took a sheet of .030 2024 Aluminum sheet from my plane project and milled out a cover for the front hood area.... the area between the bumper and the radiator...

the black plastic has been bothering me and I figured maybe a brushed billet cover may look good....

disclaimer to racers.... yes I know it adds weight... but damn it looks good

 

another shot

 

and last

 

looks sharp.... r u gonna sell these

 

looks great man!

 

Looks a lot better

 

very nice. its aluminum, shouldnt be real thick right? probably doesnt weigh more than 3-5 lbs if that.probably not even close.

and it does look nice. tho, all I can think of, is replace the whole peice with carbon fiber. itd be a nice modification I think... look good, and save weight.

 

yeah carbon fiber in .020" would be sweet too.... currently the .030" aluminum at most it weighs 5 oz.

No intent on selling these unless I could get them laser or water cut with a CNC cutter.

I cut mine manually with a carbide router... and it was a pain in the ***....

also it shoulda been made from 6061 T6 instead of 2024... 2024 needs to be clear anodized because as soon as you touch it the oils in your skin start to corrode it.

I'll take it down to be clear anodized next week.

Not fastened down yet but will be held down by stainless aircraft AN bolts where the stock plastic bumper clips are.

also... notice that there is no hood release lever... I cut the handle that protrudes above and will wire a soleneoid with a button underneath in the grill area to release the safety latch. I didn't want anything coming through the billet piece... although all that is needed is an extra hole cut in it to allow for those who would not want to do a solenoid actuator.

 

sand it, alladine it, then paint it daytona blue if you like

 

a few better shots.... it's finally installed.

 

nothing beats brushed billet!

 

final shot

 

That rocks! Very sharp looking.

 

That looks great.. good job.... wish i new how to do these things

 

Looks cool. Obviously you're good with this. So....why don't you design us a billet front grille?

 

Well the metal man wants to say his piece.

First off......good job! Looks clean now. If your SURE you dont want to run these off, Id like to step in and make these available for sale. Is that cool with you?

Id do them similarly but out of a variety of materials and reflectiveness if wanted. Brushed, mirror, flat , whatever. Of course it would have to be water jet cut.

What do you think???

 

Wadd.... check your PM's

 

dont see any.

 

believe me.... I've thought about it.... I'd love a billet grille for the Z.

The problem lies in the heavy curve of the grille. Bending aluminum slats on edge is very hard to do unless you have the proper equipment AND know how to heliarc everything together...

my MIG welding skills are adequate, but I've never heliarc'ed before.

hey Wadd.... is this something you can build?

 

Possibly. This is what I would do.

Take 1/4"+ rods and bend them to match the current grill. Just run 3 of them across the front and then have 3 verticles in BLACK going verticle to support them. Just bust out the plastic and insert the metal.

Polished aluminum yum