1972 Chevrolet Nova Hood Replacement - The Cover-Up

While cruising the streets or enduring track-test punishment, our ugly duckling '72 Nova performs flawlessly. However, sporting three different hues of blue and some gray primer, it lacks the looks to back up its performance. In an effort to fit the roots-type Weiand-142 supercharger, a 1-inch spacer, and the Holley 730-cfm carburetor, we went old-school on the hood. Although it wasn't pretty, we made a template and Sawzall'd a hole into the hood. We didn't need much in height clearance, but the factory hood wouldn't shut without our modification, and a new hood wasn't in the budget at the time. But we certainly weren't willing to give up the extra 100 hp we gained on the dyno.

When it came down to finally doing something about the air cleaner sticking through the hood, at first we thought a 1-inch cowl would do the trick, but upon closer inspection we realized a 1-inch would not clear the air cleaner assembly, even with a drop-base setup. Next up was the 2-inch cowl option. Not only would this give us the clearance we needed, but it would also satisfy our hunger for a more muscular look. Browsing through Auto Metal Direct's (AMD) website, we came across exactly what we were after: a 2-inch aluminum cowl hood. It would even come shipped to our door ready for paint. We upgraded our hood springs at the same time since the factory ones are made for the steel hood.