Hello all, umm, ive been thinkin a lot lately and that prolly a mistake , but i want to put the stock ta hood back on my car. I like how the ra2 looks and i hate it sometimes too, I tried to ps a ta hood on and wasnt succesful . I really think the stock hood would look awesome with the mecham wing and being lowered. So whats your opinion about the hood on my car, now weather you like the hood or not , but which hood i should go with . Also if i go with the stock hood i think i will put a silver hood bird on too.

 

Go stock!

 

I like your car the way it is...I wouldnt go back to the factory hood if I was you. Be DIFFERENT! I know alot of 3rd gens has the RAII hood but more have the stock. You have a very nice car and I dont understand why in the world you would want to change it like that. If you do go back to a stock hood, put a GTA hood on. They look pretty good to be stock. Good luck deciding lol.

 

You've got a unique combination in addition to having alot invested into the hood and airbox. I say stick with the current combination - it looks great!

 

Dont' go back to stock, it'll be a mistake......

 

imo the raII hood doesnt have any place on a 3rd gen because it doesnt do anything for the body lines, however of all cars i've seen it with i like it on yours the best, it compliments the tall wing. put the stock one back on for a bit and see if you like it.

 

Personally...

I like the RA2!

 

I'm not dissing your car but I have never liked the Ram Air hoods on 3rd-gens. It just doesn't flow well enough with the body lines.

Put the stock back on

 

yours is one of the best examples of a good fit for a thirdgen+RAII combo, keep it

 

RAII

 

stock!!!!

 

neither

 

Stock (assuming you had a power bulge)

If you can nab a GTA hood cheap, those are my fav stock hoods.

 

awww, i have a trans am hood from an 85 , its the same as the gta hood. heres a pic of the car stock back in 02 .

 

There ya go!

 

like many have said already your car is probably one of the best examples of such a hood. with that said i could have actualy gotten that hood, or any hood cheaper than my stock one for free. (mine was damaged in the company parking lot) after ALOT of searching i actualy desided to go with the stock hood for a base model. i think the clean lines and simpleness of the hood complement my 91 the best, and like you said i think it will look even better when i get it lowered. i would put the stock back on and see how it looks. you really cant go wrong.

 

18, that pic you posted is a prime example of how your car is going to look with it back on. If you like that pic then you will really like it once you get the wheels and wing on there. IMO I still have to go with the RAII looking the best. Just compare it with your signature. I think the RAII hoods look mean.

If you check out my cardomain site under my signature you will see my old pictures with the GTA hood then you can see the pictures of the new hood on the next page. That will give you some more ideas by seeing other cars with the same hoods. Yes, I like my car before with the old hood...but I love it with the new one.

 

After looking through your cardomain pics I have to say keep it the way it is. Those front and rear angle shots are awesome.

 

Keep the RAII without it the car would look terrible. Makes it look mean.

 

I would suggest the factory powerbulge hood. I know yours has the 85-92 hood. But IMO the Powerbulge hood would give it that Mecham look.

I am not a fan of the RA II hood.

 

Find the IMSA powerbulge hood. I don't know how well the stock TA hood would flow with the huge wheels and taller spoiler (even though it looks better)

 

ok , no imsa hood, ever one ive seen on here doesnt fit worth poop . And i dont want to spend more money on hoods. I know the powerbulge hood wouldnt look good on my car since it had the gfx. If i had an 82-84 id have the buldge. Looks like ill stay with the hood , maybe ill put some silver stripes on the top of it or maybe some blackbird type stripes.

 

If you do stick w/ the RA2, I think some silver blackbird stripes would look nice.

Also, if you go w/ the stock hood, I think a factory hoodbird would look good too.

 

I've never really liked the RAII hood, but for some reason I really like it on your car. I say, keep it, or sell it to me cheap!

 

id ditch it if u didnt have the mech wing, but TA hood i dont think would look right with the wing. dont matter its a sweet car, the combo of the RA2 hood and the mech wing looks great.

 

Get the RA1 or the Bulge Hood.

 

Hey check it out:




That said, a little bit of first-hand experience with RA-II:

They said the hood would be "zero prep".

No way.

The hood came in painted white and it was rippled. So, I paid for 12 hours of labor to have the ripples smoothed and sanded out.

After painting, it looked awesome! However, a little thing happened on the way home: The engine heat and the sun combined to put those ripples back into the hood.

A-yep! SMC plastic twists, buckles, and moves around with heat. So if you get one, dont expect it to be straight and flat as a nice steel hood. It just wont happen!

Point # 2: APM has quality control issues. I called them to inform 'em that they put the screw anchors in the wrong holes: The 6 mm holes for the safety latch were in the 8mm hole place, and the 8mm anchors were where the 6mm anchors should have been. So I had to dink around with putting the big fasteners into the safety latch and the main latch got the little screws.

Point # 3: This is a STREET hood. If you put in serious horsepower and expect to exceed 110 MPH, you had better invest in hood pins! I had my car up to 145 MPH on the straights in Memphis motorsports park and the wind forced the hood to buckle and twist with a big >bormp!!!< I saw DAYLIGHT shining under the cowl as the hood buckled and it was purely luck that the hood latch held (with undersized bolts, no less!!!) So, if you are going to race your car, you better buy hood pins and use them!

Cheers mate,
--Dan

edit:

I did it again ! I should have started at the top and read down completely ! You already have the hood! My apologies, I assumed you were thinking of getting one. I personally like the RAII look. I'm pretty picky and it took close to a year for me to make up my mind on getting the RAII and fiberglass GTA spoiler. Quality aside, they do have a good look, though they are getting a "little" too popular, IMHO

 

RA1 just flows so much better with the lines of the 3rd gen,

 

second that

 

I think your car would look amazing with the stock hood back on it, I dont care for the ram air 2 hood, but thats just my opinion!

 

Stock!

 

IMO ram air II looks good from 1 angle only the front therefore its just not my taste...stock gta hood looks sweet all around and the lines flow the best out of any hood

 

well its pretty close, im gonna throw a comparo pic up , this is the best aggressive pic i have of what it was stock . And then the second will be an aggressive with tht enw hood.

 

.

 

could anyone take the last pic i posed and make it looks like its got a stock hood on it using ps. I cant do one that looks good . But im still in the air. Maybe if someone did a ps of the last pic with a ta hood i would be able to make a choice. btw you guys are all making good points.

 

your car is the only car i have actually ever liked with that hood on it. i say keep it but put some silver stripes the same color as the ground effects just on the hood and it would be better tho.

 

It's not the best I could do, but I think it gets the point across.

 

thanks, thats pretty darn good, just missing the vents, i think that looks good with out the ra 2 . omg this is a really hard decision. I should just sell the car and buy a 69 firebird like i originally wanted and then i wouldnt mod the exterior like ive done to this one. thanks for the ps.

 

I'm guessing you don't have the stock hood anymore?

 

no i still have the hood, its in perfect shape in the garage hangine from the ceiling with about 1 inch of dust .

 

.....so why not put it on the car and see how it looks?

 

because its a pain in the *** to get the hood down , wash it off, find the non fiberglass hood struts , take the hood off , align the stock hood, put the hinges on and all that bs , and how that it matches that car, since when they did they other hood they painted it and blended it , so they painted the top of the fenders .Just a pain in the ***. And then if i dont like it the other has to go back on and allign it . just a pain.

 

wow....just wow....

Seriously now, do not have use of one of your arms or something? Why would it take more than 20-30 minutes? Grab a buddy (or I seem to remember you talking about family's cars, get one of them) to grab the other side of the hood. It doesn't have to be painted and blended; I thought you just wanted to see how it looked? You don't even need to swap hood struts. Then if you like it do whatever you want.

I'm not trying to be a dick here but it just seems like a simple thing. You swapped front brake systems and you don't want to spend a few minutes putting on the hood? It's taken you longer to ask all these questions than to do it and post pictures.

Good Luck with that....

 

stock hood, i think the RAII hoods are hideous.....sorry to those who love them, but they dont flow with the car AT ALL and the lines dont match. just my opinion, but I would also go with an aero wing, with stock hood, wing and those wheels, your car would look gorgeous in my opinion.

 

what about the ramair intake i never had one but would it not fit the TA hood?

 

yeah , id have to take that off too. maybe ill bite the bullet and do it . But so many people dont like the hood so thats a reason to keep it too.

 

 

do like i did and put a lil spice into the RAII hood....

 

heres the pic

 

Now your thinking, time to move on