Hey everyone, I'm saving up for a hood but I do not know what to get. I'm going strictly for looks, because I want that aggressive and badass muscle car look, if that makes any sense. I'm choosing between a ram air II style hood and a cowl induction hood. I don't really care about functionallity, as I will be doing an engine swap in the next few years, and plan on gaining enough HP out of that. I'm also swaping out my 89 bumper for an 84 with the solid body colored inserts if that makes any difference. Anyway I'm really interested in any imput anyone has. Thanks.

 

i love my 4 inch glasstek hood. its really light, and looks badass.

 

I don't like the looks of either the cowl hoods or the Ram Air II. The regular Ram Air hood looks better to me.

 

I vote RA2 but you almost need a 82-92 4th gen style spoiler or 4th gen spoiler to make it match the rest of the car.

Whatever aftermarket hood you go with, consider getting hood pins or dzus fasteners. The top layer of fiberglass hoods have been known to separate from the bottom layer or the hood latch at high speeds resulting in a hood flying off. Doesn't happen too often but can happen.

 

None of the aftermarket hoods really match the body lines... The RA I hoods probably come closest. An aftermarket hood over a stock drivetrain is silly. Historically it's always been to either create clearance, or as a gimmick intake. Aside from weight reduction it does nothing for performance.

 

the RAII has no place on a 3rd gen, period

RAI works really well on 91-92 birds

Cowls are hit or miss, i have a 4" VFN cowl and like it, actually matches the fender line pretty well, so it works, but i needed it for clearance and really had no choice.

the factory powerbuldge hood is good too, and vfn apparently makes a glass version, but i have never seen a pic of it.

honestly, i would wait until you know what you are doing with the engine before buying the hood. A cowl is pointless without a need for it, especially on a fuel injected car with the throttle body in the front of the engine, and the flat hoods wont work with a tall intake setup.

 

If I were to get a new hood, I would go with the cowl induction type. I think that the 2" or 2 1/2" cowl hoods are too small, while the 4" or 6" are way too tall. However, there is a 3" that seems perfect, IMO. I think Harwood makes one for the Camaro, I do not know about the Firebird.

 

harwood has a firebird cowl, should be a 3" or maybe a 2.5

 

I agree with you completely. I'm not fond of cowl hoods but some times you can't avoid using them. Running a big block is one of the reasons why you'd need one.

 

2 in. Goodmark Cowl all steel hood. Its 3in. at the rear vent.

 

I guess a ram air II hood would look a bit out of place. Yet I feel as though the ram air I hoods look a little weird and not very aggressive. I think once I stuff a fat engine in there (383, 408, big block etc.) I will go with the harwood 3 inch cowl hood. I've always thought that a hood bird would look cool on a cowl hood too.

 

2" or 3" cowl is the best IMO..

 

for a bird, Ram air I all the way, the ram air II is ugly as sin, I don't even like them on 4th gen birds.

for a Camaro, a small cowl hood, 3 inch max (unless the motor has the ***** to back it up)

 

Heres one more showing how when the hood closes my TBI pulls from the Cowl.

 

can someone post a picture of both a RAM Air I and RAM Air II hood. is there really a big difference?

 

Ram Air I


Ram Air II


Ram Air II-style only looks good, when it had all 4 nostrils, like the 4th gens do. Like on my old 97 Tahoe.....

 

i kind of like the ss hood.

 

I suppose an ss hood could look cool on a firebird, although I've never really seen that before.

 

Friends don't let friends build TransMaros! Don't mix the breeds, it never looks good.

 

yeah, transmaros are lame ! Does anybody think that a hood bird on top of the cowl hood would look cool, or maybe even a skull or some other decal? I've always thought something like that would be awesome!

 

I beg to differ I love my transmaro as you call it

 

Nothing personal, but I don't even like that hood on 98-up Firebirds. It reminds me of when the batman suit got nipples. Completely pointless, and ridiculous.

 

in my opinion it would take more than a hood to be considered a transmaro. anyway.. i like the look of the ss hood way more than the nostril hood. i'm just sayin'.

 

I actually love the way your IROC looks ssean92! I think it does take quite a bit more than a hood to make a transmaro. Anyway, love the look of all of the hoods everyone has listed, but I'd have to say that the cowl is my favorite right now. It has that awesome "get the hell out of my way" look to it, which is what I love about our type of cars in the first place . I'm basically sold on it if it would look good with a hood bird, although I don't know if it would. Any ideas for a cool cowl hood design?

 

Sinister's yellow Camaro is one of the coolest designs that I've seen used on a cowl hood car. But the car also has the Camaro hockey stripe going with it.


And it looks like a 5th gen owner has copied his idea. Hockey stripes are supposed to stop before the door handle, but whatever, still looks alright on a 5th gen.
http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25830



If you are wanting a hood bird, maybe consider cutting a hole in a base 82-92 firebird hood for a shaker like what the 2nd gen trans ams have.
This is the Bandit II thirdgen by the way, I believe this shaker is just stuck on to the stock hood:

I think a hood bird could work on a RA2 hood also, but probably not with a 2nd gen decal, don't think it would fit.

 

I use mine as a functional ram air so it has a purpose