Aluminium underside of bonnet

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IainS
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Joined: Fri Jun 03, 2016 11:00 am

Aluminium underside of bonnet

Post by IainS »

While I'm in pre-paint mode, I've been thinking about lining the underside of the Hawk bonnet with aluminium sheet. The curvature should be ok and it should slide under the returns. Thinking about adhesives, expansion etc..... Anyone had any experience of this? The boot looks more challenging...

Iain
Maxakarudy
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Re: Aluminium underside of bonnet

Post by Maxakarudy »

You've got to be careful IMO with doing that, as ali has a different expansion rate than f/glass and the ali might stress the f/glass, after all you have engine heat and sunlight to deal with.
1mm ali might work and use a flexable adhesive like Sikaflex just around the edge, so to minimise the contact patch.
It would also help if the ali had the same double curvature as the bonnet, so the shapes don't fight each other.
Just my 2 cents worth, never considered it before myself.
Martin
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agnoraan
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Re: Aluminium underside of bonnet

Post by agnoraan »

As Martin says, the expansion rates could possibly cause issues with the top surface of the bonnet if it's bonded to it. When it comes time to lay the aluminium into the underside of the bonet, you'll be surprised as to how much of a double curvature there really is. If you try to put the ali in as a flat panel it really won't look right unless you're very lucky, or very skilled, it really needs to have a double curvature. It's not impossible to do, but it's quite a bit of work. Personally, I would smooth off the underside of the bonnet and spray it with "Deception Chrome Coating" from this company.

http://www.specialistpaints.com/products/chrome-paint

It's not as shiny as real chrome and looks more like polished aluminium, and I feel that if it's done correctly, it really would look like aluminium and fool 99.9% of "knowledgeable" people :wink: :lol:

here's a car painted with a chrome effect paint, if you were to use a satin lacquer it would look perfect


Image


Or, you could wrap the underside in aluminium "vinyl wrap" This pic is of a chrome wrapped Cobra, but you can get the same effect in aluminium vinyl


Image



Nige
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StewbieC
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Re: Aluminium underside of bonnet

Post by StewbieC »

Send Andyg a message. His bonnet underside looks good. I understand it was skimmed and painted.
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peterc
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Re: Aluminium underside of bonnet

Post by peterc »

After various attempts at covering the weave of the fibreglass with anti chip paint and then suffering the subsequent paint blisters I chose to copy Andy G and get it painted properly.
Numerous days spent with applying nitromors to remove all the previous crap and then several thin layers of filler with rubbing down in between created a half decent finish. I then got the body shop to finish the preparation and paint to match the rest of the car and at £180 I thought it was good value especially as it improved the looks so much.
The shine is excellent and now it's easy to wipe clean.
I have seen a 289 with an Ali liner bonded in at the Cranleigh show but as others suggest it would not be an easy job.
Peter C
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Roger King
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Re: Aluminium underside of bonnet

Post by Roger King »

Why would you want to do that anyway? Originals were painted body colour inside the bonnet and bootlid. The doors had black carpet glued to the inside of the skins. Far better to tidy up the glass and paint it.
IainS
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Re: Aluminium underside of bonnet

Post by IainS »

Many thanks for the very helpful replies. Was concerned about expansion rates and of course adhesive. But if as Roger said originals had paint then that is by far the easiest way to go. Will do some basic prep before handing to paint shop as suggested.

Many thanks again

Iain
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