I have an SS hood made by Keystone Re-styling. My bf and I fit it on the car and it sits high in the rear (both sides) and it sits high on the front driver's side corner near the headlight area. My bf drilled out the holes in the hinge on the driver's side so that we could adjust the hood a little better and bring it down. It seemed to work in the rear/middle of the hood, but the front corner is still about a 1/4" high from the fender. He's thinking that maybe we can heat it up somehow and try to bend it with weight or straps. Any one else have/had this problem with aftermarket hoods not exactly lining up??? Any other suggestions?? Pleaaaasssse chime in. Thanks.

 

I had these problems and alot more with my Ultra-Z. I ended up having to lower/slot my latch brackets, and all that was connected with it, down by over 2 inches. It took forever because (unlike your boyfriend) it took me a while to figure out to drill the rear hinge holes to drop the rear down. Also, I didn't want the underhood area to look "slapped together", so I made some custom brackets and mounts to get everything right.

DO NOT heat or try to bend the hood. It won't work, and you'll most likely ruin your hood, or at least make it worse. You just need to do some fabrication. I'll answer any questions you have on IM.

 

I don't think heating it would be the best idea, especially if its fiberglass (but i could be wrong). You probably already checked this, but there are bumpstops in both of the front corners (at least there should be,), there rubber pegs that you can screw in and out to play with the hood adjustment.

 

Thanks for the replies guys. Yeah, we played with the bump stops, even took the one on the passenger's side out. Another problem is, that I have custom sheet metal over my lights and over the washer fluid resevoir, so the 2 front bumpstops have been cut off of the car by the guy who did the custom work for me. This is the SAME GUY who is suppose to help paint the hood. We played with the latch a little by lowering it, but maybe that can be adjusted some more. BTW, Bone Daddy, my bf is an engineer so he's good at this stuff. We figured we needed to do something with the hinges to get it lower and he did the drilling. He's working on the other hinge (passenger side) at work today.

Reason I'm going into all of this is because I took it to the custom shop to get an estimate on paint the other day and the same guy (who did my custom sheet metal under the hood years ago and who has also painted my car before) said "this hood needs body work which is going to be an additional $700-$1,000 on top of the cost of painting it." "I'd have to cut the inside of it where the brace is and re-attach it to pull it inward on the driver's side so that it doesn't sit high. You'd be better off getting a steel hood or a race hood from Harwood because it's 1-ply fiberglass and it will be easier for us to work with." I was like... um, yeah... let me go home and figure it out, I'll get back to you at the end of the week.
I'm not sending this thing back... but it's gotten me a little frustrated. I guess when it gets painted black (right now it's white) like the rest of the car it'll hardly be noticeable. It's a fiberglass hood and I really like the lighter feel of it when I open and close it. Anyway, thanks again for any help. I really appreciate it. BD, I added you to my buddy list. thanks..

 

You're welcome.

I didn't want to give up on mine either, (the hood was so sexy!) I was also fed that "extra money" line of bull.

Slotting the main hood latch bracket works very well. But too far, and you'll have to slot the fiberglass nose support, and it's "L" bracket. I'm not sure if you still have it or not with your custom metal, but whatever holds that piece up is a concern. Slot the latch first, and go down as far as you can. If that's still not enough, (obviously wasn't for me) like I said, you have to slot/lower the fiberglass piece itself. (alternately your inner sheetmetal) and "maybe" put spacers under the five holes where the upper nose mounts. Doing this, allows the front of the hood to drop alot more, without affecting much else. The fact that you don't have bumpstops anymore is great. Most likely you won't be able to use them anyway.

If your b/f drills out the rear holes on the Hood's "L" brackets, it will drop the rear corners by a good amount. The brackets holes are about an 1/8 to 3/16 of an inch smaller than the hinge holes they mount too. I only mention this, because I'm not sure what holes he's trieng to work on.

Obviously, there is more.. but I'll wait to see if I catch you on IM.

 

If your looking for perfection, aftermarket hoods are the wrong way to go. I had a newer style WS6 hood on my 94 T/A. The hood was awesome looking, but I never got it to fit 100% perfect.

 

Only if you give up.

ALL my gaps are now mathmatically perfect. You just need some fabrication skills, and alot of time/patience. This.. coming from someone who at one time, wanted to smash his 800.00 hood, with a 30.00 sledgehammer. I didn't give up, and neither should they. Especially since aftermarket hoods are rarely even close to what I'd call "cheap".

 

I agree. This hood was a Christmas gift and I'd rather not just give up on it. It looks pretty cool too. BD, do you have aim? I have you on my buddy list but haven't seen you on yet. I might have some other questions for you later on this weekend, after we get the other hinge back on and work on some more adjusting. Thanks again.

Also, your "Ultra Z" hood is made by Suncoast Creations, correct? I was wondering what their SS hoods are like and actually considered selling this one and getting one from them. But I guess the result would be similar or perhaps even worse.

 

After doing some searches, I see they ARE all like that...

 

I've been on for a while, maybe an AIM glitch?

My hood is made by SLP, (www.slponline.com) and when I read the enclosed instructions with all the LARGE BOLD PRINT, warning me of everything that could go wrong with the hood, I knew I was in for a rough time.

And SLP's customer service actually ducked my calls, and generally ignored my questions and concerns. This is, by the way, coming from the "leading manufacturer of custom hoods". So I can imagine some of the crap other people have went through buying from American Sports Car, Suncoast, etc. etc.