Moparrbust Jaguar XKR hood mod looks so cool, I've just gotta do it! The factory hood's just another bolt on item so it'll be OK to modify it. Just removed my hood and laid it across saw horses. I'll be running around in the rain with a plywood hood for a few days. Used water pipe foam insulation around the edges to get a good seal without scuffing up the paint. After removing the two piece plastic fasteners, the insulation blanket can be removed. I want be reusing the blanket for it will just spunge up rain water from the vent openings. I'll be having the hood underside hot sprayed by Linex Truck Bed Liner. I'll be using the same vents that Moparrbust discovered. 2009 Jaguar XKR. Part numbers> C2P14033XXX and C2P14034XXX . It's called a Finisher-Air Ven and they cost $77.22 each. The underside of these plastic vents are designed to snap into place with cut out notches in the hood. The underside of our hood bracing is NOT identical for extra support is need for the single hood hydraulic shock. Even at that,These vents will fit into our stock hoods and still retain the stock hood bracing. By cutting off the plastic vent snaps on the bottom of the vents with a dremel fibered cut off disk,then using the dremel sanding drum tube attachment to remove any traces of tabs,you end up with a 3/4" smooth surface around the vent flange for double sided 3M tape. Ill probably use 5/8" so the 3M tape want show around the edges. Anyway,The reason I cut off these tabs is so that I could cut a smaller diameter hole into the hood. Two small area brace notches will be necessary on the passenger side and only one area for the drivers side. These notches will just be on the brace's outer edge. I made up a very percise detailed pattern so all should be well. I'll take some pictures this week. Thanks Moparrbust for getting me motivated!!... Squirrel Crusher

 

this is awesome im excited for pics

 

You can't tell us all of that and NOT include pictures!!!
So are your vents just going to be stuck on top of the hood or will they be recessed some how so they blend in?

 

Exactly right...give us some pic's.

 

I want pics of the finished hood.................and pics of the homemade wooden hood as well.


you're welcome

 

I'll borrow a digital camera or shoot film, then have WalGreens make a CD disk to down load my hood onto this forum. I will promise pictures. Getting out the power tools,cutting out the hood openings slowly without any errors,then putting the tools back in place took 3 hours. It looks so good!. After taping up the hood with three layers to avoid paint scratches,I used a dremel tool with a cut off fibered disk for the long lines. I took about 6 passes with the disk so not to heat up the paint. Then used a wood router to shape up the tight curved corners. Set the depth of a carbide deburing tool placed into the wood routers chuck so that the cutter would pass over a very small portion of the hood bracing. Only three very small bracing areas needed trimming. So minor that it want ever weaken the hood. I'll take a picture of this area also. Gotta check to see what the rain water will be dripping onto before cutting off the three tabs that held up the rear portion of the hood insulation. May need to use these tabs for mounting some type of small light weight water deflector if I find it to be necessary. Then off to the 4X4 truck shop to get hot linex bedliner sprayed underneath the hood. Squirrel Crusher

 

With my installation,the very outer flat 3/4"surrounding edge is the only portion that is 1/16 higher than the hood's sheet metal. Majority of the vent is below the hood level.

 

Well here are some hood pictures. Inspired by Moparrbust. I'll be painting the vents when I get my other mods together. After getting the underside of the hood sprayed,I'll have to make up some type of rain water deflector. The first picture shows where I adjusted the wood router (With a carbide flat top deburrer installed) to pass over a small area of the rear under brace support thats painted blue. All of the other black looking bracing you see thru the cut out is the saw horses that the hood is laying on.. The last picture shows the underside bracing where I had to slightly notch out. Squirrel Crusher

 

Could you tell me the weight of the stock hood?

Thanks

 

dang, that reminds me of the first hood I ever cut up.....that first cut was scary...young and dumb, put a new intake on my big block '71 Camaro, went to shut the hood and it wouldn't close, so I cut a hole in it. Later I fashioned a firebird hood scoop into the hood...it actually looked pretty good, especially when I added the Yenco emblems on each side of the scoop....no one was sure what it really was for a long time...happy modding...

 

Looks nice. Good job

 

If I remember correctly, I think it's about 45 lbs.

 

Maybe 54lbs................the xfire hood is one of(if not the) heaviest/sturdiest hoods I've ever had the pleasure of picking up. I'll weigh my stock one in a few weeks when it comes time to toss on the prototype. I just took the hood off of a 2009 M-B C63 AMG and it weight in at 62lbs.........and felt lighter than the xfire hood still.

 

Mike you may be right. I store my original hood in the basement, and sometime last year I picked it up and stood on an old bathroom scale and tried reading it all at the same time (if you can picture that)?
I'm not sure how accurate the scale was, the lighting was bad, and I just got new glasses today, so I may have misread it too.

 

Gosh! Alot of us think alike! I weighed the hood,including front rubber trim strip,rubber bumper pads and hood latch with my liquid freon tank charging scales. Before any modification was done,the complete hood (less single hydraulic shock and 6 hood hinge mounting bolts) weighed in at 48.57. After modifications,I took the hood to the local 4X4 truck shop for Linex hot spray bed liner to be sprayed completely underneath. For a cost of $150.00. It looks Damn Good when you raise the hood. Will be so easy to clean with soap and water. WELL NOW FOR THE SAD PART!! Oh My Gosh The Linex man did me too good of a job. Before installing the hood with all hardware,I knew something was wrong! (((The Weight!))) I could feel the difference in my back. This time the hood weighed in at 59.10. Damn! And its my fault. I should have specified a light dusting of the hot spray Linex. It's a 1/8 to 1/4 thick. I had to file out the holes for the front hood rubber strip. After filing out the holes for the two rubber pads,I tore the bottoms off them trying to get them to seat and catch in the holes. The spray liner was a 1/4 thick in that area. Had to take the dremel tool and cut away some thickness so they would seat. Took one day to get new replacement pads from Chrysler. As for the adjustable bumper pads,I had to run those down 5 rounds before the hood latch would even catch. If anyone takes there hood in for Linex hot spray,SPECIFY LIGHT DUSTING. It looks Soooo Good when you raise the hood......Squirrel Crusher

 

Looks like you were closer than I on that guess since Squirrel's weighed in at 48.xx lbs. I overbid and lost the showcase.

 

Squirrel I was wondering, why you didn't just cut out the sections of the sound insulation blanket that would have went under the vents?

Hey Mike, as they say "Come on down".

 

do you think the stock hood supports will still work with the added weight?

I bet it does look good, any pics?

 

Didn't want to chance the blanket wicking up rain water thru the vents. Gathering up supply's now to make a rain trap for the vents. (Aluminium)

 

The hydraulic shock and everything else is operating just fine,even at freezing temperatures. I'm sure if the shock ever starts leaking down,it will show up alot sooner because of the extra weight. I'll borrow the digital camera again for pictures when I get the vents painted.