MK2 Golf lightweight replacement bonnet

cost a tenna for s/hand bonnet,tenna for the alloy sheet and a can of spray,

 

Thanks Ben. We're having a count up today so I'll be able to put a price on the full frame version this evening.


Thanks for sharing tones61. You don't have a background in Land Rovers do you?



Chequer plate removes the need for paint but may be detrimental to aero..

 

Can you not mold the vent piece separately then attach later if required?

 

could you not have added extra venting for increased cooling? I remember years ago there was a company that did steel bonnets with extra vents in

 

I can understand trying to keep it OEM looking, but most people will be after the weight saving if purchasing such a product. They would possibly sacrifice the OEM vents for something different and more purposeful and easier to accomplish.

I am a big fan of the hole saw! A row of nice round holes where the vents were would not look too bad and be very easy to do or not depending on individual's choice.
They actually let air in rather than air out by the way. Clean air for the heater / demister system.

 

Every time we tried to separate the process, it started to get expensive. Machining costs for small runs are high, then figure in costs for transporting them around. The way that we have settled upon makes them a little easier to produce consistently with a minimum of finishing from the mould.
That's the plan anyway

The main reason for keeping the vents at the rear of bonnet was to stay with the look of the original (as well as providing fresh air to the cabin). If people want extra cooling for the engine bay, this will be done with flush fitting vents of the customers choice. What did you have in mind?

 

Now this is interesting. Any examples you are planning would be great to see.

 

I'm hoping that just about everyone will be happy now. The only problem with drilling/cutting fibreglass is that it has a habit of chipping around the area you're cutting (not that someone putting vents in with a hole saw would care )
Please remember that this is the heavy duty version, it should be a lot more interesting when we start with the race/track spec

 

There seems to be an endless choice out there these days. The chosen vent would have to be of a reasonable size and fit flush with a flange to keep things neat. If we see something that suits there's a good chance that we'll produce something similar if there is demand.

 

We're at a point now where we can release a price for the full frame, OEM style heavy duty bonnet.
The price to members/users of the forum will be 295 plus delivery until further notice. The same bonnet will be in the Trackslag online store for 345 plus delivery. This bonnet would come to you ready to bolt on using only your existing fittings ie; hinges and catches.

To give this some context, Performance trim were offering a similar bonnet (without vents..) for about 300 plus vat (360) plus delivery, before their closure if my memory serves me.

If this is something that you will be interested in, please let me know and we'll work on a first come first served basis (but giving priority to people previously involved in the thread).

We're about a week away from starting production of the heavy duty version, at which point we'll be making a start on the design for the race/track version

 

Very much looking forward to see what you come up with for the race / track version!

Weight, reasonable structure (to dull down floppy bonnet syndrome) and reinforced around the corners for bonnet pins / catches is all I really care about... as well as clearance! I shall keep my eyes peeled!

 

Congrats on the rapid progress! Is that price for glass/kevlar? Is carbon only going to be available on the race/track version?

 

Great progress on this guys, it's been a good thread to follow. Really nice to see a company developing a potentially very popular product directly with the end users! I'll be keen to see how the race/track version comes on...weight is key of course but avoiding significant flex will also be important.

Keep us posted

 

Looking gooooood! And prices seem very good too.

Another one interested in a track/race version here

 

What is the final weight on this one, and what are you aiming for with the track version?

 

We're going to be developing the race/track version here, so feel free to contribute

Thanks, we're getting there! That price is for e-glass and 45 degree bi-axial cloth construction. Carbon could be an option with the full frame version, depending on demand.

Cheers, it's great that it's working out. There's going to be a fair bit to be discussed regarding peoples wishes about how high they want the spec to go.

Thanks, stay tuned

We don't have a final weight yet. The first bonnet should be out of the mold early next week, at which point I'll be visiting our local vets with it to obtain an accurate weight. As an idea, the prototype weighed in at about 7 kilos on some bathroom scales.
We don't know what the track version will weigh yet, it all depends on what people want. We obviously want it to weigh as little as possible but we don't want to produce something that will be flimsy.

 

Are you going to be looking at boot and wings also (like http://www.pesch.cz/) ??

 

Yes we will, but I've got other materials in mind for those (thread for another day, lol). We'll be doing something with exhausts again once the mk2 bonnets are in production but we'll be back onto panels again after that.

 

Another little update..

I was looking forward to giving you a final weight on the heavy duty version this week but unfortunately it's looking more like next week. We decided to change a couple of things. We've added a couple of flanges for a better finish and extra rigidity, changed the fixings again and revised the weight of the frame.
It will be better for the changes but it's a shame about the delay.

 

Thanks for taking the time to keep us updated.