Anyone explain to me how to install a lift off fiberglass cowl hood. Hood pin location, motifications needed, etc. Im lost in the dark on this one.

 

well basically, there is a piece of metal mounted to the actual body, and then this piece(like a pin or a stick of metal if you will) goes through a hole in the hood, and a cotter pin slides through the "stick" and holds the hood in place. there are almost always 4 pins on every hood like this. more commonly known as a pin-on hood. i have seen a thirdgen firebird with 6 pins, but it looks like an ameteur went overboard honestly, and would make quick access to the engine compartment more difficult.

 

I've been looking at these hoods too. From what I have gathered you have no problem welding on the front two pins. These go ..evenly spaced of course....on the core support, and the back are where it gets tricky. On the passenger side there is enough lip on the firewall to weld in the pin, but the drivers side doesn't leave as much to work with. A piece of scrap metal needs to be fabed to make the pins even.

 

my hood is held down in the front with pins, not welded in but they have nuts on the underside, we drilled a hole then bolted them in

 

Dan...so you have the pins in front...and kept the stock hinges and hood supports in the back?

 

yeah

 

Most racers use Dzus 1/4 turn fasteners now on lift-off type hoods.IMHO they look much cleaner than pins. They require the use of L-shaped metal plates that can be welded or riveted to the body, and usually there will be several on each side to prevent the hood from bowing at high speed and potentially breaking and coming off...these hoods are usually very lightweight and flimsy, and need additional clamping to keep them on the car. The plates have a hole in them, and use a s-shaped spring to hold tension on the fastener, which you remove with a special disc-shaped tool. A real PITA for a street car. though, esp in an emergency (say, if your engine is on fire).

If your hood is heavy enough, you might get away with fewer Dzus fasteners, but I'd put at least one in each corner and another at the front center.

 

i used d-zues fasteners on my malibu with four on the front and back two on the sides and yes it was a PITA. you have to make sure everything aligned properly or else your going to jack your hood up i used masking tape tomark the center of the mounting tabs on the car and hood and just lined up the marks measure how far out the hole needs to be and drill. it took a long time but when it was finished it looked pretty good