Jump to content
SAU Community

Fibreglass Bonnets

WYTSKY

By WYTSKY,
in Exterior & Interior Styling

 Share

Recommended Posts

WYTSKY Veteran

WYTSKY

Posted
Posted

Hey guys,

well I have done a decent amount of mods to the engine, brakes and soon suspension wise... now I am thinking about getting some nice new body panels... but I have a few questions, in particular about bonnets at the moment because I have a few stone chips on my current one.

1. are fiberglass panels illegal?in particular bonnets? ;)

2. I know people say they are lighter and you can go faster etc... but I want an honest answer.. would the weight of replacing a metal panel with a CF/fibreglass panel be a large difference or is a couple kg negligible?

3. I would assume it gets sprayed the same as every other panel in 2pac paint etc... but would a fiberglass bonnet's paint chip/warp due to engine/turbo heat?or do you have to attach the blanket thing to the bottom of it or something else?

finally guess I am asking.... do both an aftermarket and standard bonnet function identically? or is one a better option for stuff like strength, weight, warping paint...etc?

if it makes a diff... my car is a street car... only been to the track once...probably not for a few years again...

Thanks,

Adam :)

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/238813-fibreglass-bonnets/
Share on other sites
GTRsean Grand Master

GTRsean

Posted
Posted

Check out HPI mag. There's a QLD company that makes ADR approved (read legal!!) fibreglass bonnets. Lighter than steel ones and keep things cooler with the venting.

It's a looks thing, functional, less weight and legal. 2 pac painted would blend in sweet.

You're on the right track with temps.

If you run a high mount turbo that's the only time you might want to look at say a turbo blanket to cover the turbine housing, to protect the bonnet etc.

Hope I'm not babbling on. Good night and good luck with your choice ;) .

WYTSKY Veteran

WYTSKY

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Thanks for the advice felas,

dw, turbo is low mounted... had that much trouble getting it in tho I almost went highmount...

ok... so it may be a better option repairing the stock one by the sounds of it... just for strength and legality reasons... will post up more questions in the morn after they pop into my head overnight ;)

cheers guys.

Rekin Grand Master

Rekin

Posted
Posted
99% of fibreglass bonnets are defectable/illegal

stock = stronger

FG = lighter and vented

neither will warp in teh heat if made correctly. weight you wont really feel any difference.

ever lifted a r32 gtst bonnet, that thing probably made of cast iron ;)

It's funny watching the gtr owners struggle with it due to being used to their fancy aluminum bonnets :)

Craved Grand Master

Craved

Posted
Posted
ever lifted a r32 gtst bonnet, that thing probably made of cast iron :merli:

It's funny watching the gtr owners struggle with it due to being used to their fancy aluminum bonnets :D

hahhaha ofcourse you feel it when you open it, there is a major difference in the gtst V GTR bonnt

but not worth much when driving

PSI Parts Veteran

PSI Parts

Posted
Posted
99% of fibreglass bonnets are defectable/illegal

I would really like to know where you got your figures from? I don't mean to be rude, however you might be surprised once you approach your state authorities and seek clarification. As my understanding is that the bonnet itself only plays a small role in crumple zone testing.

Craved Grand Master

Craved

Posted
Posted
I would really like to know where you got your figures from? I don't mean to be rude, however you might be surprised once you approach your state authorities and seek clarification. As my understanding is that the bonnet itself only plays a small role in crumple zone testing.

i pulled the figure out of the air,, simply since in NSW "any modification that would affect these crashworthiness safety standards should only be made on the advise of the vehicles original manufacturer or an engineering signatory"

so unless you get it engineered - it is illegal.

PSI Parts Veteran

PSI Parts

Posted
Posted

I'm in talks with several state transport authorities, at the moment trying to seek explicit clarification on these rulings, and so far they have been somewhat helpful. At this stage I'm not going to rule out all fibreglass/carbon bonnets to be illegal. Hopefully will have more on this soon, along with supporting documentation :(

  • 4 weeks later...
ellie Proficient

ellie

Posted
Posted
hahhaha ofcourse you feel it when you open it, there is a major difference in the gtst V GTR bonnt

but not worth much when driving

Not worth much if done on it's own but for someone that is watching their weight, a steady step in the right direction. Lightening a vehicles weight would have to be the most affective mod you can carry out.

  • 2 years later...
.:: GimpS-R34 ::. Grand Master

.:: GimpS-R34 ::.

Posted
Posted

whoa... 2008 called.. ;)

yeah blits bodykits do an "ADR approved" bonnet.. But my understanding from some talk is that it is QLD Transport approved.. So just check with any local authorites/state transport to ensure.. Although i'm sure most won't even know the rules and will get a different answer to everyone you speak to.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • sunsetR33
      Blue/grey smoke after idle

      By sunsetR33 · Posted

      I get that taking off the head is best but that's a bit much for "just" valve seals. I was just under the impression that one would be able to rotate to TDC and be able to temporarily drop the valve without losing it and effectively having to remove the head to then recover it. I never knew people actually pushed rope into the cylinder to do valve seals hahaha So just to confirm, just going to TDC will not work? In that case I know when I do valve seals I'll maybe just remove the head and do some other things while I'm there, or just wait until I do an engine build.
    • GTSBoy
      Blue/grey smoke after idle

      By GTSBoy · Posted

      The old approach was to fill the cylinder/chamber with a length of rope pushed in through the sparkplug hole. The new approach is to connect compressed air to the sparkplug hole and fill it with enough pressure to push the valves up. Doing either of these things with the head on and the engine in the car is a lot less pleasant than doing it properly.
    • sunsetR33
      Blue/grey smoke after idle

      By sunsetR33 · Posted

      Can't you put the pistons to TDC and then do the valve seals? Or will the drop down too far to pull them back up?
    • sunsetR33
      Replacing turbo water line - any recommendations or advice?

      By sunsetR33 · Posted

      One thing I can tell you is, do it properly the first time. If you encounter unexpected problems just let the car sit for a week or two if you have to get some other parts or figure stuff out.  I'd have said go and use as many OEM parts as possible but since you want to change the turbo later on a custom kit is probably the better choice. Since I have no experience with RB25 just compare parts diagrams and images before buying a line kit and it should be easy to see if it has everything you need. Amayama has very good parts diagrams and part number lists, that is what I used a bunch to figure out what I might need. And don't forget to plan ahead and possibly renew other stuff that's easy to get to while you're in there doing the turbo lines. Happy wrenching
    • sunsetR33
      Unpeeling the Orange

      By sunsetR33 · Posted

      Update 4:   Hi all, good news. Engine is running and all the gaskets and seals seem to be working as intended. No leaks so far, even the JB Weld seems to hold. I flushed out the old coolant a few times and put in fresh coolant, not Nissan stuff, I decided to try the Ravenol Protect FL22, they claim it works for a wide variety of JDM cars and the opinions on it by some people were pretty good. And it has the nice poison green color! And man am I glad I bought a coolant system tester earlier this year, vacuum filling works wonders on this engine. I can definitely recommend this to anyone still doing it the old school way. All you need is compressed air supply. Will have to do a small test drive as soon as I can, I removed the gauge cluster again as the tacho needle was still bouncing around a bit but it was much better than before already.  I also found some cracks on all 4 tires inner and outer sidewalls. Apparently these tires should 't be parked on for extended periods or be kept under 0 degrees during storage, which I did not know. Clearly the previous owner didn't look into those details either, he probably bought them just cause they are cool semi-slicks. I'm just wondering how tf I am supposed to reach 30-80 degree tire temperatures on the public road consistenly, these tires were never going to work for my use case. I'll probably order Continental SportContact7 ones as these are the best allround summer tire available right now and I don't think I'll need anything crazier for now. Do let me know if you have experience with various tires and which ones you recommend.
×
×
  • Create New...