Aerocatch hood pins for Carbon Fiber hoods

bikingpro5 · May 2, 2012

Since i have been asked a few times I've decided it might be a good idea to have a common thread that we can all share ideas/tips on the how/where to place the hood pins in our Carbon Fiber hoods. Yes people will say that they are not needed, but IMO anyone who has a car and plans to drive it with a CF hood should have the recommended pins. I have personally seen too many latches fail on CF hoods and destroy cars to not run them.

Firstly this is how i did my Aerocatch pins a few years ago before they came out with the new flush mount kits.

the latches

cutting the hole

hole under my hood that would not be needed with plate

flush mount plate

you can see in the plate kit you get a nice template to mark the holes once the pin has been parked out.

before using the 6 tiny screws/bolts to hold the latch

after with the plate

hole in hood you can see how much the latch actual holds (unpainted)

here you can see the plate under the hood and the alignment studs

now where i mounted the Pins was in a hole that was already there from the factory above the headlights.

finished latches

Now Joka1 recently did his Aerocatch latches

and Im sure Rob will also have some tips/tricks as to how he did his since he had the flush plates from the start and did not have to trim a huge hole under the latch like i did to mount the plate.

Dpwhitehead1 · May 2, 2012

good thread guys!

RicoP5 · May 2, 2012

joka1 · May 2, 2012

I will add some pics tonight using the flush mount kit.

808MP5 · May 2, 2012

Thanks for the thread

Just ordered a set. Hopefully all goes well. I'll be sure to post up my results.

bikingpro5 · May 2, 2012

joka1 said:
I will add some pics tonight using the flush mount kit.

sounds good, cant wait to see the difference using the kit.

808MP5 said:
Thanks for the thread
Just ordered a set. Hopefully all goes well. I'll be sure to post up my results.

I'm sure youll be fine.. just remember you cannot re add CF if you remove too much.

StealthWyvern · May 2, 2012

Any tips on how to determine where to cut the hold at for the latch ect ect for any other people wanting to do this?

bikingpro5 · May 2, 2012

StealthWyvern said:
Any tips on how to determine where to cut the hold at for the latch ect ect for any other people wanting to do this?

i installed the pins first then marked the top of them with anti seize. Then once i closed the hood i knew where to make the first hole to make sure they fit. Once the pins fit into the hood i used a piece of metal similar to mark then drilled a tiny hole to line everything up. The new Flush Kits come with a plexi template to help line everything up easier.

StealthWyvern · May 2, 2012

Thanks, and nice pics. Im sure that will helpful others sooner or later.

BRIAN_MP5T · May 2, 2012

I would like to do this but

would the part accept white paint and clear coat easily?

bikingpro5 · May 2, 2012

BRIAN_MP5T said:
I would like to do this but

would the part accept white paint and clear coat easily?

Had my first set painted and cleared, would still be this way but i changed to locking ones instead of the standard ones. Never had any issues with them its similar to painting any plastic.

BRIAN_MP5T · May 2, 2012

Roger

808MP5 · May 2, 2012

They sell white also Brian
Not sure it's the same shade though.

bikingpro5 · May 2, 2012

808MP5 said:
They sell white also Brian
Not sure it's the same shade though.

Id be more comfortable painting the black ones to match the car, the wrong shade would drive me crazy.

speedracr79 · May 2, 2012

Nice write up ill eventually get a set of these once i get my car back together. I was worried about cutting into the hood wrong but seeing the way you did it is pretty much fool proof

joka1 · May 8, 2012

I said I would post some pics so here are some..... Car was in the garage so they are not the best but you get the point

.....But first some minor tips!!

1. Each C/F hood bottom is diffrent so placement of the pins on 1 car may not work the same with your hood (i.e. my driver side latch would not fit in the hood where I put it but the passenger worked great)

2. I cut 1 side then laid out a grid to ensure the other side was exact. After I was good with that I cut templates and lined up where the latches were to the headlights. Pretty much........measure 300 times, cut once

.

My Pass side:

Drivers side: cut more so the latch will fit

Pins: I used some big washers to make it blend better....... Both sides are the same!!

My few install pics are above............ I have a gemeni reverse cowl C/F hood I am going to install soon so the drivers side will only have a quarter size hole in the bottom as well

Rob

808MP5 · May 14, 2012

Did you guys cut the pin any? Mine don't clear the headlight housing when trying to use the default holes.

*edit
Well a lot harder than expected. Having a hard time getting the proper placement of the pins. Gotta widen the holes but a little too late to be making noise. Charlie Mike tomorrow after work.

bikingpro5 · May 15, 2012

808MP5 said:
Did you guys cut the pin any? Mine don't clear the headlight housing when trying to use the default holes.

*edit
Well a lot harder than expected. Having a hard time getting the proper placement of the pins. Gotta widen the holes but a little too late to be making noise. Charlie Mike tomorrow after work.

I cut mine once the placement and everything was figure out so i could slide the lights back onto the car. Agree lining things up is the worst part, but same time you really only want to cut one hole in the top of the hood.

808MP5 · May 15, 2012

Can't wait to get off work today to finish it up. I got the latches in place. It just didn't line up with the pins. I'm just gonna widen the holes in the radiator support so I can adjust the pins a little. Should work out I hope.

@Joka1
I did this to my Gemini RC hood. On the divers side you still have to make a big hole on the bottom because the latches are too deep and hit the skeleton under the hood. Not really a big hole. More like a slit.

bikingpro5 · May 15, 2012

808MP5 said:
Can't wait to get off work today to finish it up. I got the latches in place. It just didn't line up with the pins. I'm just gonna widen the holes in the radiator support so I can adjust the pins a little. Should work out I hope.

I did the same thing now that i think about it. I had to slide the pin over a bit and used a large washer under the bolts.

Aerocatch hood pins for Carbon Fiber hoods

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BAD WOLF

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