Need Advice on how to make some releifs in the underside of my engine comartment hatc
 

When closed my engine hatch presses down on the the hoses on the top of my headers. The hatch has been shimmed, but it's still causing a kink, and restricting flow. I am including a picture of engine hatch, you can see the black marks where it makes contact, and the elbow hoses on top of the header.

I was going to use a grinder, but i am sure that will look like ****! I want it to look nice!


http://i761.photobucket.com/albums/x...pse7de804c.jpg

This is just an idea and you may not like it, but just throwing it out there. What if you cut 4 small rectangular sections out of the hatch wide/long enough to accommodate the projection of each of the jumper hoses. Then covered the hole with a thin piece of rubber with a slit in it that was finished with some sort of trim around it. The idea here is that when the hatch is open, you see 4 finished rectangles and when you close the hatch, the jumper hoses will slip through the slit in the rubber and not get squished. I'm thinking you would have to cut the holes with a router so you could control the perimeter and the depth.

This may sound ridiculous to you, but I was trying to be creative..

It's not ridiculous... Kinda logical. I think I'm looking more like a clean cut out, maybe with colored or metal finish inside...

GlassDave made a really trick fountain hatch not to long ago to clear exhaust. Even had "fountain" negative embossed in the underside.

Keep in mind that the hatch is pretty thin where you would be cutting. It's only about an inch at the thickest part and you will be cutting on the inset part of the hatch. Suggestion to contact GlassDave is a good one..

How about four of these over the hoses?

http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...psbe456cab.jpg

Or maybe these?

http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...psaef6de51.jpg

I form and fabricate sheet metal for a living. Cut the minimum possible then have your local machine/fab shop (somewhere with a decent press brake department) cap the recessed cut out with thin gauge .03-06 al or ss. Fiberglass would be the preferred method but in most cases sheet metal is most cost effective vs glassing. If drawn and cut right in the flat a sheet metal box will corner up tight therefor not needing the corner seems welded up.

How about welding tight 90 degree fittings on both headers and pipes keeping them as low as possible and pointing them to the side of the boat? This way you could have the rubber hoses lower than the flange.

I would hate too cut that hatch up.

I would rough it out with a little 90 degree die grinder and a 1.5 scruffy disc until it clears all 4 hoses. Then do the cosmetic work to make it look good. You might be surprised at how little it is actually touching and a 1/4 inch clearance might go a long way. If that doesn't work then you can always do something more drastic but you have nothing to lose by just grinding it out to see if you can make it clear.

you cant change the orientation of those or they will have hot hydro locks at the top.