Custom Stainless Louvre ?

[DMC5180]

A couple years ago someone posted photo's of a one of kind custom fabricated Stainless Steel louvre on the Old.com. Does anyone remember who's car it was and if there are any photos available of it? I'm referring to the ALL stainless version not the skin kit version.

[jmpdmc]

I saw it at a PADMC tech session at Dave Stragand's house in 2009. Here is a link to photos and contact info for Ron Crouse, who had it made: http://www2.hypervolt.net:8080/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=1475&g2_page=3 I remember it was priced in the thousands but looked nice.



Jeff

[DMC5180]

Thanks Jeff,

Those are the photo's I was looking for. It would be nice to put those in a permanent Photo album on here along with the photos of the "Skin kit" version for future reference. I've heard that there are about 3 of that version out there. I've Only seen 1 photo of that version it was a B/W photo.

[uhhair]

There is an owner here in PA who has a similar louver setup. It's not one giant plate, but they attach on each row of them individually, over the original louver, but they look great. I'll see if I can find some pics of them.

[Nicholas R]

WOW that thing is wild. I'm honestly torn about my opinion on it's looks, however; I cannot help but be amazed by it's craftsmanship. That thing is a work of art!

[DMC5180]

WOW that thing is wild. I'm honestly torn about my opinion on it's looks, however; I cannot help but be amazed by it's craftsmanship. That thing is a work of art!

Exactly!

[DMC5180]

There is an owner here in PA who has a similar louver setup. It's not one giant plate, but they attach on each row of them individually, over the original louver, but they look great. I'll see if I can find some pics of them.

Yup, thats the SKIN KIT version.

[SS Spoiler]

Dennis does it sound like your thinking of building one for yourself?

[Jimmyvonviggle]

I think they look nice, but how much weight does that add to the car?

[Nicholas R]

I'm curious of the same thing. I would guess it's at least twice the weight of the fiberglass. Of course you definitely dont have to worry about it cracking!

[DMC5180]

Dennis does it sound like your thinking of building one for yourself?

I certainly could if I choose too, but no plans at this time. I mainly wanted to refresh my memory of the amazing craftsmanship and detail that went into that one.

[dmc4087]

Not really a fan of this.

I prefer the look of the black louvre as it breaks up the stainless and must weigh much less.

[jmettee]

I saw the one at the PA-DMC tech session first hand. It was made with superior expertise....looked great. It was REALLY heavy. If I were to guess from memory, I'd say it was 2-3 times heavier than the stock fiberglass one (which is heavier than I thought the first time I had it off the car).

I think it was fit checked on the car, but I don't recall it being fully mounted to the lift struts. I'd be concerned with the weight that you would need extremely good lift supports....& if you sourced stronger ones, I'd be concerned they would bend or otherwise damage the ball sockets the lift struts attach to.

[SS Spoiler]

In order to hold up my heavy SS spoiler I rigged up a center support that folds. Putting a wide 12" base on it keeps from damaging the facia. Drilled a series of holes in it for coolness sake.

[DMCflux]

Found photo online

[David T]

Found photo online

Years back at a warehouse tour in Cleavland there was a Delorean that had a HUGE S/S wing on the back with antennas on it. It was HEAVY! Looked like an oversize sissy bar like you see on motorcycles. Weight is a big factor and the Delorean is already overbiased with weight in the rear because of the rear mounted engine. One thing you do not want to do is to add any weight to the car behind the rear wheels!

[JohnZ]

Wouldn't be easy and useful to add a kind of a metal frame around the louvre? I was thinking about it the other day when I raised mine, it just felt so weak!

So I thought about some internal metal supports following the louvre's line just to avoid its bending... any ideas?

By the way, I'm definitely not in a hurry of doing such improvement ;)

[Rich W]

A couple photos of a SS Louver Skin Kit as installed on an early 81 project car
that started ownership in IL, went to NY and has since been shipped overseas.

Sorry, photos show more glare than details and I have other photos elsewhere.
This SS Kit did add weight and this car did have issues with the louver hinges.

22456

22457

[Starglider]

Modern vinyl wraps are good enough that if I wanted to achieve this effect I'd use stainless effect wrap; avoids the weight issue (aside from being cheaper).

[DMC5180]

Years back at a warehouse tour in Cleavland there was a Delorean that had a HUGE S/S wing on the back with antennas on it. It was HEAVY! Looked like an oversize sissy bar like you see on motorcycles. Weight is a big factor and the Delorean is already overbiased with weight in the rear because of the rear mounted engine. One thing you do not want to do is to add any weight to the car behind the rear wheels!

Your referring too Paul Cerny's car aka (SS Spoiler) He just mentioned above how he installed a Prop rod to support the extra weight.

[SAVAGE]

Stainless looking vinyl has become very real looking, has anybody ever used it on front and rear fascias (or louvers) to match the body? Not saying this is a good idea just wondering if this has been done.

[dvonk]

here is a thread on 3M 'stainless' vinyl wrap:

http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?7190-Stainless-Steel-3M-Wrap-for-front-and-rear

[SAVAGE]

Thank you dvonk