stratxc

Hey guys,

I am putting out a feeler thread for a carbon fiber 350Z hood. it is going to be a "dry" Carbon Fiber. Weighing in at around 8-9.5 lbs. Which is about a 10 lbs drop over stock. I plan on modifying a OEM 03 style hood to have a slightly raised cowl resembling that of a HR hood, just not as tall. Weighing options for adding vents on either side of the cowl. If you have ideas of things you would like to see in a Z hood, then comment below. Price point will be around $1200-1500 per hood, depending on how many people are interested. If I have enough interest, it will be a $200 deposit for molds and prototyping. Would like to have at least 5 people lined up and payed to start. All parts will be test fitted for proper fitment prior to shipment.

Thank you

P.S. This is a feeler for a hood only. Roof, doors, fenders, and trunk lids will be created in the future.

MicVelo

If you plan to sell this on this forum, you will be required to register as a vendor or resell only through an approved vendor.

terrasmak

iTrader: (8)

Company, experience, do you work with dry carbon for a living ?

dboyzalter

iTrader: (3)

$1500 for a off brand hood that will save 10lbs on a $5000 car... Good luck with that one.

turboed350z

Wow, just wow....

stratxc

I, personally, have little experience with carbon fiber, but my boss has a great deal of experience in the carbon fiber industry. His business is Marsh Powerhouse Fab. He can be found at marshpowerhousefab.com and on Instagram by the same name. He has mostly dealt with Subaru's, but I am trying to help him expand his business. I don't see 1200-1500 as unreasonable seeing that Seibon still sells theirs for 2200.

This is just a feeler thread at this point, by the time we start bringing this idea into reality I will make sure all proper avenues for selling are established

bealljk

iTrader: (13)

I'm all about it but as mentioned above youre too high on price...

seibons are $1900 shipped all day long on these internets the kids are talking about so to think that you are 12 to 15, add another $100 for shipping and people will go else where ... along with VIS and Carbon Creations under-cutting the top brands leaves no market.

simply from a cost to weight reduced...if you are cutting 10lbs for $1600, that's $160/lb ... I don't have anything formal but from my own experience taking weight off the front end is around $30 to $40/pound when you talk about lighter (versus OEM) motor mounts, tower braces, intake manifolds, exhaust components, etc ... you are 4 to 5 times higher than the average.

If you want to turn heads you need this to be $500 shipped for dry carbon...

there's a reason that businesses don't make money their first 5 years of operations.

reality on reality's terms...

DACodeRed

I agree with what bealljk has mentioned. I would even like to add that if you/your boss are making OEM style hoods purely to save weight it's going to be hard to compete with the existing brands. However, if you guys come up with a unique design for the show cars, or an efficient design for the track cars you could probably charge closer to what you initially said.

Shameless plug, as a web developer/designer your boss could use a bit of an upgrade for his site. If he's interested in a custom website PM me.

stratxc

I completely understand everyone's concerns with the price. I'm going purely off of what he charges for Impreza and FRS/BRZ hoods. The issue with selling it for 500 is that there is little to no profit with that. Since making the mold itself will cost that much. The carbon fiber, the resin, and the rest of the supplies (vacuum bagging, flow mesh, etc) will cost more than 500 as well. Regardless. I will be creating a good for my car. As well as a roof, doors, fenders, and trunk. Maybe interest will be there once I finalize my design.

travlee

iTrader: (8)

no offense, but i personally wouldn't buy from someone that only has 24 posts in 5.5 years. if you were a more established member it would calm concerns

ZMoneyPIT

iTrader: (1)

I would be interested if it was a piece that actually took weight from the car. 10 lbs is nothing. Go on a run for a week and shed 10 lbs of water weight.
Do the rear hatch, take away 40-50 lbs from the car and sell it for a decent price and ears will perk up. Hood isn't the proper piece to start with imo. Also people aren't going to put down deposit on something priced at 1k+ with this platform anymore. So if you think something will sell you have to take a leap of faith. Get the right people to promote your product and make it look nice and then the buyers will come. Case and point, look at the group buy they are getting together for a lip on the forums. $200 lip and can't get 20 buyers.

stratxc

i will be making all of those parts for my car anyways. So my money will be going towards everything as well. Was just trying to put a feeler out. I will talk to him about the rear hatch instead. It's difficult to have a good lighter than 9lbs and it be stable enough for track use. This is more less for a track car and the show car, but I will look into doing the hatch first instead.

terrasmak

iTrader: (8)

A good dry hood that vents well for track guys and looks hella tite yo for street credit would do ok with a price under $1200. Sure it will be replicated within a year and sold for $500 but your boss will make a few $$$.

As these cars get cheaper, more and more track builds are happening. I dry carbon roof panel may sell ok. As cars get fully caged, they can install them.

I have a couple of other ideas that may sell well, maybe I should contact the boss.

joshua350z6841

iTrader: (3)

i am with terrasmak on this. if u can get a good design that is light an most importantly release heat an flows well track people will buy it. i know i would. most the people on here have a hard time paying for there 5000 dollar z. let alone put money into it for quality parts. right now for my class i would need hood, roof, an hatch.

joshua350z6841

iTrader: (3)

also a rear diffuser that would work with a cut bumper would be great .

travlee

iTrader: (8)

Meh.... this will go nowhere. He wont become a vendor

bealljk

iTrader: (13)

I completely understand...you gotta get out of the forest to see the trees...any start-up business will not make money for 5 years (although your fab shop has been in business for more than 5 years likely) ... its the nature of the beast.

2 scenarios ...

A. do the entire production to make 10 hoods, sell for $1500 each, sell none of them, have them in the shop taking up space. Invest a lot of money and have zero return on investment.

B. do the entire production to make 10 hoods, sell for $500 each, sell all of them, make more hoods, expand onto other items. Invest a lot of money and have $5000 in returns. Furthermore, get your name out in the market as an alternative to the seibons, carbon creations, vis...

Its a risk...

not a bad idea but removing weight from the rear end is easy and free (to an extent) and removing weight from the rear takes weight off the drive wheels and also disrupts the balance of the car.

I like the OPs ambition to remove weight from the front end. I also like the idea of massive venting above the headers - similar to how the mits evo hood vents right above the exhaust manifold & turbo...

ZMoneyPIT

iTrader: (1)

I know the car is front heavy and the rear can lose weight easily, I was just giving an example of a place to lose an actual significant amount of weight from. The fenders could be another spot to shed some lbs. The hood idea is a bad idea imo because it has been done so much already so people have their alternate options. Plus our hoods aren't that heavy since they are made from aluminum.
An actual roof replacement/a pillar would actually be pretty awesome becuase the only company I know to do a roof replacement is Amuse. Go big or go home.

WPPJR30

iTrader: (27)

Real dry carbon for $1,200? Hmmm...

terrasmak

iTrader: (8)

Both fenders in dry carbon, you may be able to lose 10 pounds total. A thin dry carbon bumper cover would probably lose the most weight.