found a new us exotics superhawk hood
10-07-2014, 04:44 PM
#141
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Yeah I hear ya, I'm working on getting one from Roger now and hopefully aligning it with a business trip my wife needs to make in order to minimize the four hour drive
10-16-2014, 09:09 AM
#142
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got my hood in yesterday....it looks great! dont have pics yet but soon...again,.a steal at $290!!! if you have ordered one, dont sweat the amount of time it takes to get....it will come. roger also sent very detailed instructions on how to align and how to trim the hood latch to fit correctly. for those that have asked about weight, the shipping weight of the hood with the shipping material was 35lbs. here is the details he sent to me:
"Once you have the hood, I recommend that you install it and run it on the car for at least a few days... or you can bolt it on, and let the car idle for approximately 60 minutes. Basically this is just a precaution to make sure that all of the adhesive and resin is completely cured and won't ripple or dull after it's been painted. A third option is to have the body shop bake the hood at some point before the paint is applied. You will also need to trim the front handle off of your secondary latch with a hacksaw or something similar in order to use it with the new hood because of the limited clearance underneath the intake ports. Cut it right at the base of the thin stem so you'll be left with just the hook. To open the hood in the future, rather than lifting up on the lever underneath the hood, you'll simply pull out on the hook to release it. I've attached a pic of the modified latch to this email to show you exactly how it needs to be cut. If you want something a little more refined, you can purchase a Firehawk counterpart instead which gives you a loop to pull out on in order to release the hood.
****Here's a few quick tips that will make the install and adjustment MUCH easier... I've installed a few hundred firebird hoods, and I remember how frustrating it used to be before I developed a bit of a process. All of these cars fit a little different from because of the plastic parts and the headlight covers. First, I always remove the headlight covers after the factory hood his removed. The reason being, is that they all sit a little bit differently on every car. They have an insane amount of adjustment, so it's not difficult to get your seams perfect. Once the covers are off, I prefer to align the hood to the bumper and fenders first, then adjust the headlight covers to fit the hood. I usually finger tighten the hinge bolts first, so I can still manipulate the position of the hood before torquing those bolts down. Once the hinge bolts are in, you can install the struts... Also, I build my hoods with a little bit of extra material at the front edge, so if you need to shave a little off to make it fit the bumper cover properly, don't be afraid to do so. Over time the soft plastic bumpers will sag and stretch under their own weight... and especially if they've ever bottomed out against a concrete parking block or curb at some point, so I like to be sure there's enough material to compensate for that, just in case. Once the position of the hood matches the fenders and bumper, go ahead and finger-tighten the latch on to the hood. You can close it slowly and watch the receiver pull the latch into the proper position, then slowly raise it back up and tighten the bolts to keep it in alignment with the receiver. When you're ready to adjust the levels of the hood, first turn the four rubber bumpstops in the engine compartment all the way down so they don't interfere. I would recommend adjusting the latch receiver for any major height changes up front (two 13mm bolts slotted vertically), then use the bumpstops to fine tune the levels of the corners. Once the hood is aligned, you'll want to check the original position of the headlight covers... so with the hood closed, place them on top of their brackets, and align the 2 screw holes in the back to simulate their installed position. Now is when you'll be able to see if the gaps are too close, or too wide with the hood. To adjust the position, you'll see the multiple torx-bit screws on top of each bracket. All you have to do is loosen them by a half turn at a time. If you loosen them all the way out, the bracket might slump forward and you'll lose your starting point... that can get frustrating. Just loosen them a bit until you're able to move the bracket in the direction you want, then re-tighten them, and place the cover on top again to check the gap. Chances are that you won't need to do a lot of adjustments with the headlight covers... it's just easiest to do it this way since there aren't many adjustments in the fenders and bumper. By the way... if you need to close or widen the gap towards the rear of the fenders, there is a screw hidden just underneath the plastic windshield cowl at the highest edge of the fender. You just have to push in on the plastic cowl a bit to see it. Well I think those are the 3 adjustments that most people don't know about... the headlight covers, the latch receiver, and the hidden fender bolt. It definitely makes installing hoods on firebirds a lot easier to know about them.--- --
Roger Robinson - U.S. Exotics LTD
"Once you have the hood, I recommend that you install it and run it on the car for at least a few days... or you can bolt it on, and let the car idle for approximately 60 minutes. Basically this is just a precaution to make sure that all of the adhesive and resin is completely cured and won't ripple or dull after it's been painted. A third option is to have the body shop bake the hood at some point before the paint is applied. You will also need to trim the front handle off of your secondary latch with a hacksaw or something similar in order to use it with the new hood because of the limited clearance underneath the intake ports. Cut it right at the base of the thin stem so you'll be left with just the hook. To open the hood in the future, rather than lifting up on the lever underneath the hood, you'll simply pull out on the hook to release it. I've attached a pic of the modified latch to this email to show you exactly how it needs to be cut. If you want something a little more refined, you can purchase a Firehawk counterpart instead which gives you a loop to pull out on in order to release the hood.
****Here's a few quick tips that will make the install and adjustment MUCH easier... I've installed a few hundred firebird hoods, and I remember how frustrating it used to be before I developed a bit of a process. All of these cars fit a little different from because of the plastic parts and the headlight covers. First, I always remove the headlight covers after the factory hood his removed. The reason being, is that they all sit a little bit differently on every car. They have an insane amount of adjustment, so it's not difficult to get your seams perfect. Once the covers are off, I prefer to align the hood to the bumper and fenders first, then adjust the headlight covers to fit the hood. I usually finger tighten the hinge bolts first, so I can still manipulate the position of the hood before torquing those bolts down. Once the hinge bolts are in, you can install the struts... Also, I build my hoods with a little bit of extra material at the front edge, so if you need to shave a little off to make it fit the bumper cover properly, don't be afraid to do so. Over time the soft plastic bumpers will sag and stretch under their own weight... and especially if they've ever bottomed out against a concrete parking block or curb at some point, so I like to be sure there's enough material to compensate for that, just in case. Once the position of the hood matches the fenders and bumper, go ahead and finger-tighten the latch on to the hood. You can close it slowly and watch the receiver pull the latch into the proper position, then slowly raise it back up and tighten the bolts to keep it in alignment with the receiver. When you're ready to adjust the levels of the hood, first turn the four rubber bumpstops in the engine compartment all the way down so they don't interfere. I would recommend adjusting the latch receiver for any major height changes up front (two 13mm bolts slotted vertically), then use the bumpstops to fine tune the levels of the corners. Once the hood is aligned, you'll want to check the original position of the headlight covers... so with the hood closed, place them on top of their brackets, and align the 2 screw holes in the back to simulate their installed position. Now is when you'll be able to see if the gaps are too close, or too wide with the hood. To adjust the position, you'll see the multiple torx-bit screws on top of each bracket. All you have to do is loosen them by a half turn at a time. If you loosen them all the way out, the bracket might slump forward and you'll lose your starting point... that can get frustrating. Just loosen them a bit until you're able to move the bracket in the direction you want, then re-tighten them, and place the cover on top again to check the gap. Chances are that you won't need to do a lot of adjustments with the headlight covers... it's just easiest to do it this way since there aren't many adjustments in the fenders and bumper. By the way... if you need to close or widen the gap towards the rear of the fenders, there is a screw hidden just underneath the plastic windshield cowl at the highest edge of the fender. You just have to push in on the plastic cowl a bit to see it. Well I think those are the 3 adjustments that most people don't know about... the headlight covers, the latch receiver, and the hidden fender bolt. It definitely makes installing hoods on firebirds a lot easier to know about them.--- --
Roger Robinson - U.S. Exotics LTD
10-16-2014, 11:46 AM
#143
Roger is a great guy. He helped me out tremendously when I lost my hood recently. I had already booked a trip, so I needed a hood ASAP, and he started working on it 5am on a Saturday morning, and worked through the night and I picked it up from him on Sunday afternoon.
He really is a standup guy.
He really is a standup guy.
12-24-2014, 01:18 PM
#149
Roger is not a sponsor, he used to make Fbody hoods back in the day and then started doing the Viper hoods. Periodically he will continue to make Fbody hoods and he has posted on this board in the past.
Here is a link to one of his listings on Ebay, going by usxdesigns as his seller name:
Superhawk Hood 98 02 Firebird Trans Am by U s Exotics | eBay
Here is a link to one of his listings on Ebay, going by usxdesigns as his seller name:
Superhawk Hood 98 02 Firebird Trans Am by U s Exotics | eBay
02-16-2015, 08:24 PM
#153
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Bumping an old thread.........
From what I've researched, I'm one of the only customers of Roger that has had poor fitment issues. To make a long story short, I purchased a hood from him in October of 2013, and still don't have a hood that fits. He has been giving me the run around for months claiming money issues. Don't give this guy your money until he gets his **** straight. He has quit responding to e-mails.
From what I've researched, I'm one of the only customers of Roger that has had poor fitment issues. To make a long story short, I purchased a hood from him in October of 2013, and still don't have a hood that fits. He has been giving me the run around for months claiming money issues. Don't give this guy your money until he gets his **** straight. He has quit responding to e-mails.
02-21-2015, 01:37 AM
#154
Bumping an old thread.........
From what I've researched, I'm one of the only customers of Roger that has had poor fitment issues. To make a long story short, I purchased a hood from him in October of 2013, and still don't have a hood that fits. He has been giving me the run around for months claiming money issues. Don't give this guy your money until he gets his **** straight. He has quit responding to e-mails.
From what I've researched, I'm one of the only customers of Roger that has had poor fitment issues. To make a long story short, I purchased a hood from him in October of 2013, and still don't have a hood that fits. He has been giving me the run around for months claiming money issues. Don't give this guy your money until he gets his **** straight. He has quit responding to e-mails.
02-21-2015, 07:19 AM
#155
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This is one thing I did not do. I have offered to re-install it to get pictures 3 times now, but roger insisted that it's not necessary. I've even offered to ship the hood back. He is not denying I am having fitment issues, but he is dragging his feet getting me a replacement. If it comes down to it, I will reinstall the hood for some pictures. Let me just add this, roger has had a great attitude about this entire thing. He wants to make it right, but has failed so far.
Last edited by RebelRider; 02-21-2015 at 07:31 AM. Reason: More detail
02-21-2015, 12:54 PM
#156
This is one thing I did not do. I have offered to re-install it to get pictures 3 times now, but roger insisted that it's not necessary. I've even offered to ship the hood back. He is not denying I am having fitment issues, but he is dragging his feet getting me a replacement. If it comes down to it, I will reinstall the hood for some pictures. Let me just add this, roger has had a great attitude about this entire thing. He wants to make it right, but has failed so far.
02-21-2015, 01:09 PM
#157
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The hood is what I would call "bowed". It is high in the middle on both sides along the fender line. Also, where it meets on the nose peice, there is at least 1/2" gap. Think of it as if the hood was too short, front to back. It's hard to explain. Otherwise, the workmanship looks great. Roger and I discussed that the resin was probably still soft and the freight company had it standing on end with something on top of it.
02-21-2015, 01:51 PM
#158
The hood is what I would call "bowed". It is high in the middle on both sides along the fender line. Also, where it meets on the nose peice, there is at least 1/2" gap. Think of it as if the hood was too short, front to back. It's hard to explain. Otherwise, the workmanship looks great. Roger and I discussed that the resin was probably still soft and the freight company had it standing on end with something on top of it.
I'm uploading pictures right now and I'll be posting up a first impressions write-up.
02-21-2015, 01:55 PM
#159
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hmmm I was afraid of that... I am having a similar issue with mine. not to that extent but the left side is a little higher than the right but does seem a little bowed. I don't quite have 1/2" but there is a noticeable gap. I think I'll be able to possibly expand some of the hood mounting holes and pull it a little further forward.
I'm uploading pictures right now and I'll be posting up a first impressions write-up.
I'm uploading pictures right now and I'll be posting up a first impressions write-up.
02-21-2015, 01:57 PM
#160
Last edited by Cpt.Derrek; 02-21-2015 at 02:49 PM.