I am looking to get a 2" cowl to fit an air cleaner under the hood of my Firebird. Well, it almost seems that a cowl hood for a firebird is twice as expensive as a camaro. I was thinking about just cutting the thing up and sticking the scoop to it (3M makes a very strong adhesive) from the underside and then using plastic body filler to fill the seam on the top. Would this be a smart choice? I would love a new fiberglass hood, however I don't like the fitment of all of the other hoods I've seen, nor do I want to spend a whole lot of money. I'd like this idea because I could keep it bolt-on instead of pinned on. If you have any other suggestions let me know.

Id do the same , add on cowl is the cheapest ..

ok I did this and i regret most of it. I would suggest using fiberglass in the front of the mold on scocp. I got a mold on hardwood 4" cowl and the mother fuker broke threw the body filler and the front now you can see threw the paint a big line that goes across...SOB... i used body filler for all the seems. Honestly everyone thinks its a full fiberglass cowl hood. Untill they see this big crack on the front. Pisses me off. just be carefull . almost every mold on cowl i saw started to crack threw somehow. You have no clue how much work i did on this hood to get it to blend in perfect. With all the labor i could have worked and bought a bolt on fiberglass cowl EASY.

so body filler cracks? not trying to insult you but are you sure it just wasn't a user error? I've known that stuff to crack from working in the shop at school, but I'm not sure exactly what its limitations are for doing a cowl.

it could have been i dunno just let me know when your done .. i think it was the moisture cause everytime it cracked i saw alittle water i dunno just let me know when your done how it goes

Fiberglass isn't going to stick to the steel hood. I've seen rivets used before.

Thread recently on the fabrication board about adding scoops

rivets are trashy.

and also token.. the lips on the end of the cowl are like a 1/4 thick. So i used a lot more filler then i thought i was going to, good luck.

I think after your done buying the cowl,glue,fibeglass/filler.And your time trying to make it so no one can tell. Your going to be pretty close to the price of just buying the hood. Metal and fiberglass Act differnt around heat and cold. The bondo will crack, fiberglass will crack.I did the vents on my TA hood. I knew it would crack. But want to see what it would look like and did not think it would crack 2 days after i got done wet sanding and buffing the car. So to waste your money and time to do something that might not work...hmmmmm i would just buy the hood... but just my 2 cents

i added a scoop on mine. it was rivited on and then fiberglassed over. on the bottom, i cut out the sheet metel part of the hood to let air through....which was the point...not for clearence. and i left the hood supports alone. it held shape for about 8 months before it cracked. a lot of it has to do with weather. here it changes from hot to cold quick, but i've seen some jobs that were done about 3 years ago and are still holding firm...depends on if you know what you are doing. anyways, it was a good feeling knowing that you did something that looks that good...for the time it lasts.

what about that bonding agent that came out not to long ago. i forgot the name of it but i saw it on the mothers car show tv program a while ago. it is said to never come apart or crack. some type of two stage liquid stuff.

after an hour of searching the net i cannot find this product. on the show they took an aluminum pop can and a strip of tire rubber. placed them together and applied the two part liquid adhesive to the perimeter of the two. they waiting 10 seconds and it was a strong as could be. the host tried to pull the rubber off of the pop can and it ripped the pop can.

Amazing how this crops up every now and again...
There is NO GOOD WAY to bond different substrates to eachother!!!!!
Expansion and contraction of two totally different molecular structures is the main problem we have here. They are not compatible...WE CANNOT BUILD A BETTER MOUSETRAP!!!!!!!!!!
You need a metal scoop to WELD to a metal hood...You need a fiberglass scoop TO BOND to a fiberglass hood...
It's that simple.
That SH!T you see on Pimp my ride wont fly in the real world guys.

But you know what does fly, the work that old guy on boyd coddington does. Like with that corvette. you see that hood he did!!! omg crazy

OH yeah and mine cracked like a couple days after i did it, i thought when it got painted it wouldnt crack but for sure 5 weeks later bs

I would be gluing it in from the bottom, not setting it on the top like most people do. The lip would be on the bottom of the hood rather than on top, so way less filler would be used. I'd cut the rectangle out to fit it and the lip would overlap the bottom, and adhered with 3M adhesives to there, and then the seam filled in with a very thin bead of body filler.

it will still crack

Kevs right. And that 3m glue is not cheap and u need the gun to use it. I think 3 tubes to do it. Maybe 2. So I just checked for the cheap crappy gun its 45.00 for the glue its 28.00. so thats 129.00 just for the glue than u have filler,primmer, Gone have to use alot if u want the paint to look good. And your time to f around trying to make it look good. And might still crack and have to get a new hood. U can get that same hood from glastech for 300 bucks. The hole hood

it's not nearly that expensive, I'm sure. Besides, I'm doing it in class if I do this.

That stuff is not cheap. And i can get it at body shop prices. But if u are doing it at school than will cost u alot less.But i like SEM brand better. U get alot more in a tube and seems to be stronger

Try bodyshop COST at 27.50 a tube.
Try fifty bucks for the gun.
Try reading the P-pages on the product, It is for METAL BONDING.
We use 3M Automix exclusively. It is an excellent product, when used in the manner in which it is intended.
It is also very messy if you don't take your time, and anywhere the stuff gets, be it on the metal of your hood, or scoop, plastic body filler will not adhere.

So why the heck is it so hard to find a metal cowl to attatch?

I think its just cheaper and easyier to just buy a hole hood. So not to many people make just a metal scoop.I have not even seen a metal scoop for sale.( have not really looked to hard) Cuz i would just buy a fiberglass one. 300 bucks can't go wrong