Curious if any of the members have had any success with one of the reproduction Ram Air hoods? I know that The Parts Place sells both the 70 and 71/72 style OAI hoods. Curious what the quality and fit is...do they align well with your fenders in terms of curvature etc... A friend has just ordered one. Al

 

I can't speak to any reproduction hood. I was hoping someone more knowledgable would answer. But I'm happy to share what I do know. That is - the original factory hoods fit very poorly by modern standards. And they fit notably worse than the flat steel ones as well. The factory (71/72) oai hoods fit "long". A little above the fender at the windshield and a little below the fender at the grill. If you see one on a car that fits perfectly its probably not original... Expect a repro hood to take alot of work to look like a poor fitting original. My 2 cts is fork out for a real one or learn to appreciate your steel one that fits perfectly. Regards Tom

 

Thanks for your input. My factory W25 hood fits quite well on my 72W30 convert. I see many where the rear of the hood sits too high on these cars and it's actually easy to adjust. Takes less than 5 minutes. You do one side at a time. One person loosens the hinge bolts and then the other lifts the hood higher up than normal and holds it there until the bolts are tight. Then shut slowly and you will see the back corners get sucked down while not effecting your other adjustments. We just did this to my W31 factory hood. Only just the passenger back corner was sitting to high. Literally 2 minutes. Fixed.

 

I have not seen one but if it is like everything else the parts place reproduces it will take a lot of work to make it look acceptable. Why not just buy Thornton's hood? It fits right out of the box and by the time the body shop is done trying to make the parts place hood fit my guess it they might cost about the same... time is money.
Just sayin.

 

Hi Fred. I suggested that to him but there was a deal on eBay. Anyway it sounds like Thortons is the way to go. They had a 70 "convert your car to a W30" which offered the hood, hold downs, W30 emblems, rear wing and a stencil kit for under $1,600. Cheap. That's why I asked about the hood fit etc.

 

Hi Al.
This is the best reproduction from what others have said.
http://thorntonmusclecars.com/

 

Yup I think you both are right.

 

I see you already know about the Thorton hoods.
The cost to make a poor quality aftermarket hood fit will add up fast.

 

once he gets it let us know how it all works out.

 

Thanks for the alignment tips👍Tom

 

Here is a link to the problems I had with the Glasstec Hood fromTPP. https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...js=1#community
Tell your friend to leave it in direct hot sun a couple of days before doing any work on it. Mine had so many air pockets.......it took about $800.00 of body work to make it work. 2 years later the body work is starting to show.
My advise would be to get the best to start with.

 

Wow. Just read that whole thread. Unbelievable problems. It looks like the Parts Place has 2 different hoods. One with a metal frame and one just fibreglass. Are they both made by Glassteck?

 

When I purchased my hood from they only had steel framed hoods for 1970 models. They may have updated since then.

 

The 71/72 OAI hood PP sells for $2500 is the Thornton hood.

 

I am a huge proponent of Troy Thornton's products and have one of his hoods on my car. I opted to use Thorntons hood over my nice original OAI which resides in my attic. However, do not think that his hood will not require a significant amount of fitting and perfecting to make it right....they are not a paint and bolt on piece. I am not trying discredit the product, just would like to make sure that there is not a misunderstanding on how they fit. Worth the money? Yes,....but then again I bought mine at the introductory price of $1050 back in '01..

 

Love my glasstek hood but its for racing. Light weight . DO NOT expect it to be show quality. great for the street cruiser or drag car . all i did was prime block sand and paint and made it fit to 1972 GM standards. Althought the rest of my gaps are up to modern standards lol.

 

Great information and I really appreciate it. I will pass on all your comments. Interesting comment Allan made that the 71/72 style hoods TPP are from Thornton. Now the price differential makes some sense. Repro parts as a whole are real hit and miss. I was doing a frame off on a 69 Chevelle and bought a new rad support as the one in the car had some damage to it from an accident. So we are hanging the front fenders and couldnt understand why there was such a gap between the nose and the hood. Looked closer and the repro rad support had a curve to it instead of being straight. Fortunately I had an a/c parts car that had the same support as the big block cars. I thought I was treating myself to a nice new piece when I bought the repro. Funny thing when I phoned the supplier he gave me my money back and didnt care if I returned it. Yup...one word. Garbage.