62 Polara 500 Cruiser

55

So I got a project underway that has been on the shelf for almost a decade. I bought a number of 1962 Polara 500 fiberglass hoods from WS Fiberglass when they were still in business. That ordeal is another story. On this street driven cruiser I always wanted a cold air intake, but wanted an efficient stealth look. So attached is my lost foam mockup underneath. A few years back I installed a new alum Rad, lowered it approx 2" and moved it back another 2". This allowed me to deepen the rad bulkhead and add intake air openings, I partitioned the air entering the grill between the radiator and these new openings. For a nearly finished pic of that aspect see pic #43 @ https://board.moparts.org/ubbthread...-62-polara-500-cruiser.html#Post1554276.

On the underside of the hood I layered an 1/8" Foam layer first, since this is a Florida car and all my hoods are flat black, to gain a little thermal insulation from the sun, and since grafting onto existing FG can sometimes lead to visible distortion upon final resin cure. I will install rubber flaps on both ends to seal air flow. I'm doing the CF/Kevlar Layup today. I decided not to vac bag as I'm afraid it might distort hood for little gain.

I used hand layup with specific areas of added Kelvar.

Holes are for aerolatches, and small lift pulls/heat vents.

56

So this is almost finished.
White interior paint is to radiate less heat. Gold reflective foil is the opposite, the stuff is nearly impossible to get applied smooth. Used a LARGE SS hose clamp to retain neoprene sealing flap on air filter. I will be adding two large hood vents, when finally installed and I can test for the the lowest and/or highest differential air pressure areas on hood for exact vent location.

You can also make out the underside of a small CF aero front trim lip I fabbed up to replace the OEM flat SS trim.

#57

White I was doing the hood, I wanted to also improve the air flow post grille and in front of the radiator. I came up with a pair of these custom CF diverters to direct and smooth out the air flow into the radiator, The top is partitioned off by a CF shelf to separate the engine air intake and radiator air flow, They weigh 3? oz'?. They can't be seen behind the screened off grille, so take a good look.