Early 2nd gen Formula carbon hood and hood pin options wanted

[OLDFLM]

I don't have that issue at all Bryan... I'm running their 850N shock with the red dot on the back and it works fine. I've never gotten around to putting a cowl seal on my car... HTH:

350N = Orange (79 lbf)
500N = White (112 lbf)
600N = Yellow (135 lbf)
700N = Gold (157 lbf)
850N = Red (191 lbf)
950N = Purple (214 lbf)
1050N = Blue (236 lbf)
1150N = Silver (259 lbf)
1300N = Green (292 lbf)
1500N = Pink (337 lbf)

Black struts will be marked with color coded dots on the area where the rod goes into the cylinder. Polished Stainless Steel Struts will be lightly engraved with the pressure.
This engraving will be on the smooth, flat part of the cylinder... opposite end from where the rod goes into the cylinder.

[carbuff]

You have the full list of pressures, I only had two points which I wrote down. That list is helpful. I have the black struts with the Gold dots, so 700N (I had written down 750N, but also 157 ft-lb, so we're talking about the same strength). So you are using a stronger one than I am.

Our of curiosity, do you have the same issue with the hinge bottoming on the lip of the fender as I showed in my image? I'm guessing not if you have good alignment...

One thing about the carbon hoods: they are going to be MUCH stronger/stiffer than my fiberglass hood. The first one I had on the car buckled up about 3" in the middle the first time I drove it and was parked in the sun for 3 hours. We did our best to flatten it out, but it was never right (you can see it in most of my pictures). I just replaced the hood finally earlier this year. One of the reasons for being a bit gun shy about 'forcing' it down against the struts is that I don't want to replace it again. I'm convinced the carbon would tolerate that much better, and that was the reason I purchased the one I have.

FWIW though, I had similar issues getting that hood to sit down in back with the struts in place. Perhaps something on my car just isn't aligned quite right.

Regardless, thanx for that list, it is handy.

[cpd004]

The back of the hood sitting high is one of the issues on my stock Formula hood. I never thought to check that lip.

It was the VFN hood that buckled correct, Bryan? I see Anvil has a mix of fiberglass and carbon as a cheaper alternative. Wonder if buckling would be a concern.

[carbuff]

Correct, the VFN hood buckled. The hood is made in 2 pieces, the lower which is the support structure and the top which is mostly just the top flat. They are then bonded together.

The channels that run front to back just aren't very strong, and those are what buckled. On this new one, I had VFN reinforce those internally by adding some metal to hopefully help solve this problem. But I'm gun shy...

I would expect the Anvil piece to be much better in this area.

As for the lip, are you using stock hinges right now? I would expect those to be fine.

I briefly had a set of the RB hinges which I tried, but those didn't seem to be much better. To be fair, I didn't spent a lot of time trying to adjust those. If I had to compare the two I would say the RB were a little 'stiffer' in terms of side to side movement which could be both a good and a bad thing. It's harder to adjust / install if there is too much stiffness. But they were a nice piece. The other issue was the position of the strut mounts. This was more of an issue specific to me as my oil tank is in the way on the passenger side, and it's a tight fit on the driver side too with my cage down bars. On a different car that wouldn't have been an issue...

[cpd004]

As far as I know they are stock and original to the car. I spent the better part of a weekend adjusting and readjusting the hinges never being able to get it to sit low enough in the back. The hood didn't follow the fenders too well either. The hood looks to be undamaged and in good shape. It very well may be warped, but doesn't show in an obvious way. It is extremely heavy.

Lightening up the front of the car would be great if it also solves the hood fitment issues.

Thank you guys for all of the feedback.

[cpd004]

Originally Posted by carbuff

One of the problems with the Firebird (which I think is different from a Camaro) is that the fenders have a lip which will prevent the hinge from going down as far as the slots would allow. That is a part of the problem. You can see what I'm talking about if you look closely at the picture below. Just to the left of the post where the strut would attach:



You can see that I'm not completely bottomed on either slot (close on the front), but I'm touching the fender. I don't really want to cut the fenders here, so see below as to how I decided to attack it.

I'm debating cutting the lip to see if that gets me a more reasonable fit. I don't want to, but the fact that you are having problems with aftermarket parts that aren't too much different than what I have going on factory equipped, is making me lean towards that.