Racebronco hood GB #2 is a GO!

Wings65288

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Steve is the man and I'd buy from him again. I get so many compliments on my TF wheels.

I use to use the app but use it on Safari now.
 

Blk98Slobra

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I think if someone does takeover true forged Steve, the orders will go through the roof. I have a few of your parts and get compliments on them all the time. I need to keep an eye out on the classifieds for those leftover parts you have lol. Best of luck!!!
 

Blkkbgt

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@Steve@TF

You stated that you have someone interested in taking over and that could potentially be really great for us. One thing that I think a lot of us would love to see is this hood made by someone other then ED and more available.

Why not made by ED? Simple, Duraflex material is GARBAGE. ED can talk up the positives of the material all day but the reality of it is I know people who have bought their parts made of Duraflex only to see serious fitment issues with two bumpers and terrible flexing of a hood when cruising at 60. Lastly ever take a look at what appears to just be plastic dumpster lid? Seriously take a look at a few and odds are you'll find one or two that are made of Duraflex material. All the ones at my old job were made of this stuff and were warped badly. So with my own experiences with the material and knowing that dumpster lids are made of it you expect me or anyone else to pay north of 1k for hood made of the same material? Sorry but as bad as I want one of these hoods I can't get there. Yes there is a full carbon fiber option but that price gets a little out there as well for a hood. If I had jumped on this GB I would have gone with a 50/50 hood and hoped for the best even though I despise Duraflex. I will admit that I have considered buying the one hood available in the SVTP market but it would be a very tough decision since it's duraflex. I honestly only considered it because there are so few of them available.

I understand this was a few short runs of the hood and that small of a number drives up manufacturing costs but I think there is money to be made by driving down costs and making the hood more accessible via a good fiberglass manufacturer. Now who that is I am not sure but I will say that Cervinis customer service is nothing short of a joke so they would be out in my eyes but I also am not making business decisions here.

One thing I know is what the agreement was between you and Carlos in regards to manufacturing. Hopefully that doesn't prevent yourself or the potential new owner of TF from exploring options of making this hood more available.
 
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Steve@TF

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@Steve@TF

You stated that you have someone interested in taking over and that could potentially be really great for us. One thing that I think a lot of us would love to see is this hood made by someone other then ED and more available.

Why not made by ED? Simple, Duraflex material is GARBAGE. ED can talk up the positives of the material all day but the reality of it is I know people who have bought their parts made of Duraflex only to see serious fitment issues with two bumpers and terrible flexing of a hood when cruising at 60. Lastly ever take a look at what appears to just be plastic dumpster lid? Seriously take a look at a few and odds are you'll find one or two that are made of Duraflex material. All the ones at my old job were made of this stuff and were warped badly. So with my own experiences with the material and knowing that dumpster lids are made of it you expect me or anyone else to pay north of 1k for hood made of the same material? Sorry but as bad as I want one of these hoods I can't get there. Yes there is a full carbon fiber option but that price gets a little out there as well for a hood. If I had jumped on this GB I would have gone with a 50/50 hood and hoped for the best even though I despise Duraflex. I will admit that I have considered buying the one hood available in the SVTP market but it would be a very tough decision since it's duraflex. I honestly only considered it because there are so few of them available.

I understand this was a few short runs of the hood and that small of a number drives up manufacturing costs but I think there is money to be made by driving down costs and making the hood more accessible via a good fiberglass manufacturer. Now who that is I am not sure but I will say that Cervinis customer service is nothing short of a joke so they would be out in my eyes but I also am not making business decisions here.

One thing I know is what the agreement was between you and Carlos in regards to manufacturing. Hopefully that doesn't prevent yourself or the potential new owner of TF from exploring options of making this hood more available.

ive seen videos of other ED stuff that isnt that great, but trust the people who already have this hood when they tell you that it is top notch. we did the first group buy 4-5 years ago. people have have had the plain jane duraflex hoods on their cars that long already. not ONE complaint from anyone that its garbage. every person that has posted about it or messaged me about it has stated that the quality is top notch. i know that ED has multiple factories they use. some are better than others. i know that are hoods were done by one of their top factories. PLUS, being that this is hood is a direct copy of a factory hood, we dont have fitment issues. the reason so many other hoods/bumpers etc do is because they try to make custom stuff from scratch. they will take a hood and cut out the center and try to create their own louvers or scoops etc and theyre often lopsided and take multiple attempts to be correct. we supplied them with a perfect hood to copy (courtesy of Ron). copying it was a pita. it took three molds. which is why the molds were so expensive. but we test fitted the very first shipment and they were spot on. QuikZ06 makes corvette parts with ED. LOTS of parts. hoods, body kits, bumpers etc... he has tried to work with numerous manufacturers including many local ones. nobody can compete with ED's timelines, prices and ability to supply quantities. not to mention handle all the shipping which ED has done amazing by me.

and besides that, i already have a few grand invested in the 3 molds that are used to make this hood.

ive taken care of both Carlos and Ron who were both instrumental in making this happen.
 

Steve@TF

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i read back a few pages of this thread. those of you who installed this hood. were the latch plates too thick? if so, should they be thinned by 50% in the future? both inner and outer plates?

speaking of the future, i have been thinking of doing another run. ive had a few people hit me up about getting a hood. ive been inquiring about this week and have been told that not only have costs gone up but they have tariffs on them as well now. im still waiting to see the final numbers to see if its worth it. people are only going to pay so much for a hood lol.
 

Blkkbgt

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ive seen videos of other ED stuff that isnt that great, but trust the people who already have this hood when they tell you that it is top notch. we did the first group buy 4-5 years ago. people have have had the plain jane duraflex hoods on their cars that long already. not ONE complaint from anyone that its garbage. every person that has posted about it or messaged me about it has stated that the quality is top notch. i know that ED has multiple factories they use. some are better than others. i know that are hoods were done by one of their top factories. PLUS, being that this is hood is a direct copy of a factory hood, we dont have fitment issues. the reason so many other hoods/bumpers etc do is because they try to make custom stuff from scratch. they will take a hood and cut out the center and try to create their own louvers or scoops etc and theyre often lopsided and take multiple attempts to be correct. we supplied them with a perfect hood to copy (courtesy of Ron). copying it was a pita. it took three molds. which is why the molds were so expensive. but we test fitted the very first shipment and they were spot on. QuikZ06 makes corvette parts with ED. LOTS of parts. hoods, body kits, bumpers etc... he has tried to work with numerous manufacturers including many local ones. nobody can compete with ED's timelines, prices and ability to supply quantities. not to mention handle all the shipping which ED has done amazing by me.

and besides that, i already have a few grand invested in the 3 molds that are used to make this hood.

ive taken care of both Carlos and Ron who were both instrumental in making this happen.

Well that it's great that nobody who has received a hood from ED has complained you still can't convince me the material itself it not garbage. I am sure if there were issues we would have seen posts about it a long time ago. With that said I was in no way implying that the hoods people have purchased were junk, garbage, trash or anything of the sort. I was simply expressing my displeasure with the material of choice and the manufacturer based on my own experiences.

While it's good to hear that the hoods were manufactured by one of ED's "top factories" as you put it I still don't like the material choice. It is also disheartening to find out if I wan't to jump on the next GB if there is one I am stuck with the material if I don't want to get killed for a carbon fiber piece. When/if the next GB comes along I guess I'll weigh the price and go from there. I can imagine just how bad the price increase is going to be coupled with tariffs.
 
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UncleSAm

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i read back a few pages of this thread. those of you who installed this hood. were the latch plates too thick? if so, should they be thinned by 50% in the future? both inner and outer plates?

speaking of the future, i have been thinking of doing another run. ive had a few people hit me up about getting a hood. ive been inquiring about this week and have been told that not only have costs gone up but they have tariffs on them as well now. im still waiting to see the final numbers to see if its worth it. people are only going to pay so much for a hood lol.

Problems not with the latch kit it’s with the mold
 

*Jay*

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Yea I cant remember my measurements but the plates + the hood thickness was larger than the hood latch opening. I was contemplating my options but i just have never gone back to it. Was looking at sanding down the latch area of the hood, opening up the latch itself or just going with hood pins.
 

UncleSAm

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Yea I cant remember my measurements but the plates + the hood thickness was larger than the hood latch opening. I was contemplating my options but i just have never gone back to it. Was looking at sanding down the latch area of the hood, opening up the latch itself or just going with hood pins.



You’ll notice the gap between the out side plate and the fiberglass cause when they did the mold the factory had the steal part for the latch blah blah blah.. anyways it didn’t turned out to be so flat. So I sanded the surrounding area down to be flush so I wouldn’t need a filler piece because, eventually the stainless would start to sag around where the latch grabs or you would open up the latch it’s self. I wanted the out side plate to sit flush with no gaps and to help with the thickness issue. Then I purchased some M5 flush stainless steel Allen head screws, nuts and lock washers. I used a universal countersink which I like to call it a suicide cause it has so cage so you can’t set the depth. I used a drop of super glue to hold the lock washer and just tightened it all up. I used stainless hardware so I don’t have to deal with rust or dissimilar metal corrosion in the future. It turned out well and I haven’t had any problems, so I just wanted to share with you guys. Hope it helps some.


View attachment 1589977
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Black02GT

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FWIW, Team Tiger Racing stills makes hoods. Mine took a little adjustment of the latch mechanism but fitment is pretty sweet. I will say it's thin, and the vents looks half ass cut out with a Dremel (needs finish work) but it's def. fiberglass or CF. Just another option of something similar with vents with real benefits if these never come back.
 

Steve@TF

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You’ll notice the gap between the out side plate and the fiberglass cause when they did the mold the factory had the steal part for the latch blah blah blah.. anyways it didn’t turned out to be so flat. So I sanded the surrounding area down to be flush so I wouldn’t need a filler piece because, eventually the stainless would start to sag around where the latch grabs or you would open up the latch it’s self. I wanted the out side plate to sit flush with no gaps and to help with the thickness issue. Then I purchased some M5 flush stainless steel Allen head screws, nuts and lock washers. I used a universal countersink which I like to call it a suicide cause it has so cage so you can’t set the depth. I used a drop of super glue to hold the lock washer and just tightened it all up. I used stainless hardware so I don’t have to deal with rust or dissimilar metal corrosion in the future. It turned out well and I haven’t had any problems, so I just wanted to share with you guys. Hope it helps some.


View attachment 1589977
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i think when they made these, they had the intention of the hood not being used with a latch kit but the latch actually catching on the hood itself. i didnt really like that idea so i wanted to add a latch kit to it. but it sounds like it would be easier if people just used the hood without a latch kit. it may dig into the material but i doubt it would be a big issue unless you're constantly opening and closing your hood. id be afraid if we asked them to make that section thinner, it may be too thin and break.

i think what i would maybe do in the future is to ship the hood latch kit separately with a note stating that it is optional to use it but you may have to do some modifications to make it work properly.
 

UncleSAm

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i think when they made these, they had the intention of the hood not being used with a latch kit but the latch actually catching on the hood itself. i didnt really like that idea so i wanted to add a latch kit to it. but it sounds like it would be easier if people just used the hood without a latch kit. it may dig into the material but i doubt it would be a big issue unless you're constantly opening and closing your hood. id be afraid if we asked them to make that section thinner, it may be too thin and break.

i think what i would maybe do in the future is to ship the hood latch kit separately with a note stating that it is optional to use it but you may have to do some modifications to make it work properly.

If you did that, 100% would you loose the hood on the freeway. That is if it even makes it though closing the hood with out destroying. where the latch comes in contact. There’s a reason why the factory had metal not fiberglass there.

Sanding it is the only way to close the gap and not have to open the latch so you end up like the picture

If there was to my another run of these, that mold would have to be modified to allow that area to be flush
IMG_7809.jpg
 

Steve@TF

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If you did that, 100% would you loose the hood on the freeway. That is if it even makes it though closing the hood with out destroying. where the latch comes in contact. There’s a reason why the factory had metal not fiberglass there.

Sanding it is the only way to close the gap and not have to open the latch so you end up like the picture

If there was to my another run of these, that mold would have to be modified to allow that area to be flush View attachment 1639036

do you think it could work without the inner plate?

i dont know how feasible it would be to tinker with the existing mold and i sure as heck ain't paying $2k+ to have another one made lol
 

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