I got my RA-II hood today (I ordered it yesterday... go Hawks Thirdgen Parts!!!)

I've been working ALL day to try to get it align properly, and this is the best I've gotten it. I've removed all unnecessary hardware (the latch, the spring, the bump stop things, etc.) and still can't get it to align right. Are there any suggestions besides sending it back? I've seen other people manage to get theirs to fit well. I didn't have a problem with my Formula hood.

 

2

 

3 (Other side)

 

You removed the latch??? Um, ya kinda need that... Put the latch BACK in, and put it to the lowest possible spot you can get it. Then, where the Radiator support goes up from the sides, my hood was hitting there, so I had to bang it with a hammer to take it down a little, and that helped a lot. It's where the front member that goes from side to side of the car, raises up like 1" to where the caution fan cover goes, the sides of those I had to bang down. If you have the bump stops out, and do what I mentioned, that should help a lot. If you don't know what i'm talking about i'll get a pic for you. I also raised the stops in the rear on one side to lower the opposite front side.

 

I placed Washers between the Hood and bolts on one side in order to push the hood to align better with the fender on the other side......

As far as the front........I gave up and am having Roy look at it........

 

the hood that hawlks sells is good quality. your front bumper may be to low look at the supports! i bought one for my brother for x mas and i took 1/2 hr to line up heres the link to the pics.

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=216662

 

I removed the latch after the fact; I was having issues and I was trying to isolate the problem, so I removed it (temporarily) to see if the hood wanted to go down farther. It made little to no difference, I will put it back in, don't worry.


I think I know what you're talking about, but could I get a picture to make sure? I think this may be contributing to my problem. It seems like there's just something the hood is getting stuck on up front but there's nothing left to remove, so this may be a similar problem.

Yeah I did that too, and it helped some, but it started getting to the point where I was raising the entire hood so I could only go so far with that.

I thought about doing that, but I'd like to try messing with the alignment of the actual hood as much as possible before modifying other parts of the car that were perfectly fine with the power-bulge hood.

I do believe it is a good quality hood after finally having one in my own hands. I just am having a heck of a time getting it to sit right. I don't think my front bumper is "too low", it worked fine with my previous hood and lines up perfectly with the fenders, and the hood itself isn't just having trouble lining up at the front at the bumper but at the sides too.

 

i got mine from ascd
after about 3 hours and cutting 3 different locations
on the hood i well sort of got it to line up almost right

 

What did you cut??

 

Time to get the body shims out.

Looks like it just needs alot of love, that fit is terrible. Every time I see one of these RA hoods just makes me glad I picked a cervini's, and at the time no one had heard of them. I put my hood on and about 5-10 minutes of adjustment and I was done. Perhaps I just got lucky, or that my car was pretty square.

 

I love the Cervini cowl, and if I had a later thirdgen Camaro it is the hood I would get.

 

Thx! If you have some spare washers around, try to shim the fenders up and see if you can get them level. Keep an eye on the door alignment while you are working though. Something does not add up with that fit. It really should not be THAT off. Did you have to replace your front end at some point??

 

The car has been in a front-end collision before; however it doesn't appear that anything else has been strangely adjusted or mis-fit, and the Formula hood fits perfectly.

If I were to shim the fenders up, do I just unbolt all of the fender bolts that are under the hood and pry it up with my fingers, stick some washers in there and then bolt it down, or do I have to remove lower bolts also?

 

That's about right, I would loosen up the large single bolt on the very bottom of the fender, other wise you may goof up the curve of the panel as it will stretch to fit. You can always fix the curve later though.

 

I've found it rather amazing how the slightest adjustment to one bolt here or a bump stop there can make drastic changes to the way the hood / front end sits and fits together. I had no idea it was that "touchy", if you will.

 

Exactly. It just takes a good bit of patience and time to play with it enough to get it all correct. I had to do this on my car as well when I converted gfx and replaced the fenders.

 

I'm hoping that the right combination of shimming, tweaking, coaxing, and talking nicely will at least get me a decent fit. In all honestly I'd be satisfied with a mediocre fit (otherwise I wouldn't have purchased an aftermarket fiberglass hood), but I have yet to get even that IMO. If you or anyone else has some more suggestions I'd love to hear them.

 

Ahhh, you dont seem to be the most experienced on this subject. I work at a body shop so my suggestion is that you should take it to a shop and have them do it, dont unbolt the fender and move them, thats just gonna create a lot more issues you dont want to deal with, trust me, i deal with used and new and aftermarket parts ( **** the aftermarket for that fact) takes carefull massaging to make a part fit. Do yourself a favor and save a headache and take it to a shop, shouldnt be much at all.

 

And how exactly would you align the panels without unbolting and aligning them?


What exactly do you mean by "massaging"?

 

I have one of these hoods on my car and it fits fairly well. I do still need to do some work on a few things to make it fit better. I did notice that on mine, the drivers side sits up a little to high. In the back where the windshield wipers are is the screen to keep debrit out of that area and it sits up to high and mine is resting on it and it pushes up on the hood. I havent decided whether I am going to take the screen out or cut the screen down so the hood will sit a little lower. I hope this helps. You can check out my site to see what I did to put it on if you would like. http://www.cardomain.com/id/kitt350

 

How does the hood fit on the other side, not the driver's side I think you have pictured with the wide gap. If it is close on the other side a possibe fix is when you are first bloting the hood to the rear hinges you have to be careful and not lean and possible push the hood hinges to one side or the other. The hinges on your car and many other manks and models are limber and can cause the hood to shift from out center to either side. This suggestion will only help you IF the other side of the hood is close to your fender I mean real close. Hope this might help See Ya Rex

 

I've pushed the brackets over as far as they will go without drilling new holes. Thx for the suggestion though. Any other ideas?

 

Mine sat like this with minor adjustment,


More pics,

http://www.transamws6.com/pics/formula/hood1.jpg

http://www.transamws6.com/pics/formula/hood2.jpg

http://www.transamws6.com/pics/formula/hood3.jpg

http://www.transamws6.com/pics/formula/hood4.jpg

I then traded it for this one, which I prefer more,

 

hey zepher how did you get your factory rims so clean?

 

Well, none of your front facia is aligned properly. The headlights should be flush with the front end of the fender. And the bumper cover should be the same at the curve point where it meets the fender. Get everything aligned properly before putting on the hood. Granted, the hood probably still wont fit, but atleast everything else will be right.

 

If the other hood fit perfect and this one doesnt fit with the fender at all, there is no need to move the fender. The only time you move the fender is when the hood is sitting down nice and fluch and there is a very little difference in the gaps, then you just loosen the fender and push or pull, never unbolt. This comes as second nature to me, but experience is the **** i guess...and only being 19....yeah, im good. ha.

 

Paint thinner. I stripped the clear coat off and and polished them with Eagle Mag Polish.

 

ttt

 

I second that. The high cowls always look odd on Third Gens, that height is perfect. Looks like it came from the factory like that. Nice job!

I've got a question on shimming... does it have any side effects, like noises or does the body panel creep significantly??

 

Thx.

Shims are a normal thing, if you take your car apart now you will find a bunch.

 

Thanks. I know in some parts, mostly mechanical, but I really haven't found any in my fenders, that's why I ask.

 

Hey fyrelance, Give me a call if you haven't got it adjusted yet and I will try and give you some advice and suggestions on adjusting it.
Thanks,
Bruce Hawkins
Hawks Third Gen Parts
864-855-2694

 

Bruce, thank you for taking the time to do this. It's because of things like this that customers like myself keep coming back to you when they want to buy something thirdgen-related.

I will probably end up giving you a call some time this week.

 

Geez, the fitment of those hoods is terrible. From like 10 feet and beyond the fit seems ok, but up close I don't think I could take it.
I heard of people using a heat gun while applying some pressure to the warped area to mold the hood into perfect alignment.