ALFAGTV6.COM

[Lucio]

Dear friends,
I've been given a fairly good price quote for a new fiberglass bonnet and hatch for my GTV6.
Can someone in the know tell me pros/cons of such conversion? Rust-free & reduction of weight are certainly pro's. What about cons? Is fiberglass hard to paint? Easy to scratch afterwards?
I imagine I need a new seal for the hatch glass, correct?

I'm getting tired of rust...I live close to the seaside and use my car almost as a daily driver so I definitely need a solution that doesn't force me to do a new paint job every other year...

Speak your mind
LC

[Mats]

Fibreglass rear hatch on a streetcar wouldn't even cross my mind, impossible to get to seal and can't see how it would work well with a glass window. Noisy I'd guess too.

[Lucio]

Fibreglass rear hatch on a streetcar wouldn't even cross my mind, impossible to get to seal and can't see how it would work well with a glass window. Noisy I'd guess too.

Why? Please elaborate
Can't one simply use the seals of the original hatch?

Lucio

[mjr]

no where near strong enough for a hatch lid, with such a big piece of glass. CF or composite may work. too much flex in fibreglass

[Alfa GTV6 NZ]

i would agree, the glass would be to heavy.
if you had a fibre glass hatch you would need to use a lexan or plastic rear window to keep the weight down.

[Lucio]

i would agree, the glass would be to heavy.
if you had a fibre glass hatch you would need to use a lexan or plastic rear window to keep the weight down.

They claim half the weight of the original one. Here you can see the hatch and other parts:
http://highwoodalfa.com/bob2/7784b8c0-5 ... f75-9.html

Lucio

[Mats]

I'd say my rear hatch with PC window weighs somethink like a tenth of what a sheet metal/glass unit does. But it is very difficult to perfectly reproduce a sheel metal part in fibreglass, the shape is not easy to get perfect and the GTV rear hatch is very slender in the windoe frame area and therefore very difficult to get stiff enough to seal properly. You will have problems with exhaust in cabin...

[mjr]

agree with Mats. stick with the metal hatch, and fit plexi glass. most of the weight is in the glass

[Mats]

I wouldn't even consider plexi/PC glass on a car used on the streets, too noisy!

[Lucio]

I wouldn't even consider plexi/PC glass on a car used on the streets, too noisy!

Thanks to everyone for the feedback! What about the bonnet/hood instead? Similar pros/cons? Or is it safer?

Thanks
L