels.

Composite is the wave of the future whether you like it or not. The only thing that is going to shatter a composite panel is going to twist the hell out of a metal panel to the point that unless you want to be a bondo queen you're going to replace it anyway.

That said, I have also owned metal (steel) cars. Lots of dings. My G20 is covered in 'em, as was my '88 5.0.

My question:

Supposedly the 370Z is all aluminum skinned (?)
How well does it do? Do you guys all have a ton of dings, or does it shrug off most door-dings with nothing more than a paint smear and the aluminum just flex as required? All my steel cars dinged like crazy. I have never owned an aluminum car (to my knowledge).