Irecently purchased a ramair hood for my 89.Haven't had time to bolt everything together yet,but just wondering if anyone else out there that has installed one of these can tell me before hand whether or not these use the factory hood struts.

 

i do believe that most if not all aftermarket fiberglass hoods are not supposed to use factory lift rods

 

wow, Idid not know that, then what am i supposed to use?i have some old tired ones hanging around that couldn't hold a hood up to save their own lives ya think those will work?I also own a 81 Z28 that is outfitted with a harwood cowl induction hood,it has the low tension springs on factory hood hinges,& it sometimes doesn't want to stay up so I use a prop rod on it. Its a real pain in the rear, but the 81 has very nice hugger orange paint on her & it really hits a nerve when I open the hood &i'm not sure whether or not i can walk away for a second.there doesn't seem to be a big weight diff. on the 89 hoods thats why i am asking

 

Steel rods / shocks will end up giving you stress cracks where your hinges mount to the hood because of the force your excerting on the hood to close. You should buy hood hinges from a 82 or 83 camaro with the factory fiberglass hood option. They are lighter in compression and you won't have that issue. On that note. I did this swap (used 82-82 instead of my pristine 91 hinges) and I now may have to use a hood prop to get the hood to stay open. In my opinion though that's better than F'ing up my $800 hood (that's including the paint,shipping,hood,etc). You can get the 82-83 hood shocks from most auto parts stores.

 

thanks ac please disregard my edit didn't think about those old stock fiberglass hoods