Hey guys,

We had two of our STB's returned because the customers claimed they did not clear there Firebird hoods.. we refunded them and had the items sent back. We tried both the STB's on our 1989 Camaro 5.0L and a 1990 Firebird Formula 5.0L... the braces cleared and worked excellent on both, we tried all the ones in stock and they cleared as well. I looked back at the customers profiles and both have GTA's, one a 88 and one a 87... unfortunately I sold my GTA so I can't check it out.

So I am looking to see anyone knows the differences in hoods between a Firebird and a Firebird Trans and the GTA. Or if someone could take a picture of the underneath of there GTA hood? Any info would help right now

Here is the link to our STB- www.umiperformance.com/2008

If you have any info please share. Thanks!

Ryan

I had this same question last year & nobody could provide one, so I tried it myself.

What I found was (on a Edelbrock 3-pt).......

The cross bar hit my hood & to make room, a combination of a hammer & a cutting of some metal, made room for the crossbar.

I also discovered that the 2 forward bars from the cowl to the cross bar, are a bit too long. The mounts on the strut towers overlap the front edge a bit. The 2 angle bar should be made a bit shorter. Strut me...I put mine as far back as possible as the underside of the cowl lip would allow. Maybe someday I'll pull it off, cut the tubes, reweld them & make them shorter.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/susp...?highlight=stb

You say your brace actually cleared a Formula hood? With or without a hood liner in place?
Do you plan to offer one that will clear aftermarket runners?

Heres mine.

1986 TransAm. Stock hood with the vents.

Our brace cleareed the Formula hood that has the bubble on the drivers side but there was no hood liner on the vehicle... there is was no touching and still a little bit of clearance.

Thanks Stephen for the link, it really helped.. I am glad to see we are not the only ones with this problem.

Thanks as well for the picture, maybe the hoods are fine and maybe is the hood liner causing the issue?

Could the other cars have been in an accident and the body panels are messed up or the frame is tweaked?

No hood liner in my car....So it is purely a hood physical interference problem, nothing to do with the liner causing it. A liner woulda only made it worse.

I got a FULL Carfax on my car...No accidents....Unless you count the deer that messed up my hood. The car still drives just fine. It just clipped the front corner & messed up the fender & side view mirror. And I already replaced that hood so.......

Might just be a problem with "GTA" hoods (and the flat hoods), if the Formula hood worked fine.

Mine had the hoodliner. I removed it because it had got torn from a broken belt once and I am repainting it and insyalling a new one soon.
But it did used to touch the front edge of the open-element air cleaner assembly when the liner was there. That is basically where it starts to curve down.

I had an Edelbrock brace on mine and without the liner it touched in a couple of spots on the framework of the hood so they were trimmed. I have a CARMOTORSPORTS hood lier and the brace had to be removed or the hood would be stressed when closed. The air inlet to the TB has made an imprint in the liner as well. I was looking to modify the Edelbrock similar to how UMI's is designed but I'm concerned with strength considering how much material I'm looking to remove to get the main brace to sit low enough.

Well after reading this and some research it looks like the issue is the hood liner and not the hood itself... so the STB should clear all Firebird, Trans Am and GTA hoods as long as the hood liner is removed or it could be cut I assume.

Sooo... is there anyone with a GTA or Trans Am with out a hood liner that would like a free STB and try this out for us to confirm?

Ryan

I'm up for swapping my Edelbrock one for a UMI one, for comparison reasons & clearance check purposes. My hood liner has been off since the day the hood went on (Bambi took out the original hood).

My hood still hits the STB, so more cutting is needed. My hood will close & latch, but still sits above the fenders by about 1/8". If it fully closes with a UMI, that certainly would confirm the Edelbrock STB hits & the UMI one doesn't. With UMIs notch to the bottom, that certainly shows that it could sit lower & possibly not hit the hood.

DAMN! how did i miss this?

I would have offered.

Ryan;

You mentioned you tried the formula hood with the bubble on the driver side. The formula hood literally has part of the bracing cut away on that side of the hood. But he bracing is present on a GTA hood. Only "clearance" difference between the two. I dont think it should make a difference if it clears the other side though....

And i assume your STB's are for TPI style cars?

If you need any other victims, my 86 TA has been sans hoodliner since sometime before 1993... I bought it that way.

Now that is customer service!! One of the many reasons you are #1 in my book. To bad I don't have a GTA/TA...

Mike

I'd be happy to try it for you, I'll even pay the shipping to Australia.......

Most definitely interested. I've swapped my HSR 305 to an LSx motor so I'm in the market for a STB anyways. Now I'm interested in the outcome...

PM Sent.

Thanks everyone... but right now Stephen has stepped up to the challenge

I will post if we need anymore volunteers!