Paint on a carbon fiber hood?

Hey guys, is it posible to paint on a carbon fiber hood, and if so, will it be an airflow/heat restricter to the enging, cuz I no that the CF hoods help move more air and release heat from the engine... alrite, thanks!

I'm assuming you want a different color other than black, right? If not then sorry....hehe.... But if so then I heard that there are other colors other than black. I personally haven't seen any, but I think they exist somewhere.

I'm assuming you want a different color other than black, right? If not then sorry....hehe.... But if so then I heard that there are other colors other than black. I personally haven't seen any, but I think they exist somewhere.
I am sorry but you are wrong. Carbon fiber hoods can be painted. I have seen several of them on 3000gt/Stealths alone.

yea i've been wondering if you can paint carbon fiber too. maybe people do all the time, and we wouldnt know because its not black!

mclaren f1 is carbon fibre and that's painted. as are a lot of ultra high performance cars. it's the 1st time i've heard someone say that it helps keep the engine cool though. the biggest advantage it gives you is weight reduction.

Yes you can. carbon fiber is a fabric that is woven and then treated till it hardens, the finish you see is a resin that covers the carbon-fiber to give it its shape, a shell if you will. the resin on carbon-fiber products for cars is covered in a clear coat paint just like regular body work. the clear coat and the resin finish are too smooth and will not allow paint to bond well to the surface. However, you can sand down and roughen the resin so that it is not smooth and the paint will adheare to it. it will not change the thermodynamic of the carbonfiber (well it will but not enough to make a difference, think of it as non-factoring) so you can have the benefit of c-f and the paint to match your car. in most cases the carbon texture can be seen throught the paint upon really close inspection.

If done right you wont see the CF texture. I met a guy when I was down in VA that had a CF hood on his 98 3000GT and left a stripe of the CF visible but the rest was apinted factory red. It was very smooth and the transition from pain to CF was almost unnoticable

I saw a pic of his car on 3si.org.

Yes, CF hoods help keep the engine cool(er). Because of the CF being fibers and not metel air can get in/out eaiser or so i'm told.

Yep, I saw it up close and let me tell you the pic doesnt do it justice.

But there are plenty of people who paint there CF hoods. Some people leave them unpainted for the sole purpose of saying "HEY LOOK AT ME I HAVE A CF HOOD!" While others it actually is a plan to go along with other styling cues. Do what you think looks better.

Hmm, I say to each his own, it's just that I wanted to get a big picture of smokin' woody woodpecker on the hood *lol plz no flames for that one* smokin' woody btw is woody woodpecker with a cigar in his mouth....

Oh, btw I don't have a cf hood, but I'm considering gettin one

Carbon fiber is good (and bad if you live in area where it gets very very cold in the winter) because it does not block infared energy and hold it in the engen bay like most metals. Of course some heat is necisary for the engine to start well which is why the padding is there underneath the hood (I think).

Oh shit... really? okay, well than I guess I'm fucked cuz I live in chicago, so yea, should i or should I not get a CF hood!?!?!?!

I live in PA and it gets pretty damn cold here too. There are a few people around here running CF hoods and I have never heard of them having a problem. I have also never heard of holding heat in. Thats about ridiculous since the whole underside of the cxar is open and cold will get in thru there. The main benefit of cf is its still strong and very lightweight.

Your engine will get just as cold if it sits for two days with a steel hood or CF. No difference.

EDIT: It just came to me after I hit enter. Heat is an engines enemy. Cool=good for performance so there goes that argument.

^ first off heat rises, your hood does retain heat.
heat is neccesary to start up an engine. a cold engine will not fire up without heat. you've never met anyone who bought a heatblanket for the car? there is a electric warmer that goes over the engine to help it warm up before you turn it over.
and yeah, carbonfiber does release heat faster but unless you wake up to a car covered in icicles I dont think youll have to worry about the engine freezing!

oh and "heat is an engines enemy" "cool = good performance"

no, not exactly. An engine has to be hot in order to perform, cold engines dont perform well at all. you are confusing cold engine with cool induction!
heat speads up molecules where as cold slows them down. an engine in the cold stuggles but a hot engine with cool air breathing into it = ideal high performance. ask any pro racer or pro engine builder. engines need heat to function.

Yea you should be fine with a CF hood in most places, I remember my dad telling me how when he was my age and living in Wisconsin he had to keep a heat blanket on the engine of his VW bus, but that was a long time ago and I think the old VW engines were air cooled so it may be a bit different lol.

*sarcasm* Heat rises? NO shit.*sarcasm*

Cold will still get into an engine bay and if a car sits for two days in 30 degree weather with a steel hood or a CG hood it will get just as cold either way. A car does not need heat to start. It needs enough battery juice to crank it over then fuel, spark and combustion as well as proper timing. I have started my car many times when the temp. was below 0*F. Hmmm no heat there to help it start. Any one will tell you a car runs better on a cold night then on a warm one. The main thing cold will affect as far as starting a car is the battery.

ok, mah bad. thought I just figured since so many people talked about the engine warmer there really was something to it! but if an engine will crank fine in below 0 temp then I guess its just like one of those things people buy just to have around, where I live the coldest its ever been has been like 55 degrees.

I know that the reason a car runs better in cold nights as opposed to warm nights is cause of the cold air going into the engine, something about cold air causes the oxygen bonds to seperate easier from other chemical bonds during combustion, thats why they say Nitrous is good in the sense that it lowers manifold temp.

^No lol your thinking of the reason cold nitrous oxide is better (which I assume has to do with knock because it won't burn better when it's cold lol), thats the only thing bonded with oxygen that'll be going into your engine I should hope, other than maybe Nitro Methane (CH3NO2) if your running a top fule dragster lol. Having a lower air temp is good because A) it reduces knock for obvious reasons and B) When air is cold it shrinks and becomes more dense so its alot like a mini forced induction method because more oxygen molecules are able to fit insude the cylinders and so more fule can be burnt each time. Reason B also explaines why lower elivation is better because the air pressure is higher due to the fact that it's sitting under a deeper "sea" of air which is exerting force on it.

All of these posts regarding temperatures are correct...
Yes colder is better for performance, but Musashi is also correct...an engine does work better once it has reached a certain temp...this is one reason you don't want to redline the car first thing on a cold morning in December...you want it to reach proper operating temperatures first...

The battery's amps are what start it in the cold mornings, but that doesn't mean heat is irrelevant.

I never said heat was irrelivant. I mainly stated a CF hood will not affect a car getting too cold to start. I can go to work and 4 hours later when I leave to go to lunch it will be stone cold, this is with a steel hood. If I had a CF hood it wouldnt be any colder.

And about Nitrous, you actually want it warmer to operate better. Nitrous in itself is basically force feeding air into the system. It has nothing to do with dropping manifold temp. Whiule that may occur it is the mass amount of oxygen along with the added fuel that makes the power.

And the fact that dinitrous monoxide comes equiped with its own oxygen molicule. Wow were off topic.. carbon fiber anyone? I've seen some hoods that have colored fibers woven in with the carbon and it looks ok, just forget where i saw it lol.

LOL yes we wenmt way off tangent. The colored CF hoods dont look good IMO. They will never match the factory color. Better off painting it and it will be glossy too.;)

I think they look real good on our cars but only when the car is black!

i have a CF hood and its painted... and you could never tell a difference

thourun I will have to shgow you some pics when 3si comes back up. There is one white one in particular that left his hood black and it looks awesome. I'll have toi see if I can find the one with red hood and a stripe of CF left unpainted. it might change your mind.

You mean the first gen one with the guy who ran like a wicked low 1/4 mile? Anyways yea I guess it looks good with the blisters if its realy opposing colors like black and white. And 3000Star, how long have you had your hood painted? And what kind of hood is it (where did you get it)?

Not sure of what first gen guy you are talking about. The one I am referring to is a white 97?. There are a few people who got a first gen CF hood minus the blisters. It actually has the second gen style bumps. I'll have to find out where those came from too.

Yea, I've seen white cars with the black CF hoods and I think they look damn nice, by the way... WTF does IMO mean!!?!?!??!?

LOL sorry, too used to using other forums. IMO= in my opinion.

Black hood on white car! = Oreo car lol.

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/500/196670carbonhood2-med.jpg

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/503/196670carbonhoodfront-med.jpg

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/503/196670newhood.jpg

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/503/196670newhoodcarbon-med.jpg

I plan on driving by the safari this weekend and driving the zebras nuts!

ohh man that's a nice oreo!!!

That looks great Musashi! *drool* I'm jealous!

I dont think it was said but when you get a CF hood make sure you get hood pins.

No it wasnt said. Thats a very good point. I have seen pictures of the aftermath of people not using pins. ITs not pretty. ANd you will be especially pissed afterr spending $400 or more.

haha, someone (I think it was Igovert500) a while back posted a video of sum guy not using hood pins on his CF hood, and the thing flew up in the air like a kyte.

That vid was probably from th NG. It happened going down the track.

Yea, two guys were doing a 1/4 mile and the guy on the right I think it was, lost his hood

It wasn't me who posted it....but I did see it...I also think Musashi mentioned getting hood pins in that thread.

The guy who took the vid is DSM Stealth over on 3si and us3s. It was hosted on importpoweronline's server. Knowing him it is still up too. But yes that happened at teh NG in Indianapolis last year. Its in St. Joseph, MI this year.

For anyone interested in attending there is alot of info about it over on 3si. Go to the National forum under Regional.

can u get a carbon fiber hood for a first gen with the pop up lights, because ive only seen them for 94-up

Yes, I have seen CF hoods for first gens that use the first gen style strut caps and also ones that have humps like on a second gen hood.

where did you get that hood and how much does it cost Musashi3000GT?

got it from www.importfan.com for $600.00. its called the "pit fighter hood". www.carbon-creations.com also sell it for 100 more.

why would you want to paint carbon fiber??? thats dumb. true car people look at carbon fiber and give you complaments on it... the only time you would paint carbon fiber really is when you get a whole carbon fiber body conversion... even then i wouldnt... if you get a carbon fiber hood let it be it looks nicer that away...

OH THANK GOD! I thought I was the only one who saw it that way. I mean its cool if you wanna paint it but I just like the pure texture of cf, its like telling a biker to paint the Chrome on his Harley. and yeah I would love to see an all carbon 3s. so far I've seen the all carbon HKS Alteeza and the new HKS Carbon Evo VIII. they looks so bad ass! I think mopar is also working on an all carbon SRT-4 too.

I'm with you guys. I dont understand why you would want to paint over cf. But whatever.

If you want weight reduction and to have paint on the hood then get a fiberglass hood.

hmm okay, but will a fiberglass hood get just as much air flowing through to the engine?

There is nothing wrong with painting a carbon fiber hood. And if there is any air flow advantage to using carbon fiber it is negligable. Most people get cf over fiberglass because it is that mnuch lighter.

how much lighter is my question...

Cant give exact numbers but I will tell you from memory. Cianci performance fiberglass viper hood weighs in around 20lbs if I remember right. I think the carbon fiber version weighed in at 12 lbs. So its 8lbs there. It depends on the manufacture and other things like how it was produced. When Cianci re-releases the cf version I think it is going to be even lighter because of a different process.

Thanks for the help!