mmdb

I finally picked up my hood from Mike over at Kognition Design over in El Cajon, CA . Upon initial inspection I was very pleased. Build quality looked excellent, and i could see that Mike put a lot of detail into what he was building. Mike stated the hood weighed in at ~14lbs. Compared to the stock hood, I could pick up this one with one hand, and it definitely put a big smile to my face. The underbody skeleton of the hood itself looked to be very good quality, and again looked to be developed using a lot of time and detail. It was pleasing to see to say the least. Upon feel, the hood feels feather light, and using a single hand to raise it feels almost weightless. Mike later showed me the mold to develop the top and bottom skeleton, and I was amazed at the amount of reinforcement the OEM hood had... I could understand WHY the OEM hood was so damn heavy in the first place. Again, mold looked great and it reflected in the product.

When it came time to install I was anticipating the hood to be off a bit. But to my surprise the thing just bolted right up and aligned similar to my OEM hood (keep in mind my fenders have problems of their own aligning to the car ). I felt that this is where my purchase with Mike at Kognition paid off. After aligning the hood we installed Aerocatch hood pins without much effort. The whole install took about 3-4 hours with occasional tours around his facility.

Now the hood does not have a OEM hood latch. It could be good, or bad for some. But in my opinion the OEM hood latch implemented and sold by other companies has a terrible fit, or could break (according to online reviews). I highly recommend using hood pins whenever upgrading to a composite type of hood. So in my case it was not an issue. The OEM hood latch was removed so it maybe saved an extra 1lbs?

In conclusion I'm glad I waited for the hood (it's been 2-3 years!.. don't expect to wait that long for the hood btw... Mike was busy living his life ). You do get what you pay for. As for driving impressions, I'm guessing it's more of a placebo effect, but the car feels lighter on its feet. Regardless, lighter is better!


Mike installing the hood while I zone out.



A not-so-great picture of the underbody. I'll take more pictures of it later. But check out the hood stand. Pretty nice eh?



Picture of the hood outside...



Top view...

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.25 till 3

illvialuver

So it is just an oem replacement hood? I was expecting vents or some shit somewhere, it looks good though.

PhantomK

how much was the hood?

unreal-

looks great!

What kind of wing are you using?

GSXRJJordan

Looks fantastic. Way to go

Wing looks like a JDM kouki wing with a gurney flap?

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Enna

Fuck yeah. Now I just can't wait to see the final pics of the vented version. I want this so fucking bad....

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S14 Kouki - any wiring guru's coming to vegas?

TurboFC3C

what kind of projectors are you using?

ManoNegra

Very nice, your car is a source of inspiration
it's refreshing to see a car built right and not to appeal to the 'it's-all-about-looks' crowd

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S-Chassis/Z32 Rear Upright Spherical Bearing Group Buy

RPSil13

looks good, i like the new wheels too
hows the g-meter working for you?
can you pm me the shops # that did your swap
thanks
Art

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mmdb

I requested an OEM style hood. I'm sure mike could work with you if you wanted a hood vent.

I paid ~1.1k. Mike mentioned the price to drop as he was going to hold a group buy. Expect a lower price.

Thanks! The wing is an OEM JDM Kouki wing with a BMW E30 gurney flap. It's difficult to know if it produces any sort of additional down force. I'll be transitioning to a kognition wing later on.

Hmm maybe i should've gotten a vented version... 0.o haha. I'm sure it'll be of good build quality as well.

They E46 single xenon projectors. If i could do it again I'd probably go s2k or tsx, but it's been a while.

Thanks for the complement! I think, when approaching to build a car to be fast and handle well, will look great. I like a simple look without much flare. I stick all of my stickers/autographs on my gurney flap or under the hood.

I think the G meter is good for general direction (ie if you want to see if a brake pad adjustment is working well). At the race track you really need to memorize how many G's you hit in a certain corner, what racing line you were taking, how fast you were going, what gear you were in, what your braking and acceleration points you were using, etc... and it becomes a hassle. I use it more of a fun tool to see how hard I took a certain corner and how much more I can push it. I'd recommend using something more hardcore, but for 100 bucks you can't go wrong!

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.25 till 3

Chad4061

looks good man...i got a seibon hood and gonna be installing some aerocatch hood pins.just curious...is there a particular reason why you have your latches turned horizontal instead of the usual vertical position?

ILoveMyRHS13

I don't think I've ever seen your car. It looks badass! The hood looks great, too. Kognition is awesome.

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CamryOnBronze

That looks great, props to Mike!

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dan240

Hood looks great.

Thread for build/motor swap?

Quail

^ My thoughts exactly. Have you got a build thread/more pics anywhere?

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JT-CULTURE.com

510-SR20DET

holy shit 1.1 K and waited for years? I don't know if i still have my car by the time the hood is made. lol

TravisSW

I'm very impressed!

How much was it? My Zenki CF hood is faded to hell and not so much back. I'd like to get a new one.

Any possible CF trunks?

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280k High Mile Club! 7/1/08
Cyl 1: 155 C2: 120 C3: 150 C4: 145

kognition

lol, not exactly. I made half of the mold last Oct. Wife had baby, and i closed for about 6 months. Then recently finished bottom half mold. It wasn't really a priority part for me, because the market is saturated with carbon hoods. I will probably only make ten more this year. Too busy with my track wings these days.

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Kognition Design = Lightweight Goodness!

Danco29

how long will it take to make a wing? also wat price range am i looking at?

kognition

Wings are $1,200 + Shipping
The new wing production begins in one week. Backlogged with orders, so about three weeks from 1st day of production.

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Kognition Design = Lightweight Goodness!

S14-vietusmc

Plan on doing 5 kouki and 5 zenki?

kognition

No sorry guys. Just Kouki.

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Kognition Design = Lightweight Goodness!

randyjordan

so did not know kognition was in el cajon

i live really close

that hood looks amazing

good choice of hoodpins as well

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yer

dynamicck

Car is looking good Jimmy!

I love that LS1!

mmdb

Thanks! The hood latches were installed that way to minimize cutting the CF structure underneath, not to say you can't do it all at.

It's scattered all over the places (LS1tech.com and silviav8forums.com). There's countless examples of the swap on either site, but I'd start at silviav8forums.

Thanks! Ls1tech and silvia8forums for the motorswap and nissanroadracing.com for my suspension tweaks 'n other suspension stuff.

Thanks! Let's hit SOW some time!

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.25 till 3

kenshinS14sks

car looks mean! saw you on the 405 the other day and when i told you my name you had this look on your face. good thing your sn's easier than mine. but man, didn't know you had an ls1 in there, siiiiiiiick car and hyper sexy.

mmdb

Oh lol! Awesome! Yeah when you told me your name there was no way i was going to remember it! You're car was really clean and looks like we're running the same OEM aero cept yours is a zenki i think. I thought I saw that car somewhere before, maybe it was someone else's car though. I guess you work around there? I bet we'll run into each other again. ARG 405!!!!

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.25 till 3

.GENO.

i know this irrelevant but is that navan sideskirts?

kandyflip445

You NEED to put a numbered plate on these. Like 1 of 20. Watch it be worth a fortune later due to build quality and rarity.....



or it would just be cool. lol

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My 240 vBgarage

Ceepo

i wish you made zenki hoods lol... i love koukis but its over played...

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1995 240sx SE (current)