Best "fit/quality" fiberglass/carbon fiber hood?
 

Hi all,

Right now I have the SS hood for the 68 camaro and want to go with a 1" cowl hood and I want to go with fiberglass or carbon fiber.

Fiberglass and carbon fiber hood are notorious for not fitting correctly but I'm sure there are a few manufacturers that do it right.

Any recommendations?

Mello - Anvil does a pretty good job w QC and standing behind their product. There's some pics in my build thread - see my sig line - if you want to view their fitment.

No CF or fiberglass hood will fit as good as OEM steel, and many aftermarket steel hoods can be adjusted to a very tight tolerance. It's just the nature of the beast, so know that as you decide on whether or not to do it.

P.S. I believe they come in 2" cowl hoods...

The OEM steel fitting best is the same thing the guy at the body shop told me too.

I'm not really against the OEM steel but the weight savings would be nice and figure fiberglass or carbon would be less prone to dents. I already got two dents on my upper valance from the mechanic :rolleyes: Anyways, I'll look into Anvil.

VFN makes the best fitting fiberglass. I once ran fiberglass doors and they were perfect. I also ran their cowl hood and that was a great fit also.

Have you looked into aluminum hoods? AMD makes a good looking one than only weighs slightly more than cf

Here are photos of the Aluminum front clip. You can see a slight crown in the hood at mid fenders. Not sure this is the case with all hoods they have made although I have a buddy that got a hood with the same issue.


http://i851.photobucket.com/albums/a...%206/007-1.jpg
http://i851.photobucket.com/albums/a...%206/006-1.jpg

Are you sure that's not from to much spring pressure?

Great question Todd....

No way can you use stock steel hood springs on a fiberglass or aluminum hood.

I thought I read somewhere that the AMD aluminum hood shipped with replacement hood hinge springs that were supposed to be "correct" tension.

This is slightly concerning because I was planning on their aluminum hood as well. As was mentioned, it is only slightly heavier than the fiberglass or CF/fiberglass hybrid hoods. Full CF hood is gonna be lighter but comes at a 2X price.

The aluminum hoods come with the correct springs.

That may be an assumption... If there is anything I've learned building this car, it's not to assume a damn thing.

the aftermarket steel cowl hoods are the same way, high in the middle. Thing is, the aftermarket steel SS hoods usually are much better in this respect. The edge angle just isn't right on the aftermarket ones.

The springs they supplied with my hood had great spring rating. Feels perfect when opening and closing hood.

I'd bet if I tried to close the aluminum hood with the steel hood springs I'd taco the hood.

my stock hood was high in the middle as well. i ended up drilling the spot welds in the fender and making it arc the same way as the hood. if your fenders are set up the same way as the chevelle its only a few hour fix.

Mines a hair high but nothing like Gaetano's. His is way lighter than mine though..:D

Nothing a cut off saw and a welder can't cure....

With the Camaro you could add shims in between the fender well and the fender in the engine compartment area and raise the fender and that might work but I haven't tried it yet.

It's all about priorities bro, do you want to be fast or pretty. I cant afford both right now :D .

I had to put 4x4 blocks on the corners then use a 2x4 to push down on the bowed up part of the hood.

Laying a 2X4 on edge and hitting it with a BFH is the way we used to fix this stuff when I worked in a body shop.... but I hesitate to post up instructions on how it's done... but it always worked just fine for us. :faint:

ive read that many times and actually tried it, but my hood wasnt going anywhere and i didnt want to hit it any harder.

They do or they should have