Hey board members you came thru in the last poll. I stopped counting at 11. The vote was 11 to 0 in favor of a seamless hood and nose. You guys are great-and it's kinda of fun to design a product with help from my potential future customers. I guess that's rather rare in any business.
After the work this week I have discovered good news/bad news. I won't be able to make a one piece hood and nose. Yes I could make it but it couldn't work, here's why. The nose is going to wrap under the side bumper about 10 inches back from the front edge of the bumper. If the nose were part of the hood it couldn't fit the sled because I am using the side bumper channel to anchor the hood. The hood drops down into the channel and the nose butts to the under side of the bumper-it can't work.
So here's my current thinking. I will make a separate hood and nose. I am going to eliminate the hinge. That way I can butt the hood to the back side of the nose. If I'm good, the joint between the two will only be 1/16". That will get us a seamless look in a practical way.
Ski-doo Mike and I have been talking about a headlight location. He said take it off the handle bars and put it in the nose. With a separate nose bolted to the front end, I will have the strength to support a light. This will be my goal.
One of the draw backs of a take off hood are instrument cables and wiring. They tether the hood to the sled and make working in the engine compartment more difficult. This is solvable two ways. The light in the grill eliminates the wiring issue. I'm reasonably sure I can come up with a small metal dashboard for gauges and idiot lights so they won't need to be attached to the hood. The dashboard would mount under the handle bar mount block, lower than the hood and over the tank.
Progress
This week I filled in the left deck side and raised a side mold line so there's room for RXL side decals. I have also started roughing in the nose.