Cowl hood fabrication?

Topic: Cowl hood fabrication? (Read 2097 times) previous topic - next topic

Cowl hood fabrication?

September 06, 2010, 07:28:50 PM

Alright, here's what I'm looking at to do for my Thunderbird to get me that little extra clearance for my 351:

http://www.jegs.com/i/Auto+Metal+Direct/106/X301-SCCOP-1/10002/-1

That being said, has anyone done this with their hood on this forum with a weld-on application and it actually look decent? I think this would look cool as well as primarily give me the room I need, but what do you guys think? Would this style cowl look out of place on the T-bird? The other reason I want this one (particularly in metal) is because I am thankful to say I'm very skilled at welding.. but fiberglass, not so much. Thoughts?

Cowl hood fabrication?

Reply #1 – September 06, 2010, 10:14:51 PM

For what you want to do I think it will look fine. If you got the welding skills then go for it for that seamless look!

Cowl hood fabrication?

Reply #2 – September 06, 2010, 10:57:14 PM

Are you doing a carb or efi 351w? If EFI what intake?

Cowl hood fabrication?

Reply #3 – September 06, 2010, 11:12:01 PM

Since you have the skills I say go for it. I have a 3" cowl induction fiberglass hood. It came from usbody.com they also have another site called hoods.com , you could check the price difference to help you decide.

Cowl hood fabrication?

Reply #4 – September 07, 2010, 12:45:53 AM

Quote from: Bob;334897

Are you doing a carb or efi 351w? If EFI what intake?

going to go with a carb and an airgap RPM intake.

+1Bad, I'll take a look. How was the quality behind it overall when you got it? Bolt-on application I'm guessing?

Cowl hood fabrication?

Reply #5 – September 07, 2010, 07:55:22 AM

The one I got is reinforced so I could use the original springs plus I got the finished underside. It took quite a bit of work to get it right. The windshield side of the hood wasn't even it took alot of sanding to even it up plus we had to hone the hinges and latch to make it all work. I also need to use a hook to lift the hood because it has a lip on it instead of being flat like the original. But it has held up very well. I've had it for 8 years now and it does have a couple cracks but nothing major, which is pretty good considering I'm using the original springs.

Cowl hood fabrication?

Reply #6 – September 07, 2010, 08:13:06 AM

I'd go with the metal one myself, only because I could do the work easier then installing a fiberglass hood.

If you find yourself another hood for cheap or free, you could cut it up and make your own cowl hood with the original hood lines in it.

Cowl hood fabrication?

Reply #7 – September 07, 2010, 01:27:32 PM

Quote from: daminc;334914

I'd go with the metal one myself, only because I could do the work easier then installing a fiberglass hood.

If you find yourself another hood for cheap or free, you could cut it up and make your own cowl hood with the original hood lines in it.

I'm in the process of buying a bunch of parts off a car that someone is stripping down for me. One of those parts happens to be a turbocoupe hood, so I figured I'd keep that one and chop up my stocker. That's kind of the direction I was thinking of taking, and like you said - metal is a little easier to work with + I'm guaranteed no fitment issues because my current hood works fine. The last fiberglass hood I had was really screwed and had a major gap on one side of the hood. Wasn't happy about that.

Cowl hood fabrication?

Reply #8 – September 09, 2010, 10:29:26 PM

I took a turbo coupe hood and a stock flat hoo and combined the two out of steel and
made my cowl hood.
I had to have the cowl area as wide as the step in the hood due to the EFI intake.

I have made a mold of my hood as i plan to make a fiberglass hood or 2??

Cowl hood fabrication?

Reply #9 – September 09, 2010, 10:49:58 PM

If you plan on making a hoods Greg let me know I would be interested in one. I need a wide clearance too, my hole came out to be 25"w x18 with trying to clear the intake and throttlebody.