My Mark 1 is soon to go into the bodyshop to have a couple of small bubbles of rust removed . The bodyshop owner is an old fashioned panel man who could virtually make anything -I'm considering having him modify my hood to LAT79 specs in metal . Unfortunately the cost of shipping a fibreglass hood to New Zealand I suspect is prohibitive . Really the choice will be more about aesthetics for me as I have never experienced overheating with my car and it has an accessory electric fan in any case -Thoughts ? Pros ? Cons? -Karl
To LAT79 or Not
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Austin Healer
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I fabricated a steel LAT hood for my Mk2 and another for a pal in the great white north and for another car here in Washington. I copied the vents from a fiberglass LAT hood, but copied the scoop from an Aston Martin DB5. Installation of the exhausts required some modification to the inner frame work of the hood, but it wasn't all that difficult. The scoop itself was a lot more complicated as it has a slight curvature front to back and side to side. I overlapped the front of the scoop about 4" over the hood for extra strength as it's common for the corners of hood scoops to crack when they're unsupported... like a fiberglass LAT hood or an Austin Healey 3000 hood. I also wire edged the front of the scoop for the same reason. For screens on the exhaust I used expanded metal of the type used under stucco and had them powder coated. The pics below will give you an idea of the scope of work involved. The white Mk2 is my own car, The green hood is for my pal in Canada. The last pic shows the modifications required for the inner framework to clear the exhaust vents.
I used 18 ga steel in order to avoid a lot of warpage, the hood is a little heavier than stock, but not hugely so. It is a LOT heavier than a fiberglass hood! I noticed at least a 25 F drop in engine temps on my car. I had someone over who questioned if the exhaust vents really worked... I used to have a willow tree and the leaves had settled into the vents... I fired the engine up and the force of air from just the cooling fan, blew them completely out.. The intake scoop by itself will do nothing for cooling, in fact it will probably stack the air up under the hood even worse. The true benefit of the LAT hood lies in the exhaust vents!
I used 18 ga steel in order to avoid a lot of warpage, the hood is a little heavier than stock, but not hugely so. It is a LOT heavier than a fiberglass hood! I noticed at least a 25 F drop in engine temps on my car. I had someone over who questioned if the exhaust vents really worked... I used to have a willow tree and the leaves had settled into the vents... I fired the engine up and the force of air from just the cooling fan, blew them completely out.. The intake scoop by itself will do nothing for cooling, in fact it will probably stack the air up under the hood even worse. The true benefit of the LAT hood lies in the exhaust vents!
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Ask Rob Tempero to make you an full inner and outer aluminium one... And some doors and boot....
In seriousness...if doing a new bonnet... Why not have them take off the outer skin and do it in alloy...fold it over the seam and use current panel bonding glue..to also prevent galvanic corrosion...that way you get the venting and take some weight out of the front.
Austin Healer
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You guys have a points system for immigration, and even though I am a British citizen it's incredibly difficult to settle there... I have a pal in the Great White North that would like me to settle there, as well... Despite King Chuck also being King of Canada it's not any easier to go there... even being only 50 miles away, AND my mother being a Canadian citizen! Alas, I am headed to the UK, where all I have to do is get on a plane, land and buy a house!
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Well....UK will always have an endless source of rusty and bodged cars to resurrect....
Its a thought -but I don't really need to take any weight out of it -It goes like a rocket already as it is with its original body and its " anaemic" orginal 260- It certainly has enough power and accleration to get me in to more than enough trouble already !Ask Rob Tempero to make you an full inner and outer aluminium one... And some doors and boot....
In seriousness...if doing a new bonnet... Why not have them take off the outer skin and do it in alloy...fold it over the seam and use current panel bonding glue..to also prevent galvanic corrosion...that way you get the venting and take some weight out of the front.
And the steering wheels will be on the correct side ! LOLWell....UK will always have an endless source of rusty and bodged cars to resurrect....
Austin Healer
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this is true... but unlike the USA their cars turn in BOTH directions on racetracks!Well....UK will always have an endless source of rusty and bodged cars to resurrect....
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The weight out of the front is more a handling thing.. the bonnets are very heavy... Lightens the steering a bit, a little less weight to turn into a corner and less weight so far forward
Yes -Like all such arbituary systems it sees to exclude good people form coming here. Been through it all before getting my sister in law residency which we finally achieved only for her to run off with her citizen ship and her dance instructor a couple of years later !! In the last few years we seem to have had more immingrants from the States . One of them told me they think New Zealand is like the States was in the 1950s/60's which they like a lot !
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Hope so, we'll be in NZ in nine days to find out for ourselves. Will be on both the South and North Islands exploring.
Carbuilder
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Maybe I have the one you did for the great white north? The car came from British Columbia before making its way to the US and then back to Canada. Beautiful job of design and fabrication!
Rick
Rick