Just a few shots of the hood Mask (aka bra) for the Forester. I wanted to get one of those bug deflectors but you aren't supposed to fit one on an XT because it will divert the air flow away from the intercoolers hood scoop.

closer

The underside, the arrows show where the hooks go for the elastic. It fits pretty tight.

(notice where I put my XT Badge from the rear :p )

Peaty 7/20/03

Well, after driving around a week with the mask I've discovered that the center part will buff up at the back and flap, hitting the paint :mad: I'm not sure if this is particular to the XT only. I've rechecked my install many times and even attempted to fix it by adding some velcro to the section that goes under the hood by the motor. I still haven't been able to prevent it from flapping. I will be removing it untill I can get an alternate solution. I'm thinking of Stoneguard clear bra or some variation there of.

Peaty 7/24/03

Well, being the sort of person that looses sleep over silly things like flapping hood masks, I came up with something to try to prevent it from happening. See I still have the mask on because while I'm waiting for the clear mask i ordered I still want to have something protect the paint. I don't want to seal over chips that I may get in the mean time.

Anyway, I got the idea if I took a coat hanger and straightened it out and slid it in the piping in the back (trailing edge of the mask, the felt like stuff) it would stop it from bulging up and flapping. There is also a section on the hood just in about a foot where the hood sort of steps up toward the center. The mask will flutter a little there too. Not bad just enough to bug me. Well, I slid the hanger material in the piping between the two little wind diverters and then by where that step is on both sides. I bent the wire to match the step in the hood, kind of like a lazy "Z" so the material was close to the hood. I'm happy to report that in the step spot there is no more flapping even up to around 90MPH. The center part will still bulge slightly (not a lot) at the leading edge of the hood at high speeds like 70 or so but, the material at the trailing edge no longer flaps and beats on the paint. So for now at least it's safe to use the mask.

The way I got the wire in the piping was easy. I cut it to length with some linesman pliers, and sort of poked it in the material and threaded it along the piping. I made sure all of it was in and covered by the piping material so it would not scratch anything. Anyway, just thought this might help someone that had the same problem.

Peaty 7/29/03

Ended up installing a clear bra look here:

http://www.scoobymods.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2350