I have looked at a fiberglass cowl hood and a metal cowl hood. What is the differance in weight. What is the best long term every day driver hood. Should I go fiber glass or metal?

 

I bought a 2 1/2 Inch Harwood Cowl Induction Hood from my local Craigslist for $200. It was a ******* son and father who scrap cars. Since the Hood wasn't metal they couldnt scrap it lol. Its in awsome shape, and weighs NOTHING compared to a metal hood. I plan to daily drive mine once my swap is done, and I haven't heard anything bad about having a Fiberglass Hood on a DD before.

 

Eh, depends on the hood in question. A lot of claims of fiberglass being weight saving can sometimes be false depending on what you're looking at. For example a steel dash weighs just about as much as a fiberglass dash... actually in a lot of cases the fiberglass dash is heavier, ESPECIALLY if its a custom one with a wood structure beneath it.

That's not to say a cowl hood won't be lighter, it very well could be. Steel hoods often have a lot more bracing in place, and that contributes to more weight.

Anyways, the moral of the story is, check for the manufacturers weight or e-mail them.

Mathius

 

Very true. Youll need to ask the manufacturer/seller of Hoods to see how much they weigh. Id say my Cowl Hood weighs no more than 30 Pds, and thats estimating a little high. My factory Hood had to weigh close to 80 Pds if I had to guess.

 

stock steel hoods are heavy as ****. should be easy to find a significantly lighter hood. the stock hoods can be pretty though, especially the iroc-z hoods.

 

wish i could come across a deal like that. Just the shipping at most web sites is about 150 +

 

 

My Fiberglass SS hood is way lighter than my factory steel hood. I'd say a cowl hood would be even lighter because the SS has this thick area around the scoop, for extra bracing I guess. Either way, after I pinned the front of it I've had no problems. I drive it all the time while the weather's nice.

Only downside I really saw was that I used to sit on the hood/fender next to the radio antenna when I was parked talking to someone. After the switch to a glass hood, no way I trust it under my butt. Probly flex and spider crack the paint all to hell.

Max,

 

I put a factory 82 Z28 (SMC) hood on my daily driven Camaro. I didn't actually weigh them on a scale, but the SMC hood is much much lighter than the steel hood.

IIRC, I read that it is 40 lbs lighter.

 

Id also like to add that my hood struts were worn out, and with the factory hood they couldnt hold it up anymore. I switched to the cowl hood, and the struts hold it up like its nothing now.

 

my 4 inch cowl hood by glassteck is extremely light. i love it

 

I have a Daytona Hood, IROC Cowl, Turbo Hood either one of those is fine.

I think it weighs around 35lbs and it has steel mounts for the hood brackets.

Stock IROC Hood as stated in the Weight Reduction Thread says 67.5lbs. So over a 30lb weight loss.

Also my hood struts were blown not holding the stock hood at all. Replaced with fiberglass hood and struts hold her up oh so well.

Now I wonder what happens when the struts go out completely and need low tension hood struts? Anybody know of some? I know they make them for tuner guys.

Edit: Future reference for OP. Click Here

 

Yeah, a strut for fiberglass hoods is available. Just need to order a replacement hood strut for an 82-83 Z28 SMC hood!

ACDELCO Part # 510951 {#19165221}
STRUT,HOOD W/FIBERGLASS HOOD

 

Your good!

 

But it's cheaper to hit up the junk yards and find some standard ones that are worn out. The JY @ here only charge a few bucks for hood and trunk supports.

 

There are two types of fiberglass hoods - the lift off type and the ones that use hinges and the factory latch.

The ones using the factory latch and hinges save 20-35lbs depending on the design and who made it. Good idea to pin these hoods at the front due to wind catching the hood under the headlight buckets.

The lift off hoods fasten using pins or dzus and are at least 30lbs lighter than stock, but flex too much at high speeds.

 

I wonder if the struts for smc hoods would be adaquate? Edit: Nm, covered above.

 

thank you all for the info. I believe I will be getting a 3" fiberglass cowl hood. It will bolt on and saves a little weight. I couldnt find a 3" metal hood anyway so fiberglass is the winner.

 

Mine is a bolt-on too. You wont be disappointed with it, they are really nice and it doesn't hurt to lighten up that front end.

 

How did glasstek fit fit ? Had some glass fit well out of box others 6hrs. work just to close right.

 

I have a Harwood 4" lift off cowl hood and it weighs 8lbs with paint. It will be less than 9lbs even with the dzus fasteners. It's almost a 60lb weight difference.

 

What is the weight of a factory steel hood?
What is the weight of a factory fiberglass/composite hood?

 

Okay, the factory steel hood weighs 59#-12oz.


Does anyone have a composite/fiberglass hood that they could weigh?

 

I just have the normal Formula hood on my 87 bird and it took me and a buddy to pick it up off the car because of how wide the hoods are. My arms weren't long enough to do it my self and because of how heavy it is.

 

I just received an OER Fiberglass hood from Classic Industries. It weighs 32.2 lbs. My factory steel hood, without hinges or latches weighs 61 lbs even.