my 1984 Alfa Romeo spider

Full coverage,now more bondo to getting shape

Your hood buck is looking really good. I can't wait to see the finished mold and the hood you produce from it. It's nice that you're able to make it look mostly like a factory hood, as opposed to just slapping a giant hood scoop on to make the room you need.

Adding  bondo  to the aluminum tape, let set and dry, then sand to shape.

Mezzanine, thank you. Trying to keep it a sleeper.

This is a lot of work

 I am surprised  on how hard it is to shape bondo. Lots and lots of dust. Add.more bondo Wednesday 

trying to make the hood blister invisible 

Love it. 

GoLucky said:

Love it. 

Thank you

Kind of hard to see new contour of the blister. Doing it by feel right now. After last coat of bondo.sand to shape, then use a guide coat to see the contour or contours...lol. next time i.might use plaster of Paris. Easyer to use.

Hey the great artists use it.

by primer to find bad spots,were I need a little more bondo.

Getting close, spot putty now

Drivers side of hood was not even, so more bondo. Not trying to get every scratch  out just good smooth contours. I can sand and fill the mold .

added bondo, sanded flat. Added a little glaze.sand later on.

Plaster would be perfect for what you're doing. Bondo is a bummer to shape and definitely takes a ton of work.

TVR Scott, if I remember right, it's an ecotech of some sort.

Tvr...2.2 ecotec  engine, dyno at 224 hp 187 ft/ lbs torque  this and the 1999 wc/t5 tranny, aluminum  driveshaft. After on the road, take off the 'T' bar, and install panhard system., this is going into my 84 Alfa Romeo spider .hood blister is to clear the valve cover and headers.

as you see I need a little  room,the engine without valve cover, but stainless steel headers. The engine was not mounted in this photo, testing on sandbags . So I could get an idea on fitment. The hood blister is only  1 inch tall.

1999 Ford mustang  v6. 1 thru 4 gear ratios are the same as the oem Alfa Romeo spider transmission. Just  5 is different, taller for highway cruze

Oem  drivers floor has so many contours,it will be hard to make a carpet for it, passenger  floor is simple. So I made a cardboard template for a smoother shape, will add some platforms  so my feet will not flex it down. Probably  make it out of thick abs plastic.

Removed brake booster from car, engine would not fit with it. I am not running oem  brakes or calipers, I now run 12.19 inch vented  disk at all 4 corners, the disk you bolt into the hat. My calipers are from a 2003 Porsche 997 type car, big a*** brembo 4 pot calipers. Should  stop it nicely...a note, oem  are 10.5 solid front disk  and 10​​​​​.1 solid disk rear

 I did find a way to retain  the oem parking brake 

Ooh, yeah - those brakes will serve nicely. Did you change pedal ratios since it isn't vacuum assisted?

No stock ratio . Before I put her down for new engine, I disconnected the vacuum  from the booster, and had no trouble  stopping the car with modded brakes,as above I use a 22 mm master cly. Stopping the car, short pedal stroke, no were near the floor, only 2 or so inches to hard stop the car. Car weighs in  at 2380 pounds. I did measure the ratio. Found the oem ratio was 6 to 1 from factory.even with power boost 

A Alfa Romeo  dealership in the u.k. sent me the decals. Need to get new ones, the paint darkened  with use, also  wrong clear coat.

I side mounted the miata seats so I could get lower in the car. No adjustable seats. But they  work for me very well. With oem  seats I took off the sun visors so I could see out of the car

 Now I look out of the car just above the steering wheel. About  1/3 up from th e bottom of the windshield .

I know I cannot get a perfect  hood blister , shaping it with bondo and sandpaper. So I will try to get it close. Make the fiberglass mold,and do some guide coats on the mold, then sand the guide coats on the fiberglass mold. This way I can get very close to what I need.

Any ideas here or tips? Thanks in advance.