87transam5.7tpi

I'm going ot be ordering the harwood 2" cowl induction hood for my car. Anybody have experience w/ them? any good? really bad? thanks

Josh

Superman

Just like with any fiberglass hoods I have seen some ok looking Hardwoods and some really bad looking ones. Compared to ASCD hoods Hardwoods are really low in quality and fit. My buddy has one on his truck and when he got it it took about another $250 in body work to get it right.

iroc22

They seem pretty decent quality. Never used one myself, but I have had my hands on a couple.

john5.7 87Iroc

Had two of them for my car in the past and both fit like crap.

383backinblack

got one, its light it fits pretty good....

88 WS6 TransAm GTA

iTrader: (1)

Just picked up a used 3". Aside from 2 cracks on the underside framing, and one stripped hinge bolt hole, theyre not too bad. Little more flimsy than I would preferr, but not bad overall.

RICH92RS350

I had a Harwood hood (years ago on a 68 Camaro).
It was a really nice, smooth hood. Lots of people commented on how nice it looked for a fibreglas hood.
That's the only hood of theirs I had though and it was about fifteen years ago.
-Rich-

383backinblack

most fiber hoods are pretty flimsy, except for the stock one that came on the crossfire cars in the early 80's (have one on my 86 z28...its my brothers now though)

that was really really light, almost as light as my harwood and very stiff.

87transam5.7tpi

so anybody know what kind of weight difference we are talking between a stock steel hood anda fiberglass one? this will be my first time getting a glass one that is why I have so many questions. thanks

Josh

383backinblack

i cant give you an exact number, but its ALOT. i would say your saving around 40-50lbs

john5.7 87Iroc

Shipping weight on my 4" was 40 pounds. Not sure how much stock is but like 383 said the difference was huge.

383backinblack

ya man, if it wasnt so big one person could toss it around easily, you could pick the whole thing up with one hand too.

Thunderboy

Was thinking of getting new hood gaslifts, but, guess they will apply to much pressure if I change to a fiberglass hood later on. Anyone has adapted smaller type of gaslift struts to their fiberglass hoods?

Thanks for the info

Thunderboy

383backinblack

i have the gas lift struts on my hood....but i have to be very careful opening and closing it, it could easily break, im gonna have to get something else to hold it up

Deemax

iTrader: (1)

I've got the 2 inch Harwood and it fit fine right out of the box...looks great...no complaints at all. I ditched the struts completely and just went with a junkyard prop rod out of who-knows-what...quick, cheap and easy.

406-Z

I have a Harwood on my 87. It did not fit that great out of the box. I had to do a bit of work to fit it to the car and it still does not fit to my perfection. A perfectionest I am so to anothers standards it may look perfect. As for as weight, I can lift the glass hood on and off by myself. No way with the steel hood!!! This is the only glass hood I have ever installed so I do not have anything to compare it to as far as fit, however it was fairly easy to make functional. There is a thread going about gas struts for glass hood, here is the link.

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=158903

spartyon

hmmm.. a prop rod sounds like a good idea. never ever would have thought of that one. thanks for the hint.

russkull84

I recently installed a 3" harwood on my 84 z and the fit is beautiful. I come from a family of auto body repair specialists and we all have come to the consensus of Harwood producing a great quality hood. No cracks, beautiful underside, and very minimal work necessary for a show-quality finish!!!

DARCOM

I like my harwood hood it was just what i needed to take off some extra weight off the front

you can see my simple site at:
http://darcom.org

rgereaux

I have a 4" rise, finished on both sides. So far it has performed well. I left the hood support cylinders off, don't know if it could take that repeitive stress. Plan to have a single extendable metal rod welded on to hold up hood.

In terms of appearance, my sons friends (19-20 yr olds) lust after the car, think its quite cool.

Are you aware that there is a 2" rise metal hood on the market?

Deemax

iTrader: (1)

I posted pics here... https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...54#post1188654

GarageToys

iTrader: (6)

Thunderboy (and others): Save your worn-out hood struts- they might hold up the glass hood. There's kind of a window of opportunity. My old Camaro had a steel hood and the struts would try to hold up the hood, but didn't have enough cajones. When I put the 'glass hood on, they held it up perfect. They weren't so stiff that the hood crackled when you closed it. They lasted a couple of years and then they wouldn't hold even the glass hood up anymore.

Go to junkyards and lift up some steel hoods. The struts that won't quite hold up the hood (but they do give some support & you can tell they still have some gas charge left) are the ones you want.

Someone needs to make some low-tension springs for our cars to solve this problem. I've seen low-tension springs for other cars, but since we have struts instead, no one has designed anything to work.