Market research! 99-03 Protege Owners

[Kelly]

im waiting

[MIAprotege]

dont see the pics of the "overlapping" hood mauricio

[dahotprotege]

[Green]

Wow, that looks pretty phatty, but i think i still prefer the hood-scoop.

BTW, I think a fiberglass hood would be nice, if the price was right, and it had the correct resins / what-not.

[steve_protege]

Yeah..... Im not really liking that overlapping hood. Id much rather have the front upper grille in place. I do like the way that it goes up like that though. I wouldn't mind finding out how he got his hood to do that. If I don't a hood prop kit from Lokar Motorsports (which is supposed to open your hood up on 3 or 6 different levels), then I would definately look into doing that hood mod as in the picture there. I almost toyed with the idea of getting that split hood kit from AutoLoc that opens the hood from the middle and then out. But Im not too crazy about cutting down the middle of the hood though. Don't know though. Maybe I could do it on my stock one (once I have my CF or fiberglass one first!) and see how it looks!!

I also like the suicide doors he did. It could look better if he got rid of the center pillar between the doors, but overall it looks pretty good. I was also debating whether to do that or get the Lamborghini (sp?) style doors. I think Im starting to like the suicide ones more though..... because of the beautiful RX-8!! Love it!!!

[Green]

So hows the hood coming along?

[TheJackyl]

ya any updates?

[Maz1.8T]

Unfortunatly my partner had resin in his eyes so we had to take a 3 days brake. It really happened, it's no lame excuse.

The mold for the re-inforcement inside the hood is finished, we even tried it and the piece turned out great. The mold for the top part with the scoop is done and works GREAT too. We already did 2 top parts and the first one sticked a little in the mold which is normal cause the mold was working for the first time but it was ok, but not up to our expectations. So we corrected to mold (4 days of work ... grrr) and tried it again and the piece was superb.

We are going to make another top part, 'glue' it with the re-inforcement (inner part) and have it painted silver, the color of the first car on which the hood will be test fitted, a 2000 Protegé (dropped, 17 inch wheels, clear corners and tail lights). It will look fabulous. We hope the hood will be ready next week. I'll post pictures as soon as I can.

Thanks for caring about the project!

[dahotprotege]

awesome sounds good. i cant wait for the price and the pics.

[TheJackyl]

nIce

[Maz1.8T]

Preview PIC!!

We tested the hood on a friend's 2000 Protege and it fits LIKE A GLOVE! Pics of the hood painted and on the car will be available for next week probably. After seeing it on his car, the guy bought it right away. Sales will begin soon.

More pics of the primered hood on the car available upon request, just give a valid e-mail adress.

[Maz1.8T]

Oh yeah forgot to post the reasons why you should buy our hood before any other one!

We went to some car show and looked at some fiberglass and carbon fiber hoods and we made sure NOT to make the same mistakes as their's.

Features:

- Rolled edges. Much nicer visually, you can't see the layers of fiberglass on the edges when the hood is shut. Much smoother and better esthetics.

- Hinges and front locking system 100% compatible with stock Mazda system. No need for cheap looking hood pins (unless you really want some). Hinges and front lock use metal plates with real nuts. No screws directly in the fiber (Duh!).

- The hood has a slightly modified (to clear the traps) version of the stock reinforcement (underhood part). All the stock adjustable rubber 'bumpstops' will support the hood just as the factory hood. The rear 'pads' where the hinges bolt has been made SLIGHTLY lower so that the hood MAY have to be shimmed in order to fit perfect on the rear. So no chance that it was made too high and nothing to do to fix it.

- The underside is glued with the top hood part on the outer edges and is held in place in the center with beads of urethane, just like the factory hood.

- The factory stick to hold the hood opened is still functionnal and the stick will not stand on the upperside of the hood (which has been seen on carbon fiber hoods) so no chance to have a nice bump on the hood over time.

- The holes for the factory windshield sprayers are there and are EXACTLY at the same place as a factory hood

- The hood has 8 draining holes to evacuate water between the upper and underside of the hood.

- The hood is 20 pounds LIGHTER than stock. Yes ladies and gentlemans, it weights HALF of the stock hood and is NOT limp AT ALL!

- Price will be 310$ us funds + shipping. If you think this is expensive, try to find better quality at that price. Our hoods are delivered primered and will need to be painted by a qualified (or not, you decide) painter. And I can garantee the hood won't need to be re-worked... our hoods are STRAIGHT.


The mold for 2001-2003 hoods will be started as soon as we sell 4 or 5 of these babies (99-00 hoods).

Any questions?

[TheJackyl]

good job loox good cant wait for the 03 hood

[Green]

Could you post a pic of the underside of the hood?

[Drackonn]

looks very good, i know im only one person but you made the only hood i dont like lol you have plans for any other style hoods?