Ok guys heres the scoop. A couple months ago my buddies cf hood flew up and smashed the windshield (he forgot to latch it) But anyways, hes giving it to me as long as I pull his motor and find out whats wrong with and rebuild it while hes deployed. No big deal. So from the hood smashing the windshield one side seperated from the hood structure and the other side cracked. The hood is faded and not good looking like all the other cf hoods Ive seen, so heres my attempt to salvage. Ive worked with fiberglass only a couple times.

first couple are what the hood looked like.



where the top sheet split from the structure


damage into the fibers, hood will have some imperfections.


have a crack on the bottem side as well


after a little wet sanding



bonding the drivers side


Any advice is welcome. More pics comming soon

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CF hood restoration is of much difficulty.. without saying #### it and painting it

wow your rebuilding an engine for the exchange of just a beat up cf hood??? damn i'll give you a new cf hood if you rebuild one of my engines jk

Hey man i did the same thing. Bought this hood from a guy that, did the same thing, didn't latch the hood right and it flew up doing around 15mph. Mine the hood skeleton actually broke off and he lost it. So i had to make a mold off the stock hood. It doesn't look pretty underneth but it works. Also had a cornor broke off that i remade and fiberglassed back on. Still gotta wet sand it down and reclear it. I would either use some fiberglass resin or panel bond to repair where it came apart.

wow your rebuilding an engine for the exchange of just a beat up cf hood??? damn i'll give you a new cf hood if you rebuild one of my engines jk

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Well hes funding the whole rebuild. Plus, he gave me the Motegi's that are on the car. So i do kinda owe him.

oh sounds fair then since hes your friend and u dnt want to screw him over thats good

Yep thats what I did. Fiberglass resin and hardener clamped down for almost 2 hours.

little update: took the clamps off and did a little more sanding



coat of resin/hardener. Gonna let it cure over night, then probably a little more wet sanding

i was planning to do this to a hood for my subie this guy promised me but then gave it away to his friend and tried to sell me a ####ed up bumper for 130 and said he gave another guy a discount because he was the same race. Looks like everythings going pretty well, how many hours do you have into it so far? after your done sanding it are you gonna clearcoat it a few times?

Looks like everythings going pretty well, how many hours do you have into it so far? after your done sanding it are you gonna clearcoat it a few times?

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From start till i was done with the coat of resin was about 3.5-4 hours. For my first time doing something like this myself Im really happy with the way its turning out.

The hood is still a bit tacky, Im gonna let it sit in the sun for a little bit and cure some more. Then another light wet sand. Cant wait to see the final project. more pics soon

Alright guys went out and finished up the hood. Not entirely satisfied with the end product because its not perfect. But hey who is right! All in all I think it looks pretty damn good for my first time doing somehing like this.. so here it is.





let me know what you guys think

What resin/hardener did you use?

I'd say it looks pretty good. The test of time will tell how it holds up, so keep updating this every so often.

I got a carbon fiber hood from a friend and decided to try and paint it. I just haven't had the time to put it on and take the final pictures before I do my write-up.

Nice man, I'd rock it!

What resin/hardener did you use?

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I used just a regular fiberglass resin that you can get at like a kragen/oreillys/autozone and the tube of hardener that came with the can. If the hood didnt turn out as good as I planned, I was just going to re-sand it and prime and paint it.. But I think it turned out pretty good.

Looks pretty good, throw some clear on it!

It does look fairly good for your first time. I do see one a few little things you could have done better but that just may be shadows or the camera. On the last pic of the finished product in the upper left hand corner. See that? Look also right after the hump , See that? From where I am sitting looks like a lack of product build up, Or you put it on too dry. It might just be weird shadows but I just wanted to let you know if the clear was not applied in one direction and with even coats it might not last very long at all. , 50% over lap is the general technique you use for laying the clear on the sub straight. Don't change direction during any part of the application. On hoods you want to be spraying it north to south. You should always move the gun at a steady rate. Such as, one foot every second, that is my particular rate of application. Your particular rate will vary depending on your gun/compressor and the pressure you supply to the gun. You also will want to maintain a constant gun distance during application. I steady my nozzle at nine to eleven inches from the sub straight. Again this will vary with your gun/compressor and the paint itself. Doing a test panel like a junk yard fender or something with half decent paint will allow you to dial the size of the pattern and the correct gun pressure. Doing a test panel will also help build muscle memory for speed and overlaps while maintaining your tip to panel distance.I hope these tips will maybe help you with your future projects. If its just a weird shadow sorry I was just trying to give you some basic info about the application procedure.

Pretty good work on it. Its not new condition but it does look good.

i thought the resin from like autozone had a yellowish tint to it??? Atleast whenever i use it for fiberglass it has a yellow tint to it?

Being that it was recoated as a 'trashed' hood, you did a very good job.
As goes for spraying, it really is a muscle memory thing, like video games you will learn to do when something happens how to counter it or fix it. Practice makes perfect!