Having raced & repaired Corvettes, I'd recommend the following:
> 1. What do I use to bond fiberglass and metal together that could
> withstand underhood temperatures of a V8BGT but will not be structural?
> 2. Will they bond well?
> 3. Would I be better off making the sheet metal stuff out of fiberglass
> (in terms of bonding)?
> 4. If so, what do I use to bond two finished peices of fiberglass
> together (is it different than the epoxy used to cure the fiberglass)?
You simply lay the wet fiberglass on the clean roughened metal. Although, I
would only do that as a last resort. If you are bonding metal parts to a
fiberglass hood, why not use the metal to make a form and cast a fiberglas
part from the mold. A good coat of wax & some mold release on the form will
allow the parts to seperate relatively easily. Fiberglass will bond more
permanently to itself, and will not crack at the seam. The fiberglass will
bond to itself with a joint as strong as the rest of the part. furthermore,
paint and bodywork is a lot easier with an all glass piece. A store like TAP
Plastics has all of the material as well as many books and manuals on
fiberglass layup techniques.
Keep in mind that with your new ram air hood, most of the benefit will be
largely cosmetic, unless you take a lot of time with ducting to the carb(s)
and sealing the air flow within the ducts. Further, all of this ducting will
raise the underhood temps, if it is done correctly, as the ducting will seal
off much of the cool ambient air flowing into the engine compartment,
leaving only air from through the radiator. Another consideration is to make
sure that the distributer, if it is like a Chevy unit - on top or the
engine, remains cool enough so that any electronics in the distributer body
don't get cooked. This became a major problem on one racer I was involved
with - The combination of radical sealing of the intake air flow, engine
heat, and an electronic ignition didn't work. So if you are using a
non-mechanical distributer, consider getting some cooling air to it. Your
street car will probably have higher underhood temps, because it is standing
still, or at low speeds more than a race car at track speeds at Riverside.
Good luck on your project.
Mike Singleton
> "Aerodynamics are for people who cannot build engines"
> Enzo Ferrari
PS I find this a strange quote for people who have British Cars that have
neither.
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