i thought that the 82 was the only year that the z28 got a factory fiberglass hood but i have an 83 and i think i have one i have a small chip in the front of it and it looks to be made of fiberglass. not that im complaining, but whats going on, did they make the hood for some 83s too? or am i wrong and i actually have a steel one? what is the weight difference between em?

thanks guys

 

You are correct, the 1982 and 1983 Z28 both got the fiberglass hood. My 'old '82 Z from many years ago had one.

 

Yeah, my '83 Z-28 has the factory fiberglass hood with the hood flaps. I think that they were made in '82 and '83

 

You can always do the old magnet trick.

 

The glass hoods where made until 84 for 3rd gens.

 

interesting...
never heard of this til now
any reason they did it in the first place?
and any reason they stopped?

 

The factory fiberglass hoods came on the 82 and 83 CFI equipped Camaros.

Why did they do it? Lighter obviously. And the CFI engine was top of line in 82. Also they include provisions for the functional hood scoops.

Why did they stop? Since the hood was only available with the CFI, and CFI was discontinued after 83, the hood was also discontinued. The HO carb 305 was introduced in 83 which totally eclipsed the CFI performance wise. The CFI had lots of problems, and since it was no longer the top engine, they eliminated it.

 

My '82 Z-28 had the LG-4 305, not CFI. It also had a factory fiberglass hood. Found this out during an accident where the other driver was at fault. It was replaced with another 'glass hood.

 

My fault. All 82 Z28s came with that hood. In 83 the only engine to get the hood was CFI. Both years only CFI had the functional hood. And it's not fiberglass, it's composite. GM called it "Sheet Molded Compound" I believe.

 

SMC is fiberglass. Its the way the Corvette has been built since 1984.

 

this is what all of the historical articles say on every site about the camaro

"1983 Camaro

All Z-28 hoods were changed from Sheet molded compound hoods to Steel, with the exception of the air induction hoods on the Z-28."

i dont have air induction tho , so what gives?????? ami just imagining things do i actually have steel?

 

Just do like 97WS6SCharged said, take a magnet to it. Problem solved.

-Rippin

 

This was new information to me also,didn't know this fact. So will the SMC hood fit the later Z's?

Also does anyone know the weight differance between the SMC,and steel hoods?

 

If I'm not mistaken, there is some weight savings to the earlier 'glass hoods. It is for this reason many of the later 3rd gen's you see running in certain SCCA classes use the '82 hoods.

 

No, SMC is NOT, I repeat, not fiberglass. Similar but different. SMC is a composite material. Fiberglass is an ingredient, but it also includes resin, filler, catalyst, etc. It is stronger than plain old fiberglass. Corvette's being made of fiberglass is a misnomer.