VIS Hood
by flybigjet » Sat Sep 27, 2003 8:13 pm
VIS Hood
Well, for those of you interested in the VIS Racing Carbon Fiber hood.....
I finally got my hood about six weeks ago through the Group Buy that Dwayne was kind enough to spearhead (THANKS Dwayne- *I* appreciate it even if nobody else did). There was some initial confusion with Tak of VIS due to his not having a list of the Buyees, but that was straightened out in relatively short order.
The hood was shipped to me in Denver by freight and was packaged *very* well-- bump guarded all the way around, bubble wrapped, and packed in a well constructed/shimmed box.
Quality is *outstanding*. According to Tak, after their first hood, er, mishap, they ended up buying a new stock Solara hood and using that for a template. It shows. The cf weave is of a high quality, as is the fiberglass framing. The edging of the hood is not ragged at all-- honestly, the fit and finish are as good if not better than the oem hood.
Also, you could see on the framing where all of the holes from the original hood had been taped over before they used it as a template. I spent the day *carefully* drilling small holes and transferring the weatherstip (3 pieces), windshield wiper tubing and ports, and hood blanket from my old hood to the new one. *Everything* that is on the stock hood fits on the new VIS one- as long as you are **VERY** careful with a drill and/or dremel. You can see where the holes for the mold were taped over, so it's just a matter of matching drill bit size and drilling *very* carefully* through the fiberglass.
One nice feature- the windshield wiper ports are already cut into the carbon fiber (which is a good thing, since they're a really strange shape- they'd be impossible to do on your own). However, there is no exit port for the tubing through the fiberglass backing, so you have to drill two small holes where the tubes would normally come out the back of the frame. A word of advice. Don't bother trying to get the oem windshield wiper nozzles or tubing off the oem hood- I'm not sure it can be done. The easiest solution is to go to a junkyard and pull some nozzles off a totalled late model Camry/Solara (they're identical) and get some tubing from Home depot- $3 for 20'. Disconnect the oem tubing that goes into the nozzle ports at the plastic "Y" adaptor-- after you pull off the hood blanket, this'll all make sense.
Install was painless-- even doing it solo. It fit on perfectly the first time- just lined up the bolts, and slammed the hood. The only drawback is that you can't use the hydraulic struts- they fit just fine (the hood is drilled to accept the threaded ball socket), but when closed the sides of the hood bow up. I left mine attached to the body of the car and installed the ball sockets on the hood- whenever I want to keep the hood open, I just slip the strut sockets into the balls. When you want to drop the hood, you just lift a bit, the sockets fall off the ball and the hydraulic struts fall flush along the fenderline- about the best solution you can come up with if you can't use the struts as normal-- keeps you from having to carry around a shower pole or the like. If I get *really* bored someday, I might look at installing a hood bar from an old Toyota, but this works so well it's probably not worth it.
So, final analysis- I like it. A lot. It adds a nice touch, and is *very* high quality- I was worried about having a black carbon fiber hood on a red car, but it flows well, especially as I have dinner-plate sized carbon fiber center pieces on my O.Z. wheels. Installation was painless, although time consuming due to wanting to add all of the oem weatherstripping, etc. Blame that on me being a perfectionist and wanting the car to look "factory" (or at least "factory installed") as much as possible, One good thing that came out of this is that I'd kind of forgotten how much fun the car is to play with- and it's *definitely* an attention getter, even sitting in my driveway. Made me feel better keeping it to play with on the weekends (although I don't think I'm going to bother with headers or ported heads).
The only thing I haven't decided about yet is hood pins. Yes, I know they're recommended, but a) the latch assembly seems *very* solid, b) there is also a secondary latch system just like the oem hood, c) I'm not driving the car lately, so it's in storage in my garage, and d) I haven't found any low-profile black hood pins that I like yet.
My recommendation- If you have any interest in a carbon fiber hood, this is the one to get. Now all I have to do is a) get deactivated from the Air Force Reserve so I can quit commuting to war, b) get the car re-insured and out from under a storage policy, c) get it smogged, d) get it re-registered, and e) give it a bath. Eight months in my garage makes for a dusty puppy. On the plus side, my milage *rocks*! R.
Well, for those of you interested in the VIS Racing Carbon Fiber hood.....
I finally got my hood about six weeks ago through the Group Buy that Dwayne was kind enough to spearhead (THANKS Dwayne- *I* appreciate it even if nobody else did). There was some initial confusion with Tak of VIS due to his not having a list of the Buyees, but that was straightened out in relatively short order.
The hood was shipped to me in Denver by freight and was packaged *very* well-- bump guarded all the way around, bubble wrapped, and packed in a well constructed/shimmed box.
Quality is *outstanding*. According to Tak, after their first hood, er, mishap, they ended up buying a new stock Solara hood and using that for a template. It shows. The cf weave is of a high quality, as is the fiberglass framing. The edging of the hood is not ragged at all-- honestly, the fit and finish are as good if not better than the oem hood.
Also, you could see on the framing where all of the holes from the original hood had been taped over before they used it as a template. I spent the day *carefully* drilling small holes and transferring the weatherstip (3 pieces), windshield wiper tubing and ports, and hood blanket from my old hood to the new one. *Everything* that is on the stock hood fits on the new VIS one- as long as you are **VERY** careful with a drill and/or dremel. You can see where the holes for the mold were taped over, so it's just a matter of matching drill bit size and drilling *very* carefully* through the fiberglass.
One nice feature- the windshield wiper ports are already cut into the carbon fiber (which is a good thing, since they're a really strange shape- they'd be impossible to do on your own). However, there is no exit port for the tubing through the fiberglass backing, so you have to drill two small holes where the tubes would normally come out the back of the frame. A word of advice. Don't bother trying to get the oem windshield wiper nozzles or tubing off the oem hood- I'm not sure it can be done. The easiest solution is to go to a junkyard and pull some nozzles off a totalled late model Camry/Solara (they're identical) and get some tubing from Home depot- $3 for 20'. Disconnect the oem tubing that goes into the nozzle ports at the plastic "Y" adaptor-- after you pull off the hood blanket, this'll all make sense.
Install was painless-- even doing it solo. It fit on perfectly the first time- just lined up the bolts, and slammed the hood. The only drawback is that you can't use the hydraulic struts- they fit just fine (the hood is drilled to accept the threaded ball socket), but when closed the sides of the hood bow up. I left mine attached to the body of the car and installed the ball sockets on the hood- whenever I want to keep the hood open, I just slip the strut sockets into the balls. When you want to drop the hood, you just lift a bit, the sockets fall off the ball and the hydraulic struts fall flush along the fenderline- about the best solution you can come up with if you can't use the struts as normal-- keeps you from having to carry around a shower pole or the like. If I get *really* bored someday, I might look at installing a hood bar from an old Toyota, but this works so well it's probably not worth it.
So, final analysis- I like it. A lot. It adds a nice touch, and is *very* high quality- I was worried about having a black carbon fiber hood on a red car, but it flows well, especially as I have dinner-plate sized carbon fiber center pieces on my O.Z. wheels. Installation was painless, although time consuming due to wanting to add all of the oem weatherstripping, etc. Blame that on me being a perfectionist and wanting the car to look "factory" (or at least "factory installed") as much as possible, One good thing that came out of this is that I'd kind of forgotten how much fun the car is to play with- and it's *definitely* an attention getter, even sitting in my driveway. Made me feel better keeping it to play with on the weekends (although I don't think I'm going to bother with headers or ported heads).
The only thing I haven't decided about yet is hood pins. Yes, I know they're recommended, but a) the latch assembly seems *very* solid, b) there is also a secondary latch system just like the oem hood, c) I'm not driving the car lately, so it's in storage in my garage, and d) I haven't found any low-profile black hood pins that I like yet.
My recommendation- If you have any interest in a carbon fiber hood, this is the one to get. Now all I have to do is a) get deactivated from the Air Force Reserve so I can quit commuting to war, b) get the car re-insured and out from under a storage policy, c) get it smogged, d) get it re-registered, and e) give it a bath. Eight months in my garage makes for a dusty puppy. On the plus side, my milage *rocks*! R.
- flybigjet
- Just Licensed SolaraGuy
- Posts: 31
- Joined: Sun Sep 22, 2002 1:18 pm
- Location: Denver, CO
). I don't mind spending a little more for good quality and hate spending ANY money on junk. I only know of 3 sources for cf hoods for the Solara. I was hoping someone that had one of these would comment on the quality.
