Tricks of installing the DF hood?
- Thread starter drtruong
- Start date
baynsac
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Thats exactly how my VIS hood fits on my car. I know others who say VIS fits perfect in thier nsx. (Even the prime member who had it before me said it fit his nsx perfect) But mine has very slight hair raise on one side like the procar one pictured.
http://www.nsxprime.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=50706&d=1230623145
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ENSSEX
Suspended
Im with you I will NOT touch body panels either for a hood... ill roll the dice One more time
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ive notice alot of hoods fit like that stock. One side is higher where the front hood meeds the bumper. anyways i wanted to get a vis hood simply because it was cf and had a scoop, i wanted that type-r look. not everybody can afford a 2-3k hood. if i had the money maybe, but knowing that i have other things to put my money into, i simply cant. its not being cheap, im more of a conservative guy. so since i was in the market for a replica hood. i came up on craiglist for a hood, thinking it was vis i wanted to pick it up asap! when i got there and checked it out, i realized it wasn't vis. it didnt take too long for me to figure out it was a gt-one fiberglass hood. which retails for what $800 or even more ive seen online, and i picked it up for $300. the fitment is not perfect but thats fine with me.
- Joined
- 24 January 2004
- Messages
- 1,473
chopsjazz,
I never said na2 headlights. Na2 nsx's are from 1997 - 2005. (these same years were na1's if they were auto's)
what i did say is i installed a factory 02+ hood and a factory 02 nsx-r hood along with factory 02+ headlights on a na2 nsx that originally was popup headlights.
So I don't understand your frown comment after my post about na2 headlights
I never said na2 headlights. Na2 nsx's are from 1997 - 2005. (these same years were na1's if they were auto's)
what i did say is i installed a factory 02+ hood and a factory 02 nsx-r hood along with factory 02+ headlights on a na2 nsx that originally was popup headlights.
So I don't understand your frown comment after my post about na2 headlights
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It's not a frown, it's a question mark. I guess I misunderstood your meaning. You seemed to me to say that you installed NA2 headlights.
Sorry.
Sorry.
- Joined
- 15 May 2004
- Messages
- 6,898
The NA2 hood with scope from DF I saw in person fitted near to 100%, even with my high expectations. NA1 hoods have more areas for none-fitment issues especially around the headlights.
But again individuals expectations differ by a very large amount. :wink: I personally would not mount an aftermarket hood on a NA1. On a NA2 yes.
But again individuals expectations differ by a very large amount. :wink: I personally would not mount an aftermarket hood on a NA1. On a NA2 yes.
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My hood did the same thing when first installed although not as much as you guys. It took some fiddling but it finally fit perfect.
It strongly seems "baynsac" is an old member with a new name who thrived on degrading a thread from the point and slanderd other members instead of helping.
Seems he was banned for awhile and threads calmed down until recently. I've seen in his, (baynsac) first few posts since he surfaced not so long ago the same behavior as the other fellow.
When I see his name involved I choose to move on.
And so i'm with pbassjo and won't chime in any further.
Cheers
nigel
It strongly seems "baynsac" is an old member with a new name who thrived on degrading a thread from the point and slanderd other members instead of helping.
Seems he was banned for awhile and threads calmed down until recently. I've seen in his, (baynsac) first few posts since he surfaced not so long ago the same behavior as the other fellow.
When I see his name involved I choose to move on.
And so i'm with pbassjo and won't chime in any further.
Cheers
nigel
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My hood did the same thing when first installed although not as much as you guys. It took some fiddling but it finally fit perfect.
It strongly seems "baynsac" is an old member who thrived on degrading a thread from the point and slanderd other members instead of helping. Seems that fellow was banned for awhile and threads calmed down until recently. I've seen in his, (baynsac) first few posts since he surfaced, not so long ago the same behavior as that fellow.
I'm with pbassjo and Vancehu since baynsac joined in.
Cheers
nigel
It strongly seems "baynsac" is an old member who thrived on degrading a thread from the point and slanderd other members instead of helping. Seems that fellow was banned for awhile and threads calmed down until recently. I've seen in his, (baynsac) first few posts since he surfaced, not so long ago the same behavior as that fellow.
I'm with pbassjo and Vancehu since baynsac joined in.
Cheers
nigel
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ENSSEX
Suspended
thx for the heads up.. Drtruong and i will deal with this one way or another
baynsac
Guest
+1
Nigel what can you do to help anyway
The op allready said that he wants the hood to fit 98-99% out the box and there is no aftermarket hood made yet that fits 99-100% without shimming. Any master body shop can make it or any other hood fit well for you if you pay them enough.
The problem here is people kept saying 99% fitment with Df hood out the box and now they are saying they all did a little adjusting/shimming ( even vancehu hood, who repeatedly kept talking 99% fit out the box admitted on this thread he did a little adjusting). No one mentioned that before and thats the only problem. If the the buyers knew that ahead of time they can decide before they buy if they want to go through all that trouble or not to make it fit right. Only thing that can help these guys is a hood that fits out the box. So unless you have access to that what can you offer to help anyway
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+1
Nigel what can you do to help anyway
The op allready said that he wants the hood to fit 98-99% out the box and there is no aftermarket hood made yet that fits 99-100% without shimming. Any master body shop can make it or any other hood fit well for you if you pay them enough.
The problem here is people kept saying 99% fitment with Df hood out the box and now they are saying they all did a little adjusting/shimming ( even vancehu hood, who repeatedly kept talking 99% fit out the box admitted on this thread he did a little adjusting). No one mentioned that before and thats the only problem. If the the buyers knew that ahead of time they can decide before they buy if they want to go through all that trouble or not to make it fit right. Only thing that can help these guys is a hood that fits out the box. So unless you have access to that what can you offer to help anyway
I agree.
I still don't get why the pricing on the DF CF products is 3-5 times higher than other manufactures. Someone mentioned about DF products involves high cost of quality materials and labor involved.
I guess if you got money to burn, great. However, if the damn thing doesn't fit properly, what good is quality? Also, one last thing, what difference does the clear gel coat, tinted, weave quality if you going to paint the entire hood?? In this case fitment is everything and quality weave is out the door.
Hello I just noticed this thread Happy holidays everyone. as for the quality and cost of parts Our profit margin is actually a lot less than you might expect. As for the hood we do stand 100% behind our products I personality test fitted that hood before shipping it out the problem was that we are using a new bonding material closer to oem but it take a longer time to fully cure especially with the cold so while being shipped it caused it to shift and distort. I am making a new hood for this customer and meeting his and our expectations. As for the cost of our parts versus vis or any other one of those companies.... simple math the resin we use is about 1.85 a pound versus they probably pay 1.20 a pound and even half of that if it is overseas. on and on with labor and the overhead. sorry I won't get to technical. But let me ask you this why does procar charge almost double our prices when our products are better than his We just got a procar wing from a customer that we did an 02 conversion on and worked out a great deal for one of ours. Their wing is falling apart literally. your more than welcome to come inspect it. The better materials equals longevity. As for painting over the carbon fiber that's the customers choice we do offer FRP for cheaper if you are going to paint it. I also have a vis hood here Its pretty obvious where they save money to make a profit .. your getting what you pay for.
Hello Hope your holidays were good .. I am not saying other companies are crap I simply will say you get what you pay for and I will admit that not every part that leaves our building is perfect but, we do hold a pretty high standard on quality and fitment. the problems you see on this thread is a combination of new glues and shipping its that simple. can you honestly tell me if I offer you one of our hood in trade for your vis or other would you take it ?? I hope this does not offend you or anyone else Just making a point that if money was not an issue most people would like our hood I wish I could make these cheaper and every one have one and every one would love it but, the world doesn't work that way. I just had dinner with my customer last night and I mentioned to him about this thread . ( btw this customer owns ferrari Enzo-599-430 for sale by the way -2 audi R*'s 2 nissan GTR white and black one and those are half his cars .. any way my point is we are doing a type-R conversion for him ) He said"Sam I love DF products I would have paid 5k for your hood" I ask him why he said" Sam to me that is what I would have guess it cost" So the moral of the story is perception of value. some people think its fair some think its over priced. simple as that.How come all this information above was never mentioned before
You guys need to stop bashing the VIS hood as it fits better than the ones you paid 3 times as much for.And if you have the right scoop(old sos radiator duct or you can modify the one you have) and make some adjustments to it to catch all the air coming in(I DID) and have the under bumper tray/batterytray you will get the exact same benefit as any other NSxR hood copy.
If you are a real baller you can go pay $10k to get a real nsxr hood right? why get a Fake Replica(its not from honda/acura)? As you said all hood thats not straight from factory will need some shimming to do or adjustments need to be done to make them work. So why not VIS if you are going to spend more $ just to make it fit right anyway?
Oh thats right the under side cf that no one sees or cares about looks better
Come on, Vancehu, not everyone will take out money from thier home's equity to buy some real R seats and a hood. Its not smart at all..Called a bad investment, bad all together. I say if you can't pay cash for it you can't afford it. I should see what my equity is at now, I am sure I can get a R8, and few more nsx's and still have 100K left over.
Why do you feel the need to put VIS hood down so much ?and also why are you always saying the DF hood fit 99% out the box.
Buying a Real deal NSX-r hood $10,000
Buying a good copy that fits well (Procar)-3500
Buying a Copy of a Copy that claims it fits well(DF) 1500
Getting the same fitting hood (VIS)as DF for 1/3 of the price..Priceless:biggrin:
Hello I am here to vent and help diffuse the situation if possible. As for Thomas' case we have offered to send him a new hood since the first phone call from him. We are working to get Thomas' hood resolved and it is very hard for us when we can't see the NSX up close. As many of you know DF backup its work all the time, meaning I don't put any of you at risk. I thank you all for are here to show support and I would like to thank Thomas and Paul for your patience. Just wanted to let Thomas and Paul know that we have been working on your hood and making sure it will be resolved. Here are some key points to remember.
NSX is hand built. Not all gaps are the same for every car. Out of all the NSX I've seen there has been quite a bit of difference especially in the front fender area. Here is another example of gap differences. This is a NSX that hasn't been taken apart before and notice the difference, I can only fit the tip of my index finger into the driver's corner but on the other side I can stick it in half way. This already affects how the hood seats either left biased or right.
Here is a video I posted long ago in another thread and as you can see, all the fitting is done before paint. You can see factory technicians filing down metal. For a hand built car the NSX is a very consistent car in fitment. You can see in some NSX that the fender bolts on top have multiple punches as well. This is all due to the attachment of the front bulkhead.
Video: nsx_body.avi
Hoods are the hardest part to get fitment correctly because it is dependent on so many other parts including the most important "the hinge". Every car we installed has not had a problem.
The reason why I'm posting here is because when people make comments saying my VIS hood fits better. It really is depressing to hear. Has this person tried our hood and refunded and purchased a VIS hood instead to make a comment like this? As for the price does it make sense anything made in China is cheaper? VIS purchases these hoods from MADLY a manufacturer in China for $100 shipped. Then sells it for $700 or whatever the price is now. My cost for assembling a hood cost more then $700 in labor. You can ask Detlef at Procar how much good material costs and it is not cheap or labor from professionals in a developed country. My material of choice cost more then what VIS retails for. The materials I use are tooling grade, and the last time I checked non of my hood will turn yellow. I have a VIS hood here and if anyone is curious enough to check, I will be happy to let you inspect. If you look at the surface profile you can see thousands of ripples and the vent is not even, the center of the vent pulls back so it looks like it has a double dome. I am even taking the Pepsi challenge to all brands including Procar hoods. You can compare the surface profile of my hood to any brand. Does anyone in the aftermarket hood business warranty their products? I'm here because of my passion for the NSX, there is definitely no money to be made in the NSX community because the volume is low and margins are tight. If I don't believe in my products I won't sell it. You can see that I stopped or discontinued certain products because I didn't like it. I choose to use the best material available and I don't cut corners.
If there is anyone out there with a problem we are always here to help or at least try.
NSX is hand built. Not all gaps are the same for every car. Out of all the NSX I've seen there has been quite a bit of difference especially in the front fender area. Here is another example of gap differences. This is a NSX that hasn't been taken apart before and notice the difference, I can only fit the tip of my index finger into the driver's corner but on the other side I can stick it in half way. This already affects how the hood seats either left biased or right.
Here is a video I posted long ago in another thread and as you can see, all the fitting is done before paint. You can see factory technicians filing down metal. For a hand built car the NSX is a very consistent car in fitment. You can see in some NSX that the fender bolts on top have multiple punches as well. This is all due to the attachment of the front bulkhead.
Video: nsx_body.avi
Hoods are the hardest part to get fitment correctly because it is dependent on so many other parts including the most important "the hinge". Every car we installed has not had a problem.
The reason why I'm posting here is because when people make comments saying my VIS hood fits better. It really is depressing to hear. Has this person tried our hood and refunded and purchased a VIS hood instead to make a comment like this? As for the price does it make sense anything made in China is cheaper? VIS purchases these hoods from MADLY a manufacturer in China for $100 shipped. Then sells it for $700 or whatever the price is now. My cost for assembling a hood cost more then $700 in labor. You can ask Detlef at Procar how much good material costs and it is not cheap or labor from professionals in a developed country. My material of choice cost more then what VIS retails for. The materials I use are tooling grade, and the last time I checked non of my hood will turn yellow. I have a VIS hood here and if anyone is curious enough to check, I will be happy to let you inspect. If you look at the surface profile you can see thousands of ripples and the vent is not even, the center of the vent pulls back so it looks like it has a double dome. I am even taking the Pepsi challenge to all brands including Procar hoods. You can compare the surface profile of my hood to any brand. Does anyone in the aftermarket hood business warranty their products? I'm here because of my passion for the NSX, there is definitely no money to be made in the NSX community because the volume is low and margins are tight. If I don't believe in my products I won't sell it. You can see that I stopped or discontinued certain products because I didn't like it. I choose to use the best material available and I don't cut corners.
If there is anyone out there with a problem we are always here to help or at least try.
The problem here is people kept saying 99% fitment with Df hood out the box and now they are saying they all did a little adjusting/shimming ( even vancehu hood, who repeatedly kept talking 99% fit out the box admitted on this thread he did a little adjusting). No one mentioned that before and thats the only problem. If the the buyers knew that ahead of time they can decide before they buy if they want to go through all that trouble or not to make it fit right. Only thing that can help these guys is a hood that fits out the box. So unless you have access to that what can you offer to help anyway
There you go again. Please read carefully before you further make a fool out of your self.
I just love how you fiddle around, blaming products you never had, and making claims you don't understand, and what else... Oh, repeat the same act over and over.
Please tell me/us, what is the difference between VIS hood versus DF/Procar NSX-R hoond replica? Yes, we're done with the price part.
lol, that was my though exactly. Very few new members walk into Prime will jump right into the bashing game. Maybe an administrator can check the IP address of the source.
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Nice to see you posting again Peter.
Yeah I can vouch about the quality of DF material. Both your CF and FRP are of high quality- this coming from my car's bodyshop- yet to date seen a better quality kit to be install onto a car - full 02 conversion. Then again I take their word as it is.
But CF would be visually obvious - I've installed a DF CF engine cover, same time as another local NSXer installed his CF engine cover made by a pretty well known Japanese company. Well lets just say mine still looks new compare to his CF engine cover. He is now tempted to get DF's . None of my CF parts have gone faded or glazed as I seen on some others.
I can't say much much about VIS as I haven't bought any of their stuffs, but with what I see with DF products. Don't think I'd be finding it out though.:smile:
My guess, some member will post saying 'here we go again' defending the DF product blah blah... well thats right I will say that I am as I've bought, seen their product first hand. And I guess you get what you pay for hold good here.
Just my $0.02
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Hey guys, this thread has really helped me understand all the different hoods out there available for our beloved NSX! I found it on a search as I’m thinking about buying a NSX-R hood for my 2004 white/onyx nsx.
As a few of you have stated here demanding perfect fitment, my car is a 2004 NSX and I’ll kill someone before letting them touch my oem fender bolts to get an aftermarket to fit correctly.
I was under the impression that in terms of quality it goes:
1) NSX-R OEM $10k+
2) Procar NSX-R hood
3) DF NSX-R hood
Of course I’m just a newbie citing what I read but now from what I gather the #2 and #3 brands are both a chance? What is better in terms of actual quality? I’m not here to bash anyone but I want honest the honest truth as a consumer.
I know quality costs money, etc but the DF hood is not exactly cheap by any measurement so before I decide which brand I prefer to put on my baby, I want the fit to be perfect ~ no if’s ands or maybes…..
My plan is to get the hood painted GPW and leaving the scoop section in exposed CF with a few coats of clear. Then I’m going to have the entire hood clear bra’d before re-installing on my car. Safe to say I’m going to be putting down some $$$ if this project gets a green light so yes I demand the fit to be exact. So is it safe to say only a OEM NSX-R hood will satisfy my requirements?
rick
As a few of you have stated here demanding perfect fitment, my car is a 2004 NSX and I’ll kill someone before letting them touch my oem fender bolts to get an aftermarket to fit correctly.
I was under the impression that in terms of quality it goes:
1) NSX-R OEM $10k+
2) Procar NSX-R hood
3) DF NSX-R hood
Of course I’m just a newbie citing what I read but now from what I gather the #2 and #3 brands are both a chance? What is better in terms of actual quality? I’m not here to bash anyone but I want honest the honest truth as a consumer.
I know quality costs money, etc but the DF hood is not exactly cheap by any measurement so before I decide which brand I prefer to put on my baby, I want the fit to be perfect ~ no if’s ands or maybes…..
My plan is to get the hood painted GPW and leaving the scoop section in exposed CF with a few coats of clear. Then I’m going to have the entire hood clear bra’d before re-installing on my car. Safe to say I’m going to be putting down some $$$ if this project gets a green light so yes I demand the fit to be exact. So is it safe to say only a OEM NSX-R hood will satisfy my requirements?
rick
Rick, the best advice I can give you is to look for yourself. This means going to a NSX gathering. Opinion varies very much and everyone's standard is different. So before you make a decision take your time and make a sound choice.
I have a Procar hood and the fit is very not perfect. It's close and if you're not a car guy you wouldn't even notice. Even some car guys don't notice. But it's my car so to me it sticks out like a sore thumb.
I have the same "lift" at the passenger side headlight that many of the others talk about (both Downforce and Procar). I thought it interesting that both manufacturers had customers who had "perfect fits" and others who "needed adjustment". Still others could not adjust out the imperfections (such as me). Also interesting how both manufacturers claimed perfect fit yet later came out with revised hoods, both claiming that the new molds were truly perfect.
All that said, if I were to do it again, I would likely buy a DF hood and install it. If it wasn't to my standards, they have a very good reputation for doing what's best to make it right. I might be mis-remembering, but I think I've seen examples of offering to perform the installation tweaks themselves as well as full refunds for customers who could not be satisfied through other means. Procar may make these offers as well, but their off-shore status makes it much more difficult to take them up on it. This is not to say that Procar isn't as good, just that if there's a problem, L.A. area is much closer than Germany.
As long as you get the updated versions of either DF or Procar, though, I think you'll be satisfied. It really just comes down to the "what if" factor.
BTW, I have a feeling that the "lift" near the passenger headlight is likely there on an OEM hood too. Both DF and Procar copied an OEM hood and both came out with the same complaints from those who did not have a bolt-on perfect fit. The hand-built status of the NSX allowed this flaw to be worked out on the production line before being released for sale.
J
I have the same "lift" at the passenger side headlight that many of the others talk about (both Downforce and Procar). I thought it interesting that both manufacturers had customers who had "perfect fits" and others who "needed adjustment". Still others could not adjust out the imperfections (such as me). Also interesting how both manufacturers claimed perfect fit yet later came out with revised hoods, both claiming that the new molds were truly perfect.
All that said, if I were to do it again, I would likely buy a DF hood and install it. If it wasn't to my standards, they have a very good reputation for doing what's best to make it right. I might be mis-remembering, but I think I've seen examples of offering to perform the installation tweaks themselves as well as full refunds for customers who could not be satisfied through other means. Procar may make these offers as well, but their off-shore status makes it much more difficult to take them up on it. This is not to say that Procar isn't as good, just that if there's a problem, L.A. area is much closer than Germany.
As long as you get the updated versions of either DF or Procar, though, I think you'll be satisfied. It really just comes down to the "what if" factor.
BTW, I have a feeling that the "lift" near the passenger headlight is likely there on an OEM hood too. Both DF and Procar copied an OEM hood and both came out with the same complaints from those who did not have a bolt-on perfect fit. The hand-built status of the NSX allowed this flaw to be worked out on the production line before being released for sale.
J
thanks for all the input guys...
It seems DF really has good customer service and in today's world that is worth it's weight in gold. I'm not a cheap guy and don't mind paying but I like to know I got my money's worth especially when it comes to my baby
I'll check out your hood again James at the next local meet and will pay more attention to fitment when I see more nsx's from now on.
thanks
rick
It seems DF really has good customer service and in today's world that is worth it's weight in gold. I'm not a cheap guy and don't mind paying but I like to know I got my money's worth especially when it comes to my baby
I'll check out your hood again James at the next local meet and will pay more attention to fitment when I see more nsx's from now on.
thanks
rick
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