Hey, i just wanted to ask if i should keep the original 1974 442 hood with the white stripes, or the w-30 fiberglass ram air hood. Thank you

 

If you want to run the fiberglass hood then I'd encourage you to stash the original 442 hood in the back of your garage. Your other post said its all original so I'd not do anything that couldn't easily be undone. My 2 cents worth!



John

 

^^ x2 ^^

 

If and when you plan on selling it the first thing out his mouth is where is the factory hood. so keep it stored.
Gerald

 

And if you are getting the car painted you might want to paint both hoods.

 

This is a matter of personal taste, but the W-25 hood was designed to fit with the body lines and grille design of the 1970-72 cars. The scoops are designed to align with the grilles, and the leading edges of the scoops parallels the leading edge of the hood. The ones on the market for other years retain the scoop size and shape from the original and don't match the later cars' lines at all. Your call, but I prefer the original hood.

Yes, I realize these aren't 1974 model year, but they were the photos I could find quickly. Note that the outside edge of the scoop is outboard of the feature line on the hood instead of lining up with the grille and the leading edges of the scoops don't parallel the hood or header. Looks like a force fit instead of an integrated design.





At least on the 73-75 hoods, the scoops parallel the leading edge, but the openings are not even close to aligning with the grilles.

 

A friend of mine made this from a 1979 Pontiac Firebird Formula so it's all steel, balanced and sharp.

 

I would paint both hoods (if you paint the car) and securely hang the original in the garage or man cave.

 

I personally prefer the stock hood and the unique '74 stripes. Is there a reasonable way to make the hood louvers operable on the '73-'75 hoods?

 

Keep the stock hood if you can salvage it.

 

That actually looks better than the aftermarket W-25 hoods.

 

I know Joe, took his vision and made it work. He said the same thing as many have said that the VFN based on 70-2 W-25 aren't quite there with alignment etc.
I should get a pic of bottom to see how they dealt with that.

Brett

 

I like your friends hood Paladin31 !!! Nice job,it does look way better than the "W25" style hood.

 

Wow. That is really sharp!

 

The irony is that the skills used to fit those OAI hoods onto later cars are the same skills which could've been used to fix the aesthetic problems you note.

 

Exactly my point. A minor additional effort would have yielded a much better product. Oh well.