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Ram air hood help

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Old 12-19-2013 | 05:19 AM
  #1  
Anthony Franz's Avatar
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Car: Black 1991 Pontiac Trans Am GTA
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Ram air hood help

I have the ram air hood from hawks on my 91 firebird and I want to put it on my 91 gta but it doesn't latch properly or line up properly on the firebird right now and I don't want that problem with my gta, Its hard to actually close and once it latches shut it doesn't wanna open. Its also high above the headlights. Does anyone else with this hood have this problem and if so how would I fix it. I love the way it looks just don't like the functionality. Thank you
Old 12-19-2013 | 09:10 AM
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Re: Ram air hood help

You can heat it and conform it to where it needs to be a little better. It the easiest thing you can do that I did is get some hood pins. Or it would look cheesy and bad but you could take some metal Starla's and screw it to the underside of the hood to conform it to where you want it
Old 12-19-2013 | 09:12 AM
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Re: Ram air hood help

And if its fiberglass get rid of the stock latch because it could rip out of the hood while driving
Old 12-19-2013 | 09:18 AM
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Re: Ram air hood help

Pictures? Most glass hoods need some trimming to fit right. Particularly the lip in the front which is often 3/4" or more, where a stock hood is only about 3/16" at most.
Old 12-20-2013 | 12:02 AM
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Car: Black 1991 Pontiac Trans Am GTA
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Transmission: Monster Trans 700r4
Re: Ram air hood help

I would post pictures but honestly I have no idea how it has a gap between the headlight and hood above the lights and the bottom corners sit lower the the body lines. If I remove the latch is there any way to hold it down besides hood pins
Old 12-20-2013 | 07:22 AM
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Re: Ram air hood help

With a ratchet strap or somthing but I don't think that would looks to pretty. But with mine I had a big gap from the headlights to to hood and the hood sat a lot higher, so I adjusted my hood so it slid down towards the front of my car more and used the hood pins to pull it down. You said your headlights and front corners of your hood are lower than the fenders though?
Old 12-20-2013 | 09:23 AM
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Re: Ram air hood help

If u don't like conventional hood pins look at aerocatch hood pins. They look way better than standard style
Old 12-20-2013 | 10:46 AM
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Car: 1989-92 FORMULA350 305 92 Hawkclone
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Re: Ram air hood help

Do a search here or on google, this has been covered many times.

These hoods "bolt on" but need adjustment to fit properly.
You could also ask a body shop.
Old 12-21-2013 | 04:10 AM
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You probably have to take a dremel and open up the slots in the factory hinges to get it to sit right. I bet it looks something like this

Ram air hood help-forumrunner_20131221_041000.png



Ram air hood help-forumrunner_20131221_041025.png
Old 12-21-2013 | 12:20 PM
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Re: Ram air hood help

Did you try adjusting the hood bumpers?

Sides of hood usually needs trimmed around the bumpers as well.

Panel alignment is tedious work, and any car that is this old and is getting panels changed will need alignment work.
Old 12-21-2013 | 01:09 PM
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From: Brick, NJ
Car: 91 Trans Am
Engine: 355 TPI
Transmission: Built T-5
Originally Posted by Johnny Blaze
Did you try adjusting the hood bumpers?

Sides of hood usually needs trimmed around the bumpers as well.

Panel alignment is tedious work, and any car that is this old and is getting panels changed will need alignment work.
The problem I ran into with mine when I had that car is I just flat out ran out of factory forward adjustment. I think that's fairly common and it was a lot of trial and error and patience to get it right
Old 01-05-2014 | 12:50 AM
  #12  
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Car: Black 1991 Pontiac Trans Am GTA
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Transmission: Monster Trans 700r4
Re: Ram air hood help

Originally Posted by 86T/A_Ram_Air
You probably have to take a dremel and open up the slots in the factory hinges to get it to sit right. I bet it looks something like this

Attachment 269051



Attachment 269052
yes that is the hood 86t/a_ram_air how much would a shop charge to do the aligning because I am unable to work on cars in my parking lot my landlord doesn't appreciate it
Old 01-05-2014 | 02:45 AM
  #13  
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From: Brick, NJ
Car: 91 Trans Am
Engine: 355 TPI
Transmission: Built T-5
Originally Posted by Anthony Franz
yes that is the hood 86t/a_ram_air how much would a shop charge to do the aligning because I am unable to work on cars in my parking lot my landlord doesn't appreciate it
I have no idea but I dont expect it to be a high amount. Its just a matter of removing the hood, opening the slots up and aligning it
Old 01-06-2014 | 01:40 AM
  #14  
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Car: Black 1991 Pontiac Trans Am GTA
Engine: 350 5.7L V8
Transmission: Monster Trans 700r4
Re: Ram air hood help

Originally Posted by 86T/A_Ram_Air
I have no idea but I dont expect it to be a high amount. Its just a matter of removing the hood, opening the slots up and aligning it
okay thank you I appreciate all the answers I had no idea what to do with the hood. Now its just a matter of hood pins I have no idea how to use em I never worked with them before but ill figure it out im sure
Old 01-06-2014 | 02:45 AM
  #15  
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From: Brick, NJ
Car: 91 Trans Am
Engine: 355 TPI
Transmission: Built T-5
Originally Posted by Anthony Franz
okay thank you I appreciate all the answers I had no idea what to do with the hood. Now its just a matter of hood pins I have no idea how to use em I never worked with them before but ill figure it out im sure
I used the stock latch. I dont care for pins
Old 01-09-2014 | 03:14 AM
  #16  
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Car: Black 1991 Pontiac Trans Am GTA
Engine: 350 5.7L V8
Transmission: Monster Trans 700r4
Re: Ram air hood help

Originally Posted by 86T/A_Ram_Air
I used the stock latch. I dont care for pins
Me either I was told that it wouldn't be secure with the stock latch but if that's the case ill stick with stock
Old 01-12-2014 | 02:58 AM
  #17  
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From: Brick, NJ
Car: 91 Trans Am
Engine: 355 TPI
Transmission: Built T-5
Originally Posted by Anthony Franz
Me either I was told that it wouldn't be secure with the stock latch but if that's the case ill stick with stock
If its fitted right its has secure as the stock hood
Old 01-12-2014 | 01:05 PM
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Car: 1991 Firebird convertible
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Re: Ram air hood help

Originally Posted by 86T/A_Ram_Air
You probably have to take a dremel and open up the slots in the factory hinges to get it to sit right. I bet it looks something like this

Attachment 269051



Attachment 269052
Have you tried adjusting the hood latch down it looks to me that would lower the front of the hood down
Old 01-12-2014 | 03:16 PM
  #19  
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From: Brick, NJ
Car: 91 Trans Am
Engine: 355 TPI
Transmission: Built T-5
Originally Posted by Mirror Image

Have you tried adjusting the hood latch down it looks to me that would lower the front of the hood down
I dont have that car anymore but the problem in my case wasn't that. It was not far enough forward to properly rest on the front height adjustment. Its a known issue with these hoods. Sometimes you have to get creative. If you looks at this picture you can see its not forward far enough



Ram air hood help-forumrunner_20140112_151551.png
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