After a lengthy and productive conversation wtih Mark Ferguson yesterday (about sponsorship, the board in general, and what a good group we have here), we wanted to formally introduce BFP, Inc. to the board. In the coming weeks, we will sponsor the board - which will correspond to product rollouts for the MC and MCS.

At present, we have 4 MC/MCS projects we are working on, all in Carbon Fiber. The hood scoop (of which a teaser pic was posted a week or two ago that can beseen here), carbon fiber engine cap covers, which are currently selling here, carbon fiber mirror covers (real CF, not the sticker ones) which are almost fresh out of the oven, and at least one, possibly two, rear wings for the MC/MCS in Carbon Fiber. A CF interior is on the drawing board...

Going forward we would like to explore a CF hood which would weigh well under 20 lbs for the performance contingency...

All of our Carbon Fiber components are made through either a vacuum bagged and autoclaved process, or a bladder molded process. It's not the same inexpensive "wet lay" method in which those $150.00 honda hoods are made (Basically raw CF is laid onto fiberglass and an epoxy is painted on). Our CF shop has been making parts for the Ducati and Yamaha race teams for years, and is known as one of the highest quality manufacturers in the USA.

Feel free to shoot us any questions over PM or Email. Our email address is sales@benferperformance.com. Over the next couple of weeks we will be rolling out the CF hood scoop, mirror covers, and rear wing - with the engine bay cap covers already selling on Ebay. We plan on being a helpful and non-spamming entity on the board (aside from the product intros in this post), and we will be active participants in board activities.

Regards,

-All of us at BFP, Inc.

 

Wow, sounds great! Will you have a website, or will you just be selling via Ebay? I represent MINI-Madness and we would definitely like to secure a good carbon fiber parts producer. Feel free to drop me a PM and we'll chat.

R

 

OH YA, a carbon fiber hood sounds fantastic. Keep us posted please.

 

We do have a website for some of the other products we sell for other cars, however it will need to be updated with a MC/MCS section over the next couple of weeks. You will be able to buy off of the website, and FAQ's/instructions will be posted on there...

...As far as a CF hood, we've actually delivered a whole hood to our CF people for them to fit the hood-scoops onto correctly. They are picking their brains as to how to do a sweet lookin' CF hood with the scoop integrated for the MCS, and a standard hood for the MC's.

-BFP

 

I'm very interested about the carbonfiber hood. About how much are we talking about in terms of pricing? and when will it be available?

 

Hey BFP,

How about a CF Hood for the coopr, that has vents in the proper places?

And, I'm still interested, PM me... You can use my MINI for Product placement!

-Doug

 

>>Hey BFP,
>>
>>How about a CF Hood for the coopr, that has vents in the proper places?
>>
>>And, I'm still interested, PM me... You can use my MINI for Product placement!
>>
>>-Doug

Doug, Mark mentioned you'd likely be interested in such! I sent you an email earlier today (should have gone through, internet went down earlier).

As for the cost of the hood, I dunno yet. It will likely be around 1K. When I get final pricing I can explain why it's different than the $150 honda CF hoods (many of which weigh nearly as much as the stock hood), and what goes into designing and manufacturing such a hood. The tooling itself will probably cost us over $10K...

-BFP

 

OK, perhaps a dumb question. What is the advantage of Carbon Fiber products? The weight? and if so, how much weight would you actually save with the hood alone and in turn how significant of an improvement can be made? Or is the appeal the look? Guess I'm not too familiar with this stuff and just trying to be more informed.

 

>>OK, perhaps a dumb question. What is the advantage of Carbon Fiber products? The weight? and if so, how much weight would you actually save with the hood alone and in turn how significant of an improvement can be made? Or is the appeal the look? Guess I'm not too familiar with this stuff and just trying to be more informed.
>>
>>


In terms of the hood, we're talking something along the lines of going from 150 lbs(approx, I haven't weighed it yet) to 15 lbs. On an already front-heavy car, a CF hood would do wonders for handling and speed. (Think HP/weight ratio) The other parts we produce are more for aesthetics, and in our opinion, make the MC and MCS look really sharp. When you get into things like the mirror covers, hood scoop for the S, wing, and interior - there's really no weight advantage... it just looks cool.

Regards,

-BFP

 

I would definetly like to see more Carbon Fiber products...Looks good so far guys, keep it up.

 

Well guys,

There are two ways to produce Carbon Fiber Componants... the Right way and the Wrong way, and from everything I've seen so far, and their techniques... They are doing it RIGHT.

-Doug

 

>>>>Hey BFP,
>>>>
>>>>How about a CF Hood for the coopr, that has vents in the proper places?
>>>>
>>>>And, I'm still interested, PM me... You can use my MINI for Product placement!
>>>>
>>>>-Doug
>>
>>Doug, Mark mentioned you'd likely be interested in such! I sent you an email earlier today (should have gone through, internet went down earlier).
>>
>>As for the cost of the hood, I dunno yet. It will likely be around 1K. When I get final pricing I can explain why it's different than the $150 honda CF hoods (many of which weigh nearly as much as the stock hood), and what goes into designing and manufacturing such a hood. The tooling itself will probably cost us over $10K...
>>
>>-BFP

Definitely put me down for one - especially if you are able to save 135 pounds!

 

>>OK, perhaps a dumb question. What is the advantage of Carbon Fiber products? The weight? and if so, how much weight would you actually save with the hood alone and in turn how significant of an improvement can be made? Or is the appeal the look? Guess I'm not too familiar with this stuff and just trying to be more informed.
>>

Twominis - just get the pulley already!

 

BFP,

What's the latest?

Very interested
-Doug

 

Hrmmm cf hood. I was hoping someone was going to make a cf hood for the mini. Glad I found this thread. You guys made my day. Now to save money if the hood is going to be 1k.

 

I think a CF hood on my mini would look funny, the hood on the mini's are practically the whole front end of the car. But I think it would look awesome on the silver or the black mini's. I think a CF hood with grill vents on top like the ones on the Supras etc. have would look really cool.

Would it be difficult to install and stuff because the headlights are part if the hood? I know the CF hoods are very light but what about saftey issues? I know CF is pretty strong but it can't be better then the stock ones in a front end collision?

 

Actually, Carbon fiber, if done in multiple layers IS better than Stock. It is stronger and semi flexible. the Stock underhood frame and mounts are what give it it's strengths. Which I'm sure the CF hoods will either use or incorprate the same safety structure. If you sandwich corregated aircraft aluminium into the hood design as stuctural framework, it will be the strongest piece on the whole car... and lighter than anything imagined.