U
After reading through post on lightweight hoods and manufacturers selling them for $350+, I decided why not see what I can come up with on my 15 M8000. This is my trial & error sled I use to test different setups on. I wasn't looking for an increase in power, extreme air flow, or anything exciting. Just wanted to see if I could get the stock hood's weight down while maintaining a stock appearance, I'm not a fan of just slamming the windshield onto the top of the intake. To me it just looks like something is missing. So here's what I came up with.
I used a center hood vent from Mountain Fit, along with three of their universal vents. These vents are awesome, frogskin style membrane behind a stainless mesh grille.
I removed the stock airbox channel/ducting and cut it right behind the first set of screws that are on top of the intake. Then removed all the useless foam from under the hood. To block off the intake hole I used air duct galvanized sheeting, primed and painted high temp black, then riveted it to the nose while sealing it with automotive "Goop" and also applying "Goop" to the rivets so it is air tight. I then drilled/ported holes in the plastic upper sides where the hood pieces cover it to remove weight.
**The reason I went with the galvanized sheeting over aluminum was it is cheap, very light, and I could cut it with a tin snips. This being a trial and error run I didn't know if this whole idea would work so for $6 a sheet I decided it was worth it if I had to use multiple sheets or scrap the entire plan.**
For under where the headlight mounts, I cut away all the thick plastic and replaced it with a piece of perforated aluminum, again primed and painted with high temp black just for looks and riveted it in place. I plan on putting frog skinz material under or over it to prevent junk from falling through, just haven't received it in the mail yet.
I removed the headlight lens from the housing, then trimed about 2+ inches off of it so it fit the contour I wanted, getting it a lot lower than stock and a more aggressive look. Like the other pieces I sanded it and painted it flat black just for looks.
The stock intake/upper headlight piece I drilled/ported holes in it to remove excess weight as this piece was still heavy without the headlight housing. I could still drill out more holes using a smaller bit but for now it'll do. If I wanted to I could add some tubing and use the stock intakes if I desire.
I then mounted the stock guage bracket and windshield on and mounted the headlight piece onto the intake with three small stainless bolts and two sheetmetal screws for a sturdy mount when I need to roll this sled over.
The last item I had to address was relocating the air sensor using the SLP relocation template. Simple and easy. The SLP entension wire is nice, but not required if you know how to properly splice wiring.
Once I was fininshed I weighed the entire assembly put together and it came in at 13.5 lbs on the bathroom scale (intake, hood panels, windshield, speedometer, stock wiring).
The intake by itself weighs 6 lbs.
Stock was 21.5 lbs so all in all about an 8 pound weight loss.
Like I stated before I wasn't looking for anything major or drastic. I wasn't looking to add power or anything due to air flow etc.., just to loose some weight from this fat cat while maintaining a stock look and being able to use the stock goggle pouch in the stock location. I plan on applying reflective heat tape to the entire underside of the intake. Let me know what you think.
I used a center hood vent from Mountain Fit, along with three of their universal vents. These vents are awesome, frogskin style membrane behind a stainless mesh grille.
I removed the stock airbox channel/ducting and cut it right behind the first set of screws that are on top of the intake. Then removed all the useless foam from under the hood. To block off the intake hole I used air duct galvanized sheeting, primed and painted high temp black, then riveted it to the nose while sealing it with automotive "Goop" and also applying "Goop" to the rivets so it is air tight. I then drilled/ported holes in the plastic upper sides where the hood pieces cover it to remove weight.
**The reason I went with the galvanized sheeting over aluminum was it is cheap, very light, and I could cut it with a tin snips. This being a trial and error run I didn't know if this whole idea would work so for $6 a sheet I decided it was worth it if I had to use multiple sheets or scrap the entire plan.**
For under where the headlight mounts, I cut away all the thick plastic and replaced it with a piece of perforated aluminum, again primed and painted with high temp black just for looks and riveted it in place. I plan on putting frog skinz material under or over it to prevent junk from falling through, just haven't received it in the mail yet.
I removed the headlight lens from the housing, then trimed about 2+ inches off of it so it fit the contour I wanted, getting it a lot lower than stock and a more aggressive look. Like the other pieces I sanded it and painted it flat black just for looks.
The stock intake/upper headlight piece I drilled/ported holes in it to remove excess weight as this piece was still heavy without the headlight housing. I could still drill out more holes using a smaller bit but for now it'll do. If I wanted to I could add some tubing and use the stock intakes if I desire.
I then mounted the stock guage bracket and windshield on and mounted the headlight piece onto the intake with three small stainless bolts and two sheetmetal screws for a sturdy mount when I need to roll this sled over.
The last item I had to address was relocating the air sensor using the SLP relocation template. Simple and easy. The SLP entension wire is nice, but not required if you know how to properly splice wiring.
Once I was fininshed I weighed the entire assembly put together and it came in at 13.5 lbs on the bathroom scale (intake, hood panels, windshield, speedometer, stock wiring).
The intake by itself weighs 6 lbs.
Stock was 21.5 lbs so all in all about an 8 pound weight loss.
Like I stated before I wasn't looking for anything major or drastic. I wasn't looking to add power or anything due to air flow etc.., just to loose some weight from this fat cat while maintaining a stock look and being able to use the stock goggle pouch in the stock location. I plan on applying reflective heat tape to the entire underside of the intake. Let me know what you think.
