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Siebon OEM style CF Hood for Protege

dmention7

Hater
I decided to go with a CF hood to replace a hail-damaged stock one for my MSP. My original first choice was Xcelerated Concepts (www.xceleratedconcepts.ca) because of a boatload of positive reviews, but I ended up stumbling across a smoking deal + free shipping on a Siebon piece from www.octanemotorsports.com

It was backordered for a couple weeks, and I had to make a call or two to the retailer (never did receive a tracking number...) but it eventually showed up after a little over 3 weeks.

Initial impressions were very good. It came packed very nicely in various layers of foam pieces, bubble wrap, and foam wrap. There was a tiny chip in the leading edge of the hood, perhaps 1/4" long, but that was the only flaw I could find anywhere--and a dab of black touch-up paint will fix that easy. The weave is very uniform in pattern and color. I couldn't find more than a few tiny imperfections in the weave after examining the entire surface. The factory clear coat was also excellent--the hood was smooth and glossy with no visible defects.

The true test of CF parts is often the installation. My only gripe there was that it came bolted to wood slabs (to protect the pointed ends of the hood), and these bolts were a different threading than the factory bolts that hold the hood to the hinges, and the bolt heads were also too small to use to install the hood. All in all, it cost a trip to the hardware store and about $4 for a couple of flanged bolts and washers--that chalks up to a minor inconvenience in my book.

Our first stab at bolting the hood to the hinges met with positive results. It was obvious that only a few minor adjustments would be needed to locate it properly, and that the contour and body gaps matched the fenders and bumper very well. After sliding the hood about 1/4" forward and nudging the hood latch upward a hair, we were done. Fitment was about as near OEM as I could've hoped for. I may yet add a washer between the hood hinge and the hood to space it upwards a fraction of an inch, though.

The final test was performed today at the mnmazda beer cruise. The fiberglass underhood structure kept it nice and rigid. I only noticed a minimal bit of vibration near the rear edge of the hood. There was a small amount of bouncing towards the front edge of the hood, but inspection showed that was due to maybe 1/8" of play between the latch and the latch bar. Once I adjusted the rubber pads at the leading edge of the frame that the hood rests on, it looked rock-stable up to 90mph.


All in all, for the price I paid, I am extremely happy!!!

See some pics here: http://www.mnmazda.com/forum/showthread.php?goto=newpost&t=2180
 
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