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As you can see above, the VFN "long" 69 Camaro hood was now cut down to the "stock size". The underside looks very similar to the the OEM inner structure - because they moved it forward for us when they built it to order. Now this stock sized, lightweight, flat hood could be fitted to the car with the
AMD stock replacement aluminum cowl panel in place.
The
AMD aluminum front sheet metal (that is all made to the OEM sizes, just stamped in aluminum) was squared up together with the hood. This took a few hours to get everything lined up and it all fits pretty well, but we'll have the body shop set the final gaps.
The air inlet tube was installed and the hood clearanced at the OEM front latch location - which was not a concern as we wouldn't be latching there. The fiberglass was ground back, little by little, to make this area clear the tube.
Making hood latches from scratch is tricky, but our crew has been planning this for a good while - remember the billet hinges we tried early on? Those OEM sized hinges were so big they hit the 315mm front tires! These are much lower profile, single pivot, non-assist hinges being built from thin aluminum plate. First the area of the hood area where the hinges could sit was laid out with tape. Then a then slot was cut into the edge of the cowl panel, where the hinge could fit into and sit flush with the top of the hood.
Next a pair of slim, single pivot hinges were built with a lateral offset forward of the cowl panel. This is how race car hoods are often hinged when the OEM hinges are gigantic, like the 1st gen F-body hinges are. The slim slit in the cowl that the hinge arm passes through will be hard to notice once all of this is painted.
Cold riveted threaded inserts were added to the recessed pockets that were designed into the fabricated steel firewall structure. This is where the back of the new hinges will bolt down.
The above left image shows the vertical part of the hinge that will be flush with the hood surface with the hood down. Most of these hinge structures will be completely hidden inside when the hood is closed. The above right image shows the lateral offset of the hinge parts where they line up with the under hood structure.
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