Icantthinkofone

I need advice please. I have a factory fiberglass hood from my '82 Z/28,I want to cut it and put a scoop on it. Will I regret doing this? The only reason I'm concerned is I have no idea if it's woth anything. Thanks in advance for any advice.

bradley23150

iTrader: (10)

You should really just get a flat RS hood, and leave the fiberglass one alone, they're kind of tough to find in good shape.

mike_c

iTrader: (13)

If it's in good shape, you could probably sell the fiberglass hood, buy a flat RS hood to cut for your scoop, and have money left over.

Mirror Image

iTrader: (2)

What type of sccop are you looking for there are a lot of aftermarket hoods out there that are fiberglass then you could save your OEM hood

rybread11

Yeah, I'd probly leave the stock one alone. I could have pulled a stock fiberglass hood from the upullrparts yards years ago for like $27, but I didn't have a way to hall it. It was in perfect shape. I should have went back and got it, I'm still kicking myself for that one.

basiccamaro

I'd use the flat fiberglass hood and put your scoop on it. But I'm not that big on original third gen stuff. I'd also add extra resin mix to help fasten the two layers together better. I would do that on most aftermarket fiberglass hoods as well.

After a long search I finally found a good used fiberglass cowl hood for my car. But I was looking for a reasonablely priced stock fiberglass hood to build a cowl hood out of. You will get a MUCH better bond of a fiberglass scoop to a fiberglass hood than to a metal hood. Almost every metal hood I have ever seen with a fiberglass or plastic scoop molded to it has cracked at the edges of the scoop over time. And if you have the skill to do a nice job, you will have a hood costing much less than an aftermarket fiberglass one. To get a good fiberglass hood shipped to you, it will probably cost $550 and maybe more.
And if you do have some fiberglass skills, it won't matter as much if you get a slightly damaged stock fiberglass hood since you will be working on it anyway, so you might get a better deal on the hood.

I have been able to find stock fiberglass hoods around here from time to time for around $100 to $150. But you have to keep looking for them, they don't just show up every day.

I like to use Gougen Brothers WEST SYSTEM epoxy for resin work with either fiberglass cloth and/or their different adhesive and filler powders. They have a wide variety of products for different jobs that are very versatile. WEST is widely used in the marine industry as well as for many other uses. There are WEST MARINE stores in many cities even remotely close to waterways, and they also do a huge internet and mail order business.

WEST is more expensive, but it is far superior to Bondo or the normal, cheaper automative polyester fiberglass resin normally sold for automotive work. WEST epoxy with the light strength fairing compound mixed with it is a very easy to mold and sand filler with extra strength and waterproof qualities. WEST has some very good How- To pamphlets showing how to do many different jobs using their products.

Drew

iTrader: (58)

I picked up a factory glass hood from a salvage yard's going out of business sale. I had plans to build a fairly specific Camaro, and after having it sit in the garage for about a year I finally gave in and sold it for $250. (2004 prices) The morning the guy was coming to get it, I bought the Camaro I'd been looking for from a tow yard auction for $200. LOL The hood paid for the car, and as it worked out I had to scrap the project in the end anyway.

But yeah, they're worth decent money. If you can't get $300 out of one, you're not trying very hard. Sell it and buy what you really want from one of the aftermarket fiberglass companies. You won't have to worry about it coming unbonded, and a somewhat unusual OEM part lives on.

Guest

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Guest

I bought one of Hawks Third Generation's Sunoco fiberglass hoods (supposed made in Easley, SC) from Bruce Hawkins himself. I drove my Jeep and trailer a long way to pick it up. Later, I took my 1986 Camaro and the Sunoco hood to a restoration shop in Texas for installation and paint. Well, that Sunoco hood is a piece of junk that doesn't fit worth a damn. I have pictures to prove it. The hood's dimension's were nowhere close (way too small/narrow) to those of an original GM steel hood. My car is pristine and has never had any front end damage whatsover. My original GM steel hood fit great and had very consistent, close gaps all the way around. I sent the pictures to Bruce and called him to tell him about all this. He told me to adjust my front fenders to accommodate the Sunoco hood and close up the huge gaps. That is ridiculous! My fenders are where they are supposed to be as dictated by the dimensions of the original GM steel hood. Even if there were enough fender adjustment to close the huge gaps between the Sunoco hood and the fenders, it would have deformed (squeezed/mashed in) my front facia. Simply put, an aftermarket hood should fit (or be able to be made to fit by trimming down) the car; the car shouldn’t have to be made to fit the hood. That is *** backwards. Also, when installed, the rear of the Sunoco hood would not sit down flush with the fenders. It sat up way too tall at the hinge bolting area. There is no adjustment possible anywhere in that area (either on the hood or on the hinges). In short, to make that Sunoco hood work on my (or any undamaged) car, one would have to essentially re-engineer it and spend mega hours doing fiberglass work to widen it, etc. By the time all was said and done, one would have thousands of dollars in that fiberglass hood. (It would be better to commission someone to make a hood completely from scratch—which is what I ended up doing.) After much persuading, Bruce finally told me that he would refund the cost of the hood and the cost to ship it back to him. I received a check for the hood, but never received the $109.62 shipping that he promised me. (A man that doesn’t keep his word is a cockroach.) He later sent me a picture of another Sunoco hood installed (and painted) on another car and tried to pass it off as the hood that I returned to him. No Bruce, I wasn’t born yesterday. As it stands now, I am out the cost of shipping and the cost (in labor hours) of the staff at the restoration shop trying in vain to fit that junky Sunoco hood on my car. By Bruce’s own admission (after having viewed its web site), the restoration shop that I used is one of the best in the country. You can contact Bruce Hawkins at brucehawkins@hawksthirdgenparts.com. Good luck. My advice to you is this: Don’t expect Bruce to care about customer service, part quality, or keeping his word. As for me, I plan to collect my refund in person. I will not argue back and forth regarding this matter. I said what I wanted to say.

Icantthinkofone

Thanks to all that replied. Your advice truley helped me. I think I will sell what I have and use a steel hood.

hawksthirdgen

Hi Lee,
I figured I would get some TRASHING emails such as this after your last threatening emails I received. To everyone reading, all is true that Lee claims except the part where he says I said I guarenteed to refund his shipping along with the hood refund. I did explain to Lee that since we had not had any other fitment problems with these hoods that if he paid to ship it back I would have my paint shop install and paint the hood ( out of my pocket) on one of our shop cars, if we had fitment problems I would not only refund the hood cost but also the shipping. When we fitted the hood on the car and painted everything went very smoothly and had no problems which is the reason the shipping was NOT refunded as explained to Lee. After that I recieved nasty threatening emails stating I better do this and that or else, I will not be threatened into doing anything that is not right, all of my customers know I am not out to steal from anyone as if I was I would not have refunded the hood cost. Also when I would speak with the customer on the phone and explain sometimes you have to do slight adjustments to the front of a car for everything to line up perfectly he explained that he and the restoration shop had decided to use his original hood and change to a different style scoop in which I was still willing to get the hood back and check it on one of our cars. So I say all that to say this to Lee please be careful of the threats you make, we make a very good product in which I stand behind 100% and if you like anyone on this board can see the hood Lee received nicely fitted and painted on a car here at the shop so feel free to stop by anytime .
Thanks,Bruce
www.hawksthirdgenparts.com
864-855-2694