DarkKnight

So I have a chance to buy a brand new, in box Camaro SS hood by Trufiber for $300 bucks from a neighbor in my complex. The hood is even still wrapped. He sold his car and is moving so he's getting rid of it. So I did a little research and most people that have this hood say it's decent quality and has a near perfect fit. When I looked it up on Trufiber, they say it is for V6 cars only and that is my question. I sent an email to Trufiber and haven't heard back yet but was wondering why this is?

Anybody know?

Thanks!

Stay Puft

Test fit it and see how it looks. For 300 I'd jump on it

DarkKnight

I suppose I could ask him if I could. I just don't know if he will wanna open it up and unwrap it and let me test fit it. It's brand new in the box still from Trufiber.

I asked him if he knew why Trufiber says it is only for the V6 but he said he didn't know. He had a V6 so I guess it didn't matter to him.

Trufiber answered and only said the hood hits the engine on V8s but didn't provide any details.

fbodyrs96

that makes no sense, the V8 and v6 motors sit the same. Hell if anything it wouldn't fit the v6 cause of the alt sitting so much higher than everything else.

DarkKnight

The description is actually confusing on Trufibers website. The title lists it as V6 in parenthesis but says nothing in the description about it not fitting the V8. I emailed them and they said it definitely will not fit the V8 because the hood will hit the motor. They provided no details. Looking at my motor the only thing I can see it hitting I assume would be the alternator as it seems to sit higher than anything else.

The top side looks like the LT1 style scoop but underneath Its set up like the LS1 style with air ducts directing air to the front. So I assume that that's the problem.

fbodyrs96

unless it sits higher than the cowl, which its doesnt or the stock hood wouldn't fit. Theres no reason it wont work. Look how high the v6 alt sits

DarkKnight

The LT1 V8 sits further forward than the V6 so the alternator sits further to the front of the hood where it slopes further down so I'm assuming it hits the air duct on the hood.

Now I'm thinking more about it, I don't know why they would design a hood like this.

bigz28man

I can tell you a buddy of mine has trufiber v2 ( ls1 teardrop) ss hood on his 95 z and he had no issues. I'm guessing they say v6 for this reason, with the lt1 you could run the slp style air box that bolts to the intake manifold which these hoods were not designed to accomidate.

DarkKnight

Bought the hood and test fitting it, the air duct in the hood hits the alternator so the hood does not fit and will not close. Considering I have no need for the ducting, I cut them out and made the scoop just a functional way of bringing in cool air at speed and venting some hot air out when it's not moving. Hood fits perfect now.

TC94Z28

If it fits perfect, then it sounds like you scored a great deal..I recently paid a hefty sum for an oem ss hood for my 94 because I was worried about the fit of an aftermarket one... I had been looking at the trufiber on eBay and i am considering it for my v6 car.. Any pics to share??


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DarkKnight

I bought mine from Octane Motorsports. They had the cheapest price including shipping. I've seen them on ebay but I was told to stay away from 3rd party ebay vendors as they are unreliable eventhough they are cheaper.

TC94Z28

Thanks, Ill keep that in mind, would you say yours fits as well as the ones in the pics on their site??


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DarkKnight

Yes. I've had 3 aftermarket hoods from 3 different companies before this hood and this one is by far the best fitting and easily installed in my opinion.

Suncoast Creations - fit pretty decent, a lot of adjusting. The ram air kit supplied to make the hood functional was ok but looked really cheesy and crude. Prep was minimal and paint looked good.

RKsport - fit ok, needed notched hinges, hood pins. They supplied a ram air kit that more resembled the SLP version. Prep was moderate but paint still came out decent.

VFN Fiberglass - fit was very poor, needed modified hinges, trimming and shaving, hood latch adjustment, unfinished underside and the hood did not line up properly. Took 8 weeks to get after being told 4. A lot of people like them but I feel it's the worst hood I've ever had and was never happy with it, never lined up even after taking it to a reputable body shop. Required a ton of prep work before paint as there were so many imperfections and required a second paint job after the first still revealed too many issues with the fiberglass. This was also the most expensive hood I had.

Trufiber - fits nearly perfect. Almost as well as stock. Takes minor adjusting to line up but did not require notching or modifying the hinges. Simple bolt on with a bit of tweaking and adjusting bump stops. I've been the most satisfied with this hood. Prep work was minimal, mostly just sanding, paint looks good.

Before all the haters chime in, this is only my opinion from my own experience.

TC94Z28

Well sounds like you have some experience with the hood swapping, thanks for sharing the info... I have to get my Oem ss hood and rear spoiler professionally painted to match my 94, then I will probably look into the trufiber for my 97 v6.. I really love the look of the ss hoods and think they should have came stock on all the 4th gen camaros..


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DarkKnight

Just my own experience, I'm no expert.

That's whats part of what made the 96-97 SS cars special. You couldn't even get replacement parts for the SS until you proved that you had an actual SS. The LT1 SS cars were actually a bit different from Z28s until 98 when GM started making them. At that point there wasn't a whole lot of difference between them.