I have been getting ads for low cost IROC/Z28 hood louvers, several sources and sometimes $40 a pair or less. Has anyone here bought any of these and can you give us your thoughts?

 

Noticed on ebay they are cheap atm. Some of the time parts for vehicles, that were once popular don't sell much, so the price drops a lot. Got plenty of cheap parts for my truck projects that way.

 

Hey, I bought and installed the cheap eBay louvers on my third gen camaro and they fit great. What I did differently was give them a new paint job and used button head bolts instead of rivets. Only thing I want to try next is to see if I can make water drains so any water doesn't spill directly on the engine.

 

iirc, all of those cheapos are plastic.

 

I bought a set for my hood only because I needed to cut them up to fit with my hood mods. They aren't bad, not as nice as the GM ones though. They fit fine, the shape of the louvers is not quite exact as the originals and they have warped slightly now they been in the heat and sun.

 

Well after a year I could not resist the low price and I bought a pair of these from an EBay seller. Out of the box I was surprised at how good they looked, a perfect reproduction I thought on first glance. Quality of finish looked fine, weight and thickness were equal to OEM, maybe just a little thicker. On the hood the fit in the holes was spot on; the tinneman nuts included were cheap as I expected so I ended up re-using most of my original nuts. However.......

After install looking from the front I noticed the gap on the sides was just slightly bigger than original and they did not seem to lie perfectly flat. Behind the wheel looking over the hood you can clearly see they are bowed slightly just as 406TPI said above. This is subtle enough that you can just barely see it in the photos, note the passenger side piece is the repro, driver side is the original. If you are tempted by these I would say they are fine for a driver but it is still to be determined how they will hold up to sun and weather (mine will only have brief exposure). At a car show spectators will not notice anything and only the sharp eye will see the warping under inspection. But you do see it while driving so the more discerning owner may not be completely happy. They are a bargain but as always buyer beware, Todd C