downforce hood fitment

[ollie uk]

hi , i have just fitted a Downforce FRP/carbon fibre NA2 type R hood , which i purchsed from SOS , my problem is with the fit of the hood around the head lamp and the hood edge back towards the windscreen .
the hood doesnot lie flush with the fenders ( it starts to rise about half way along the length of the hood untill it meets the headlamp where it is about 6-8mm above the fender /headlamp ) it is the same both sides as if there is something under the hood pushing it up , but that is not the case .
i am being advised by SOS to us shims ( which they say Honda sell ) to raise the fender , i dont want to do this because i donot want to disturb the factory fit and also raising the fender does not help the gap above the headlamp .
has anybody had a problem fitting a Downforce hood , if so how did you sort it , or have i just got a duff hood
thanks Steve

 

[socalx]

have you tryed lowering the latch. (in the front center of the car) you can adjust it up and down.

you might have to elongate the holes to make it even go lower then it would normally go. i would definately do that first before messing with the fenders or buying another hood.

please let us know if that helps

 

[ollie uk]

thought of that but all it will do is lower the front of the hood below the bumper , all the gaps and general fitment is ok , its just the raised section along the fender and around the headlight that does not lie flat .
frankly i think the mould / where they have attached the top FRP to the bottom carbon fibre is incorrect and is pulling it out of shape .
SOS also told me that ( quote )
" the fender must be shimmed to align with the hood . this is the same procedure that the factory does to all NSX "
i am not sure that is correct , just raising the fender will mean that it does not line up properly with other areas such as scuttle panel and the front bumper and door .
having spent over $6000 in last 6 months with SOS i am a bit disapointed with their response , the bonnet should fit flush full stop !

 

[socalx]

i agree the hood should fit like the stock hood.

in my case i bought the oem nsx-r honda hood.. but it was very expensive.

 

[ChopsJazz]

My VIS hood fit, or rather didn't fit, in the same way. My body guy had to use a heat gun on the offending edges and bend them into place. Unfortunately, this disturbed the gel coat and that area (between the headlamp and the vent) needed to be sanded and filled. That precluded leaving the entire hood's CF exposed, but fortunately that was never my intent. But if you look very closely you can see the absence of the CF weave under the paint, which I think is kind of cool.

Try a heat gun. Good luck.

 

[Stephen@NCAutoUSA]

I have a 02+ downforce R hood but it's not on the car yet.... From what I've read and gathered from the years is that df made a rep hood. Df had slight minor problems with the hood. Df revised the hood. There's old ones floating around that are generation 1, which I have because I got it pretty inexpensive and the generation 2's that are probably double.

You can search around prime for some answers, but it sounds to me that either the factory messed with your car when building it a little more than others, or you messed with the body panel alignment before, or SOS sold you a first generation Df hood.

Let me know how it turns out.

Stephen

 

[996garage]

I just finished dealing with the exact same issue on my silverstone 03'. I picked up a new DF FRP top/carbon bottem hood, and it had a similar issue. They guys at DF could not get it to fit perfect when they bolted it on, so they suggested letting their body guy work on it.(extra cost) I decided to give it a try myself at home first. I definitely did NOT want to resort to adjusting any body panels to get it to fit.

From my own recent experience, there are a few things to try first:

Interestingly I found that using your palm to lightly pound the hood rearwards toward the windshield ended up bringing the raised area above the headlight down. This was key on both sides. I basically put all the bolts on loosely and then manipulated the hood around until it fit decently, and then tightened it all down.

You can also adjust the hood latch a millimeter or two around which helps a tiny bit too...especially if one side is a tiny bit higher than the other.

The rubber stopper above the headlights can also be screwed down and lowered so that it is not pushing the hood up. (this probably is not causing the fitment issue, but worth double checking)

Good luck!

 

[NSXCessive]

I have the DF CF/CF Version 2 and have similar issue the passenger side sits up a bit higher as well, and also a slight indentation above the driver side around the strut tower area. Not much we could do about the indentation, as for the higher fitment my body shop guy messed around with it for a while to try and get it as good as possible. Honestly spent enough coin trying to get just right and we gave up and called it a day.

 

[Hrant]

Interestingly I found that using your palm to lightly pound the hood rearwards toward the windshield ended up bringing the raised area above the headlight down. This was key on both sides. I basically put all the bolts on loosely and then manipulated the hood around until it fit decently, and then tightened it all down.

Curious, exactly how do you do this? I can understand the initial assessment when the hood is down that pushing it has worked, but wouldn't the moment you release the pressure the hood revert back to its previous position since the bolts still have a play?

The bolt holes have little play unless you enlarge the holes - but then it would have stress/pressure points at the bolt and latch no?

 

[996garage]

There is about a couple mm of play on the 4 bolts that hold the hood to the two brackets. I thought I had pushed the hood all the way back (towards the rear of the car), but it wasn't until I used my hand to lightly pound the hood (at the front of the hood near the latch) horizontally rearwards, it allowed me to gain another mm of movement rearwards. I did this with the hood only raised a few inches. Then I tightened all 4 bolts down without raising the hood more than absolutely necessary to fit the rachet underneath.

I played with the hood for a good 45min until I determined this created the best fitment for my hood. I suppose you could always drill or dremmel the 4 holes in the two hood brackets a tiny bit bigger to gain some more play. Although I can't go any further rearwards as the sharp corner adjacent to the drivers window started to slightly rub on the rubber when opening the hood too high. The tiny bit of play was enough for me get the gap above the headlights to drop down flush.

Mine fits pretty much perfect now.

 

[LJSB]

" the fender must be shimmed to align with the hood . this is the same procedure that the factory does to all NSX "

Chris is right.

Unlike engine or mechanical parts, body panels do not fit all the same especially plastic, fiberglass, carbon fiber or rubber ones. You need skill and knowledge to make them fit properly. 1mm here, 1 mm there another somewhere else and you'll make a seemingly large gap close.
Fitting often means slight adjusting changes to surrounding panels as well.
People that can't make a part fit are going to blame the part and I've seen pro's do this as well. One will curse a part, say it is junk or made wrong and another comes over, works on it, and gets it to fit correctly.
When starting the NSX project, Honda went throughout their company to find the best techs to work on and assemble the NSX because not all were good enough for THEM. See what I'm getting at? It takes skill and patience. Hire the right pro.

It looks like you're in England. Try a person that works on Lotus or Aston Martins. If they can make those panels fit then yours should be no problem.

If you don't want to change the adjustments then you are tying your own hands. They, at the factory made each NSX by doing so and we have to too.
This is nothing new. It has been posted about here dozens of times.