Hi all,
Ive been in contact with a company based out of Calgary, Alberta, Canada called iON Performance in regards to a carbon fibre hood for the 97/8 Protege. Here is an excerpt from a recent email:

Hi Kris,
If you can commit to an initial order of 10 pieces (including your own) then at least the prices/hood will be more reasonable.
If 9 hoods are being shipped down to Oregon to CS, then the cost of shipping/hood is $100US.
If it's just done in the regular CF pattern, then each hood will cost ~$650CAD/hood. This is factoring some of the tooling cost/ hood.
A deposit of 50% must be made @ the time of order. We'll also need a stock hood to replicate.
And yes, if you don't want the washer nozzles to be pre-drilled, they can be left un-drilled.
Best Regards,
Jack

For those of you wanting to know the exchange, $650 CDN is equivalent of about $475 USD.

This company is pretty well known in Canada in the world of Suburu's. iON also makes an OEM hood for the P5 as well as a ram air style with a ram air ducting sytem similar to a hood from Cervinis.com. They also have the ability for colour CF weave and CF/kevlar weave.Their CF hood for the P5/MP3/MSP Protege - weighs in at only 12lbs (well actually 11.9lbs).
- Features rolled edges (so not cut-off like some other hoods) this prevents lift from occuring;
- All OE hood mounting points are retained;
- Zinc/Nickle plated hood latch included
- The underlay/under hood structure is made of NBFRP which is a maleable form of fibreglass. The whole top skin however is CF or CF/Kevlar depending on your choice.

iOn also have some neat toys for the Protege's (3gens) such as upgraded break kits, including a big break kit with a big hefty price tag to go with it, and have done business with at least one guy who recognizes them from their previous days...thread here:

For those interested, iON Performance currently holds the title for the highest powered 2.0L Subaru Impreza WRX in the UK that's daily driven. Over 435awhp @ 1.8bar boost and over 350lb-ft torque. Best of all it's a in a sleeper wagon chassis! The only changes that the owner of this car made was the use of our header system and P500 hybrid turbo. The rest of his car remained the same as before the use of our parts (which made ~300awhp and 287lb-ft torque @ 1.36bar boost)

So back to OUR hood...the hood to be created would be an OEM style hood in basic CF. Derrick from Corksport will be talking to iON in the next day about this project. For those of you in the US, its looks as though you would be able to get your hood through corksport.com and not have to have it shipped from Canada.
Also, for an added $75 CDN ($55 USD), you can have a colour CF weave. Colour CF is available in blue, red, or yellow. Orange is also available, but may cost more as their is very little of it.

Here is a pic of iON's hood for the 3gen/P5...




If there is success with this hood, im sure one for the 95/6 Protege could then be made too! If you ARE interested in this project, please call and bug Derrick at Corksport at 1-503-252-5700. Dont forget to tell him that 'Kris-from-Canada' sent you!
No worries,
Kris

 

K Dawg ONE - Just wanted to make sure that everyone knows that these hoods will not have the washer nozzles pre-drilled.

Once CS gives us a call to make arrangements, you guys can call CS to make your own arrangements for payment etc.

 

the 97-98 hoods are the same as the 95-96 hoods ...
damn that's a sweet deal ..

I think I may be interested , but money is just really tight right now ...
what sort of time frame are we looking at for this? ..
How much time do we have to put in?

 

I didnt know all 2gens had the same hood. I thought they did, but, Derrick kinda made me think they didnt. Well, thats good...bigger market. Anyways, im guessing for timline, is whenevr we can get 10 people. Right now, id like to have one, Patrick wants one, id IDEALY like CS to get 5, and then we'd only need 3 more...

 

not to complain , but I am thinking in my head ,, damn and I am collecting all these turbo goodies ....
I can be put down as a possible, but I am really not sure ...
I will try and put something up on my Website pointing to ur email and also this link on my site ...
Bruce

 

finally someone is goin to make these...i thought i was goin have to try making this myself...lol
i interested keep me posted....

 

I may have to join in , but I would definetly need to know the final price. I know this would look sweet on my red car
Bruce

 

A CF hood for the 2nd Gen, Finally. I am very interested, please let me know when and where available. Just think, carbon fiber on spark green mica, I know yall are feelin' it!

 

i am extremely interested.... it will take a couple of months though to raise the money since i'm not getting much work right now... will they drill holes for nozzles for a little extra? or do we have to do it ourselves or have someone? also will they latch with the stock latch? or do we have to use hood pins?

 

i would like to get one but i can't due to the fact that im 16 and i can only work so much... maybe at the end of the summer. hopefully ill get 40+hrs in a week over the summer

 

Hey guys!

I would be really interested in that, let us know the final price and possible S/H charges according to size or weight. Mine would have to be shipped to FL.

 

Im going to talk to Derrick at CS on Monday and see whats up....

 

Interested in the hood....find out final price and how much would it cost to have it delivered to Puerto Rico.


http://www.cardomain.com/id/tazz_pr

 

remeber to tell Derrick that a lot of us are interested , especially that guy from new york that ordered the jspec bumper lol

 

LOL...when I talked to him yesterday (Monday) I actually did mention "Bruce, the guy with the red JDM 95 from Protegeclub." He knew who you were...

Anyways, Derrick called last week and wasnt able to talk to the guy he needed to so he said he was gonna call later on yesterday (was only noon PST, 4 EST or so here).
Thats all I know for now!

Kris