328 Bent and Broken Hoods

I just purchased a very low mile 87 328GTB that from pictures was perfect, and in fact is very nice, with the glaring exception of having a hood that has a break in the interior tube right at the hood stay. Kind of alarming to open a hood on a pristine car, and see the tube is literally broken in two.

There's been posts about shutting hoods on these cars, and the importance of OH DUH pushing the button in before attempting to shut the hood. The hoods are reported to be "fragile". Initially I figured a way to thoroughly gusset the inside of this tube, by machining a slot in the tube right where the grill attaches after it was removed, and inserting gussets inside the tube. BUT this is NOT just a normal hood! There's holes drilled through the tubing on BOTH sides of these hoods, and very strong brackets at the windshield side of the hood, that engage very strong brackets in the body. This is a CRUSH zone. Obviously the hood is designed to crumple on impact, and the drilled holes allow the tubing to do this in a controlled manner. Ferrari installing the hood stay directly next to one of their "crumple" holes creates an incredibly weak area, which has proven to be a problem with these cars. Gusseting the hood, to make it stronger, MAY destroy the safety zone Ferrari created with drilling the holes.

So a quandary- make the hood strong and a little more user friendly, but risk getting decapitated by a hood in a front end collision, or just SLIGHTLY gusset it in a way that gains a slight amount more rigidity. Welding the break in the tubing would NOT be an adequate, long term solution. I WAS thinking of laser cutting two strips of steel a foot long, and inserting them inside the tube of the hood and gusseting both sides of the tubing.The hood has a long slow curve to it, so the gussets would also need to match this curve. The hood in turn would have to be mounted in a buck supporting the hood at the correct position, before the gussets are secured.
At that point, I'm probably affecting the safety of the car. How many of these cars get whacked from the front so hard the hood crumples? I'm NOT planning on driving the GTB a tremendous amount I have another higher mileage 328GTS I'm going to drive a LOT. My goal is make a fix that is absolutely unnoticeable

I posted this simply because I don't think anyone has really examined the root cause of these problems with the hoods and posted it. The holes purposely drilled to weaken the hood in an accident, have REALLY weakened the hood to the extent it's not even adequate for day to day use. So look at your hoods, and understand the amount of leverage applied to lower the hood against the force of the hood shock, is RIGHT at the limit of the tubings ability to stay straight. I think I'm going to machine an easy to install, NO WELD gusset to ONLY go between the first and third hole, but NOT any longer. I can't believe how long I studied my GTS hood, wondering WHY did they drill the holes, effectively weakening it.

 

Wow, That's a really subtle way to solve the problem! The cause COULD be the dumb button, but the real cause is the hood is severely weakened by the intentionally drilled holes. I manufacture machines, and I don't make anything that's right at it's limit. You always engineer some over kill into any product of consequence. Ferrari didn't get this aspect right. I admire your sign however. We DO have to be prepared for the dolts in our life, that don't switch their brain on before attempting to do things they shouldn't.

Why would the hood stay need to be a break away part? If the hood stay kept the hood even slightly from going through the windshield, it would NOT be a part they would want to break away. I'm sure the main goal is to have the hood crumple in a controlled manner, and NOT have it be a projectile through the windshield.

They certainly accomplished this, but now I have to determine how much I want-need to modify or gusset without seriously affecting the crumple zone. One can be ham handed and REALLY fix the problem, but with a little subtly, be able to gusset it, and still not destroy their federally mandated crumple zone. The goal is to have an every day usable car, that the hood doesn't have to be handled with extreme care. ( OR have really big warning signs) I've seen other 328's with brackets that surround the tubing. An effective fix, quick and simple, but if you wanted to show the car or sell it for top dollar, the outside gusset would be a detraction.
The gusset i saw was screwed into the tube of the hood, but the screws had already loosened and the hood still flexed. A perfect car should have a hood that doesn't SHOW that it's been damaged.

Interestingly enough, my 85,000 mile 86 328GTS has JUST a gas shock. no button to push and a straight hood. A car put away wet, thrashed hard, had a turbo on it when I bought it. Didn't show much care and the hood survives. Now an 87 with the dumb button to push, an immaculate car in every other area, the hood is BROKE. Ferrari didn't get this aspect of the car right, and I just have to figure out a solution that's not going to require stripping the underside of the hood and recoating it. I have a few more tools at my disposal than the average guy, so it's NOT a problem.