Hello everyone. I just purchased a factory fiberglass over steel hood. I cannot get this hood to for. I can make the rear of the hood even with the top of the fenders and the front of the hood even with the top of the fender but every thing in the middle of the hood is either above the fender on one side and lower than the fender on the other. Also the very front of the hood where it follows the curve of the fender refuses to match. Can you guys please help me out. I spent a ton of money and drove 600 miles to pick it up and I'm super bumming out right now.
Thank you!
Mike

 

Most factory ram air hoods in 1970 have a dip on the front of the driver side. Is yours a Factory hood ? Drop all the adjusters in front of core support it might help.
Gerald

 

I will try that tonight. I think my core support might be off to the left. The hood striker hits the hoodbut only slightly before I push it down to lock. I also can hear it drag a little as it opens. Is there a way to move the core support to the right a small amount and then try to readjust the hood?
thank you.
Mike

 

If you look closely at the front corners of the hood both sides dip down and don't match the fenders. It sits a little low on the right rearbut is close to even in the front. I did lower the front mounts. Left side is still a little high towards the front but even at the rear

 

none of my originals fit perfectly, your look better than mine

 

I don't believe you can move the core support but you should be able to move the hood latch slightly. The gaps on the front of the hood/fenders doesn't look like it needs any adjustment.

 

Agree, this one fits pretty good at the front. IMO Go to gmphotostore . com. There is a picture of a 70 442 on the assembly line in the Oldsmobile section. You can see just how low/below the front left corner of the hood was to the fender. Mine looks just like that one...

 

I have a 1/4 inch shim holding the left fender out in the front. I have adjusted the hood catch as far to the right as possible and it still drags the latch pocket. I looked a several cutlasses with factory OAI. Hoods and there not perfect but alot better then mine. I know that
somebody that owned the car before me had the front clip off. I have found washrrs in place of shims.

 

I will try to post a different angle when I get home tonight. . Do you have any photos I could look at? Also the fenders that are on this car have a ripple about every 4 inches on the top of the fender where the hood bumpers/ guides go. Was this normal for 1970 of do I have different year fenders on it.

 

The fenders are replacement fenders. The 'ripples' you're talking about are from 71/72 model years. That's an indication your fenders are not original. It will have no effect on the fitment of the hood or attachment to the radiator support.

 

I just found a thread here on classic Olds. They talk about the crumple ripples on 71 and 72 fenders. I now know the fenders are incorrect for my car. Are the fenders for 70 the same as 71 and 72 with the exception of the crumple ripples?

 

Basically, yes. The elimination of flat ridges was an attempt to prevent the fender from driving straight back in a frontal collision. The ridges in 71/72 fenders are designed to create a crumple zone.

 

Thank you

 

If you'd like to see what 70 fenders look like, here you go. Courtesy of an Olds show I went to.

 

I now understand. Thank you!
Mike

 

I do not recommend this to the rookies, but at the factory the line people had a piece of 2x4 and a weighty hammer to "adjust alignment" of pieces parts. So if you loosen up the latch and give it a soft back in the direction it needs to go that might work.
This is a bad idea and should never be tried. That's my disclaimer.

 

Lol. I did try to tap on the latch with a peice of wood and a hammer. No luck. I tried to upload some more pics but they won't send

 

 

This is what I'm talking about. The hood doesn't follow the fender lone on either side. Is there a way of adjusting it?
Thank you!
Mike

 

Yes, at the front on the rad support are 2 round rubber bumper stops - 1 on each side. They apply upward pressure to the front of the sides of the hood. IIRC use a 1/2" wrench to turn the nut just below the rubber bumper stop. It will adjust up/down. You might be able to do it with a #2 Phillips screwdriver from the top side to. Look at the picture I posted of the 70 fender. Just to the right of the W25 hood tie down is the round rubber bump stop. Got it?

 

When I raise the 2 stops on the core support it raises the center of the hood to high. The rear of the hood is even with the fender.

 

That's the nature of the W25 hood. It's unfortunate but a fact of life the center of the hood often is higher than the fender. I doubt even if you took it to a bodyshop and paid $$$$$$ they probably couldn't get it better without cutting it out and re-fibergalssing the whole thing. 70 W25, 71/72 W25 hoods have the same issues.

 

Ok. Thank you! I saved for years and thought I would buy a factory hood so I would have a nice fit. Thank you! And also every one else. Kinda bummin now but I'll do the best I can. I still think the hood is cool! Thanks again!
Mike

 

You can take it to a body shop and ask their professional advice about how much it would cost to make it fit exactly how you want. I'm guessing the hours alone on that would be the cost of your hood. Doesn't hurt to ask them however.

Is this a Parts Place, Tamraz, OPGI, Year One etc reproduction hood or an OEM? Even the gen 2 hoods from the aftermarket vendors have steel liners so that's not the best way to know if it's OEM or not.

 

No Sir. This is a 1970 442 factory hood. Fiberglass over steel. I heard the aftermarket hood that are fiberglass over steel don't use the wire mesh under the hood. Does anyone know if that's true?.

 

I think your biggest issue is the paint match, the green on the good doesn't quite seem to match the green on the fenders.

 

I think it's just a couple of shades off. But it'll rub rub out!... Lol

 

Fiberglass does move around while the resin is drying and with a chunk this big it is hard to make them fit without doing some sculpting of the hood. I never liked adjusting front ends to make everything line up.

 

I don't know how they make them but I would have thought that GM. Would have made some quality hoods especially on there top selling muscle cars. But I guess that was back in the day.

 

Thornton reproduces these hoods now for good coin. They have their specialized process that is likely as good or better than GM was back in the day. Their hoods do line up better than average from what I've heard, but they still are subject to some of the same consistency issues the OEM ones were. Major difference? Price. Thornton hoods sell for $2500. GM (in 71) W25 hood cost $157.98 and that included all the under hood components. Catch was an L74 455 was required.

 

That's interesting. Thank you. I heard Thornton is holding off on making the w 25 hood. I don't know how true that is though. Thanks for the info

 

Thornton's been making the new production line and selling them for years now. Several of the members here have pulled the trigger on them and are happy with the product. I was wrong about their pricing. It's now gone up to 2995.00!!
Parts Place is selling a steel frame W25 now for $2695.
Interesting the latest Fusick catalogue shows them selling for $2495.00

 

Wow that's great. I would love to see the fit and finish on there's.

 

I just called Thornton hoods and she said their back to making 1970 w25 hoods right now

 

If you look along the under side of the Orig. hood it has a V from front to rear and after market has a square ridge I saw. Thornton

 

Where is this square ridge? Can you electronically circle it and repost the pic?

 

Is the chrome strip at the top of the w25 hood the same as the supreme hood. I need to paint the hood and don't want to install it before the paint job. I did hold it up to the hood and it seems like it's to long.

 

Yes. Everything goes straight across. Word of warning - the OAI hood will likely need to have some sanding to get the rear trim on even without paint. If it was me, I'd fit it before paint and leave it on to avoid having to fuss with it afterwards.

EDIT: You are talking about the rear of the hood closest to the cowl?

 

Yes Sir, the strip close to the cool and windshield. Thank you! I will take your advice on that.
Mike

 

Allen is correct.

I had a factory hood to put on my Vista Cruiser. The shop that repaired the fiberglass cracks said that to fix the fit, they would put new fiberglass under the high points, grind down the high points to match the fender, and then put on new gel coat.

Between the 'glass shop and the painter, the total cost was higher than buying a Thornton. So that's why I went that route.

My ex-brother-in-law paid about $5000 to get his factory hood to look perfect.

The Thornton hood has flaws. When you get the fender line perfect, there is droop on both sides at the front. The back fits perfectly.

Overall it's better than factory fit.