I have a 1992 Camaro Z28 with the IROC Daytona fiberglass hood from American Sports Car design.

I've always had a problem where at speeds of around 100-140km+ and the hood noticably vibrates due to the wind smacking against the headlights and FORCES up under the hood causing it to vibrate. 120km on the freeway and it's vibrating.. 140km and it's SMACKING loud. I am worried all this is causing the hairline clearcoat cracks.

I didn't want to get pins but seems I may need to. I would go with the FLUSH ones (not the actual pin).

1. I was wondering if I should or not?
2. Which are the best ones? Anyway to
3. What's the best way of HIDING them as much as I can? (Painting the metal washer the same color as the hood?)

Thanks

 

they are a pain, i would avoid those things like the plague unless you have a RACE car....you'll scratch up the paint and if not set correctly they will squeak


i redid my car and the new hood has no pins

 

I wouldn't go for the pins either. IMO, they look terrible.

This may be out there, but what if you were to install those headlight covers (clear or smoked)? The ones that cover the entire headlight pocket. I would imagine that they would deflect the air away from those areas????

 

I dont see how using the flushmount hood "locks" not pins, would scatch your hood and they protect your engine against theives and flipping open. Just look at Crazy's camaro's they have them or at least the sunset orange one does anyways and it looks beautiful!!!

Kyle

 

Thanks man! I love these Mr. Gasket Hood Pins. Starkey lock so nobody can open the hood (unless they have a key which is a posibility but not likely) and they are flush. Mine do not squeak or rattle and no paint scratches. Very happy with them. I plan to be running these on my 89 IROC-Z soon too.

 

Where is the lock located?

 

Right in the middle of each one. Key fits right into the grooves. I dont have a close-up, sorry man. The key is not like ultra security or anything, I believe all the keys are the same in all the kits. But unless someone is walking around with Mr. Gasket hood pin keys and you've removed the stock cable it shouldnt be a problem.

 

Heres mine. Didn't want them, but the hood didn't sit that great.

 

Are you still using the stock rubber bumbers at the front and sides of the hood. If not that can cause alot more play in the hood.

I had a set of those flush mount locks on a cowl hood. They are about the cleanest looking ones i know of. But still doesnt look as clean imo. Maybe if you painted them body color they would blend better.


Maybe even fab up some other type of push pin. That could be installed after the hood was down. underneath the corners out of site.

 

Airpak...the black looks really good dont see to many clean early year cars around my way. yours gives me an idea of what they would look like on mine!

 

Here are a couple old pics I had.....one thing most people don't see that I did was, I only had the two outside locks when I first put them on and at night when I would pass a semi on a two lane at over 55mph I could see through the blower hole that the center of the hood would lift up at least a 1 1/2" so I added the center locks. You have a diff. hood so that might not be an issue with yours, also mine have diff. keys but they might not be the same brand

 

With my harwood cowl I noticed the front corners lifting at around 90 mph so I put in hood pins (just reg. hair pin type), then took the center latch and all off to see if it made a diff. It didn't so I just left off the striker, latch, brace, etc to save some more nose weight.

Here's a pic of my pins. (in this pic it shows the headlight blackout brackets I made, still aint put the black outs back on the car yet)

 

Here's a pic I took two days ago. It kind of shows the hood pins, with the same hood also.

 

So you are saying the pins did NOTHING? Your hood still lifts at around 90mph even tho you installed the pins on the corners above the headlight pockets??

 

Do YOU notice the hood lifting at speeds still even with your hood pins?

 

did mine out of necessity. the corners of my hood would want to come up above 80mph...since the car sees quick blasts to 109mph all the time, it was necessary to keep the hood from coming off the car on the big end...

 

Hey, I know that car!

Personally, the pins are pretty badass looking. *** knows that car probably wont be going too fast anytime soon, but it's still mean looking.

 

camarosource:

i say NO to the hood pins, it'll screw up the nice flow you have going with that beautiful car of yours....my solution for you is just slow down and stop driving like a chicken with its head cut off

 

I'd say locks only because a friend of mine had is pins pulled and clipped off by some a-hole. He found out at 70mph when the hood came up and shattered the window and dented the top of the hood.

I ordered Mr. Gasket locks for my fiberglass, they are the same ones that CrazyHawaiian has on his.

 

No, I don't notice ANY lift whatsoever at highway speeds or higher. Those pins are very secure, and they serve a valuable purpose in my opinon.

I just sold that car, and it leaves me on Saturday I wanted to get a few pics of her nice and clean for my personal collection.

 

You know, depending on the install you might still see movement with the Mr. Gasket style pins. Since these pins dont stick through, the height of the pin plays a role into the fitment. On my hood I still have slight movement above 80mph. I dont consider this a bad thing. The lock prevents the hood from possibly going anywhere. The pins simply need to be adjusted if you want to eliminate all movement. I dont bother because I'm changing the hood on that car soon (if the plans go right)

 

i still say just slow down, there's no need to go 140+mph...

 

he's talking about 140kmh not mph...much slower than you think....something like 87mph...and i know you go that fast...

 

ok that makes sense...i was gonna say why the heck do you need to be going 140mph anyways?

 

I guess I worded that wrong.. Lifted with out the pins. Put in pins, no lift, took off center latch and still no lift, so I left off the latch to save weight

 

Dzus quarter-turn fasteners. These thing are sweet. My hood lifted at highway speeds with pins. Put these babies on...perfect! Look good too.

 

Kinda off topic but: night rider327 is it me or the harwood hood isn't totally flush with the front fascia? Or maybe I am wrong and just looking at the pic wrong. It looks like it has a sharp drop on the edge and not rounded like some of the pther aftermarket hoods.

 

i need the pins. the previous owner didnt put them on and just left the latch off for some reason. he ditched the hood around 80 tearing off the mounts for the "hood lifters". so now its a lift off hood with only 2 pins. but it gets the job done i suppose, and no real blemishes. but if you get the hairpins, they WILL mess with your hood.

 

I go on the freeway and the speed limit is 100-110km.

 

HOLY GEEZ!! No.. I'm never gone, nor even THINK going that fast! That's the MAX on my speedo!

No. the fastest I've driven is 110km but when it's windy out and you are driving, it's EASILY 140+km..

 

someone explained to me that you were talking km, not mph...so that makes sense

 

SmallTires... Yep your right. The front of my hood don't sit flush with the nose. I'm not sure if Harwood still builds thier hoods like that now or not, but this is an older bolt on (about 5-8 years old)

The whole outside edeges, sides, back, and front is squared off at a 90* angle. So it has a lip sticking down about 3/8" all the way around the hood.

The lip on the back even hit my wiper arms so I had to cut/grind it off.

I think its just cause of it being an older hood.

I'm happy with it for the price I paid though, and it saves weight and gives me the hood clearance I need.

I found a 86 sport coupe local for sale. It had a 350 swapped into it many years ago, T tops, that harwood hood, performer rpm intake, 600 cfm edelbrock carb, 3.42 gear rear end, Chrome D thrust wheels, and some other parts.

The engine was knocking like crazy but the guy just wanted $500 for the car. So I bought it just for parts. Put the hood on my 88, sold the carb, got a spare rear end for when I kill mine, nice red door panels i'll use on mine, good red T top headliner, plus I got other engine parts off it like a set of 993 heads (smog heads but good for a stock-ish type rebuild), plane chrome valve covers, etc etc

 

That lip they build around the hood is for shipping protection, says so right in the paperwork. You need to trim it off to however you want it. I trimmed mine flush in the front like the stock hood and left a little on the sides.

 

EvilCartman... Hmm thanks man. I never knew that. Like I said I bought it used on a car and didnt get any papers with it so I just didnt know they tell you to trim that off.

Glad you pointed that out to me though.

 

I never really thought about the hood shaking at high speeds like that. It makes sense though seeing how the headlights are basically blocks being pushed at high speeds. I bet they are the least aerodamic part of the exterior. I guess it's just another reason for flush headlights or at least covers