"Light makes right," the saying goes, and indeed, most guys who turn to fiberglass hoods are looking to rid their rides of a few extra pounds. There's nothing wrong with losing some weight, to be sure, but it's not the only reason for going with 'glass. These hoods are relatively easy to make, so they come in a variety of styles and cowl heights. We didn't want a huge cowl for our project '84 Z28, but we did need a bit of extra clearance, given that we'd installed a taller-than-stock intake manifold on the car's 305 (not to mention the nitrous plate we've got planned). And as we learned, the cowl arrangement also improves airflow through the engine bay, lowering engine temperature. We got on the horn to Year One and ordered up a 2-inch cowl induction fiberglass hood.
These hoods are available in both bolt-on and pin-on configurations, and we elected to go for the former. While this hood does indeed bolt on, we are talking fiberglass here, so some massaging is necessary to get the alignment just right. We headed over to Harrison Restorations, where head man Harrison Ortis and crew took the time to fit the new hood to our '84. If you recall, our car was hoodless after its last track excursion, but Ortis had an '87 IROC on hand for reference, and this proved invaluable when it came to creating a factorylike fit. The job may seem daunting, especially since there is some grinding to do, but it's mainly just a matter of working the extra-long edges of the hood until they match the factory contours. That's what Ortis did, and we ended up with a light, great-fitting hood that gives us the extra underhood clearance we were looking for. Check it out.
Quick Notes
The Job
Outfit a third-gen Camaro with a fiberglass cowl hood.
Bottom Line
A little time spent tailoring the lid to the car pays off with a first-class fit.
Right off the bat, we found...
Right off the bat, we found that the 3/8-inch fine-thread bolts our hood came with wouldn't fit through the slots in the hood hinges. A little work with a die grinder gave us the necessary clearance. We also equipped our hinges with a set of hood struts from an '82-83 fiberglass-hood Z28; the stock steel hinges are too stiff for this application and can cause the hood to bow. We also could have used a set of worn-out standard struts. If your car uses springs, lightweight versions are available from Year One.
With the bolt holes appropriately...
With the bolt holes appropriately enlarged, the hood bolted right up to our factory hinges but didn't come forward enough to line up with the edge of the front bumper cover. We went back in with the die grinder, lengthening the factory hinge slots to allow us to move the hood forward. And although our hood was basically centered once it was bolted up, the elongated slots allowed just enough fine-tuning for us to dial in the side-to-side fit.