carbon fiber hood

[jdm-v35]

Burned the midnight oil to install a carbon fiber hood, and a light bar on a hardcore, rockrawlling jeep.

Manufacture: Seibon
Weight: 20ish lbs.
hood pins: quick-latch
Installation: easy
Fitment: A plus

So yeah, not everyone likes CF hoods but im a 90's kid and i like rice, so there you go. Also did a cool little mod on my buddy's jeep.

The seibon hood is well made. It comes with removable rain guards for the vents and hood scoop, and its light enough that my headlights kinda sorta need to be adjusted. Fitment is spot on, and it was packaged extremely well from Seibon. No waves in the CF layer, it is perfect.

Fiberglass skeleton is very thick, and you probably don't need to run hood pins. I choose to run hood pins anyways because I'm a safety sally. Time will tell how long the gel coat lasts. They used a stock hood as the mold, but heavily reinforced the latch area. The latch is steel. All the edges are rounded.

Hoodpins is from quick-latch and are very expensive but they are well made. If you want to save some cash, you can buy knock offs but hey, its your safety, not mine. I used existing holes in the radiator support for the pins, and cutting holes into the CF hood wasn't too bad if you followed instructions. ALot simpler to install than Aero-catch hood pins.

Installation wasn't too bad. I got the fitment on the money on the first try. The windshield nozzle was a HUGE PITA, and then running the hose required drilling out some holes to install some hose clips. Other than that, installation went pretty smooth. ALot of the time spent was adjusting the hood pins and sealing the edges of the holes with silicon, and running my ditch light wiring through the hood and reinstalling my alarm hood pin. Stupid little optional things that end up taking up alot of time.

anyways here are the pics:

I really like how this turned out and it's cool that someone on the forum finally has the hood and is showing it! I did look at this as well. but currently have another car now sucking all my mod money lol.

 

[baldrik78]

I see you went extra rice with the hood vents :rofl:

Honestly, I don't hate it. Especially on the MGM. Might be too much for my Barcelona Red, but... I did go across the scales the other day and my 4Runner was 5400 lbs, empty. I don't even have a rear bumper!

 

[mrblah]

I see you went extra rice with the hood vents :rofl:

Honestly, I don't hate it. Especially on the MGM. Might be too much for my Barcelona Red, but... I did go across the scales the other day and my 4Runner was 5400 lbs, empty. I don't even have a rear bumper!

Its extra soy sauce with my rice bowl

Yeah its getting heavy. My vehicle was getting so heavy it felt like i was driving a UHAUL all the time.

I just ordered some goose gear rear seat deletes, as part of my vehicle diet. they have a 2 month wait..ROFL.

Contemplating replacing my sliders with aluminum (only thinking about it). I'm waiting on feedback on those that have them on durability.

Contemplating replacing front seats with PRP suspension seats (in near future) i can currently source a bracket for it, but i cant find manual sliders for them yet.

Contemplating replacing rear shrockworks bumper with (aluminum/steel hybrid) such as hefty or backwoods overland whatever their name is, (not in the future, only thinking about it). Although i made lots of mods to the shrockworks bumper that i dont really want to see it go.

contemplating replacing my upper and lower rear links (currently have metaltech4x4) with aluminum (aztec or icon) or my favorite chromo (total chaos).

Replacing my group 31 battery back to stock size but in AGM when the time comes.

replacing my steel drawers with aluminum and wood hybrid.


If i do those things, my build would be heavily biased on suspension and only have moderate protection with armor, which i think is ideal with what I do when i go camping or offroading (jeep trail moderate/ rated 6 or lower, I avoid trails that are devoted to just rock gardens). I just dont like replacing things that i already bought, so i'm doing the CF and rear seat delete first before i start replacing armor. So front seats are probably the next upgrade. Upgrade what I can then start compromising on armor vs weight.

It would be cool to have the vehicle drive like it was when it was stock....versus driving a armored turtle or UHAUL.

 

[AZ Craig]

Contemplating replacing my sliders with aluminum (only thinking about it). I'm waiting on feedback on those that have them on durability.

Just to chime in on this specific question, I really dig the Victory 4x4 hybrid sliders I have and have never seen them on another truck. The beauty of them is that the metal frame is steel, but the full boat side piece is aluminum. Total weight is quoted at 70 pounds, so I'm pretty sure at least a 30 pound savings versus most steel out there at minimum (since I think about the lightest you can find in steel is 100 to 110 pounds).

You have a hi-lift point that attaches directly to the steel frame. I generally try to stay out of trails above what I'd consider "low difficult," but have hit these a few times plus had the vehicle sitting on one of them partially during a high center in Pass Canyon in northern Arizona. No issues other than some chewed up powder coating (and I don't have to worry about the underlying Al rusting).

 

[mrblah]

i get what you are saying, thats not a bad compromise. 75lb total weight for a hybrid w/ no compromise to strength vs. 50 lb total weight for all Aluminum with questionable long term durability issues.

Rear seats weigh around 75 to 100lbs, so net gain should be around 0lbs with either options.

My current sliders total weigh 150lb+ lol.