Fiberglass decklid louvers?

Anyone know of a source for fiberglass period correct looking decklid / eng lid louvers to fit on both sides of the engine grille?
Thxs
Doug

Everyone I've seen has been aluminum. Sometimes they're glassed into a fiberglass hood, and sometimes the whole hood is aluminum. What kind of car do you have? A hood from one won't necessarily fit another.

Doug,

I've made several trips around the 'net looking for 'glass louvers and, while there were some for sale they were a little pricey. Also, they usually are not "open" louvers although you could open them and finish the edges. Best bet might be to find someone who has a louver puncher, get some punched into metal panels and then 'glass them into the engine cover.

If I recall correctly, Peek Performance in MD does the punched louvers. ~Alan

You probaly heared the phrase been there done that!!! I had a fibreglass lid made by Ledgend when they were going in the UK it looked sort of ok but the edges of the louvers were to thick. So I had a complete aluminium skin made removed the whole top fibreglass pannel section and replaced it with the aluminum. Looks far better from all angles. If you try and let in just ali louvers the glass/ filler will crack due to different expansion rates when the sunshine warms the lid up.
Hope the helps Nigel

where did you get the top skin made?

JPS definitely sells an all glass decklid with the open louvers you describe (I have his first one). If your body is slightly different from a JPS, you might be able to cut out a cardboard template of your decklid and send it to him. He may be able to oblige you.

Probably best to send the entire deck lid ....

Doug ~
Good Morning ~

I purchased a complete Carrera Deck Lid (with louvers) from Rusty Tubs as well as a Tonneau Cover with Head Fairing.

To make a "Long Story Short", you will need to know how to Fiber Glass and "Fit" the body parts to fit your car.(FAR MORE then a week end project in my speedsters case) I fitted the body parts, made a padded head rest (RSK 550) had Dupont Porsche Ivory mixed(I painted the body parts myself, color sanded and applied Dupont clear coat to the two new body parts. The out come made a "Wonderful Appearing Car" even more unique.

If you are considering under taking this project (of just the Carrera Deck Lid); email me and ask any questions you have. I also have many pictures of the "Ordeal".

The finished product is worth the effort in my view.

Jack

I bought a set of louvers from JPS. They are stamped aluminum. My install invloved lightly sandblasting the louvers to give the resin and glass a substrate to to adhere. I glassed them to make the louvers uniform with the body. My louvers are flipped over to pull the air out rather than pull the air in. It 's a long process which you need not to hurry. Give plenty of time for the resin to cure. Set the deck out in the sun for a few days to aid the curring . They use filler to finish. The glass will have some shrinkage. To eliminate shrinkge use vinylester resin ( first choice) or isophaltic resin.

Thxs for all the input. I'm leary of using aluminum louvers given the differing expansion rates between aluminum & fiberglass.
Like others, I've tried searching for fiberglass louvers ( something that looks close to the orig Carerra look ) but haven't found anything yet. I thought I had found something at UP22 site on internet ( manufac of lots of fiberglass hoods, scoops, etc )but no stand alone louvers...). I Emailed Kirk at VS and he said they could order a new unpainted dual louvered grill special order for $500 just like the picture of the JPS dual louvered grill I enclosed in my Email. I'm pretty sure JPS & VS use the same body manufactuer in Mexico. I suspect --but don't know --that the whole decklid & louvers are all fiberglass but didn't think to ask. I'll keep looking for fiberglass louvers but gotta believe some manufactuer does "just fiberglass louvers". $500 is probably a fair price, but I don't need a whole new decklid -- mine's great. I just want to add dual louvers myself and get a body shop to re-spray the louvered decklid. Thxs for all the options & advice....that's whats so great about the SOG!
Doug

Doug - I can confirm that the JPS decklid is indeed all fiberglass, with louvers open to admit air. Back in 2001, when John supplied mine, he and Kirk got most of their parts from the same supplier in Mexico. However, John also told me he paid for the tooling to make the louvered version of the decklid, so he most probably owns the tooling. Perhaps John sells them to Kirk?
In any case, I'm sure you are aware that each body manufacturer probably has slightly different molds, and parts are therefore not a necessarily an interchangeable fit, body to body. Best of luck.

Great looking louvers... mind if I ask what those aluminum louvers can be bought for? Love to add them to my decklid too. ;o) Also, I cant seem to find a phone number for JPS. Hmmm... ;o) Thanks mucho

Can't help with the cost of aluminum louvers,but John Steele's Phone # is (818)985-8891
Spdstr57

I noticed that RustyTubs in Atl, GA has a louvered fiberglass red engine lid in many of their ads. The "louvers are actually just bumps in the photo (not cut thru). It does add a nice look to rear of a non-classic Speedy - even if it doesn't help the cooling. With thickness of FG cutting them open might not look right.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=460631

I saw a close up at their web site (scroll down to red engine lid)

http://www.rustytubs.com/porsche-speedster-kit-car-bodies-replica-3.html

The fiberglass louvers scare me, as I'm afraid they'll look too thick.
Joe, did you get yours from JPS? I called him and he told me a skin of metal with the louvers punched in will cost me $800. Seems a bit much when all I need is the 2 louver sections... to do what you did, no?

There are several companies around that will punch louvers if you provide the metal. I've never priced them in a while but I'm almost sure it will be cheaper than $800. They usually can punch different sizes so it would help to know what the size and spacing is on a 356 if you want to be accurate. Here's one, they'll even provide the meetal: www.louversbydenny.com

i talked with john at JPS last week. he has an deck lid all fiberglass
for 350 plus shipping. the fiberglass is bare and the louvers are stamped but not cut out. he said it is an extremely time consuming job and rated it extremly difficult. sounded to me like he said it is too expensive just to add louvers for most people.

I don't know about the "expensive" part. I could see a metal panel
with louvers punched costing about $100-150.. from a company
who punches them regularly. Taking a $5 piece of steel, drawing
6 lines on it, then punching 6 identical louvers in that piece of steel
would probably take about 10 minutes. 10 extra minutes for the 2nd
set of 6 louvers, and bingo they're for sale. That's 3 sets of louvers
per hour... probably more (easily) once you get on a roll punching.
Even at $125 per set, the guy punching the louvers is making $360 an
hour. Pretty fair price. Now just gotta find that guy with the louver die.
hehe
Even though I work with fiberglass everyday, I dont thing fiberglass
louvers would be the way to go (for looks). Grafting them in wouldn't
be too hard.

Peek Performance (VW Shop)in Seabrook MD

Alan, that's probably old scoop on Peek. Dave bought the shop from Shawn last year, and Shawn kept the punch. I needed the punch for my firewall; Dave told me I'd need to call Shawn to see if I could borrow it.
No movement since. I haven't pursued it, but I'll probably need to do that sooner or later.

Fiberglass louvers can be made to look fine as long as you hand lay everything and keep the glass thickness uniform... and REALLY watch your resin build up, especially in the low areas (i.e. in the louvers). Takes some extra time to lay up, but end results are very nice.
The louvered decklid we make is slightly different from the others in that the louvers are slightly wider, with a tiny bit more spacing between them. This was done so they could be cut open.
I have never been a fan of grafting aluminum/metal into the finished side of a glass product.

Here is the one I got from Cary Hines a couple of years ago.

I have some panels. Louvers are 6-1/2" W x 1" x .030 steel . See pic.

1) Can someone with a louvered decklid panel please report; is 6-1/2" wide correct ??
2) How many louvers, 5 or 6 ??

The next pic is a 356 coupe race car with SLANTED apron louvers. Looks pretty cool!

Cory, I wasn't "kept in the current events loop" at Peek, Shaun is a great guy to deal with.

'58 5 louvers
'59 6 louvers

Carey,
How wide were the louvers?
Thanks,
Jim

Not sure how wide the originals were. Ours are approx. 6 3/4" wide.