OutlawZ

iTrader: (4)

I notice that mostly all the big boys with light VFN pin on hoods that are using dzus fasteners are all using 1 piece fabricated rails vs the individual plates that companies like harwood and VFN make????

Is it because the individual plates would be riveted to fiberglass and ppl are scared that the rivets will get pulled out??????

I'm just wondering why people build rails and not just bolt the plates to the sides...

TIA!

Shawn @ VA Speed

iTrader: (3)

the rails look alot better,you can see the ind brackets through the gap with the hood on,it's just a looks thing

RAGENZ28

iTrader: (5)

I think rails are better on a 4th gen with a sloped nose it's a lot of force trying to rip the hood off, with a rail it uses the entires side of the fender to hold the rail on vs. 2 rivets on the side into fiber glass where a rail you can put a rivet every 2, 3 or 4" which will have much more holding power as a whole.

OutlawZ

iTrader: (4)

I'm using 3 rivets EACH bracket and i'm running a total of 6 on each side and 3 across the front. I'm just taking my time with the front to ensure that NO air gets under the lip and provides positive pressure trying to rip the hood off.....

I do like the rails though. Seems like they'd take quite a bit of fab work though......

What I DO definitely like about the rails is that you can put them on the hood and drill your holes from the bottom instead of having to measure out each individual bracket's hole and hope that you have it dead nuts center....

mrdragster1970

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Rails are much stronger, for reasons said. Plus they help stop the cracking around the brackets from the vibration.

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OutlawZ

iTrader: (4)

sooooo are all of these rails custom one off pieces or does anyone sell a commercially available RAIL for an f-bod??????

appreciate the comments as well guys...

1QuickT-A

iTrader: (12)

I have had more trouble than you can possibly imagine trying to get this VFN extended cowl sunoco hood on my Z.. I finally have given up.. I've tried the aluminum rails, the regular brackets, flipping the springs upside down for a shorter reach, everything.. There is way to much gap on each side, its short in the front and long around the sides of the windshield in the back. I guess I'll be racing without a hood this year..

RAGENZ28

iTrader: (5)

LOL poor guy it's a pain when stuff doesn't fit right, I like that hood too and wanted to get one for my car, but the bad side is I hear you either get a good piece or can get an off piece that takes a lot of work to fit.

OutlawZ

iTrader: (4)

Do you have pics of how bad it is?????

I've been trimming the back of the hood so far I've trimmed 1" off the back and am probably going to trim another inch to try and get the cowl off the window a tiny bit..... This hood is pretty much going to touch the window no matter what...

Eric Piner that was in GMHTP awhile back had the hood on his car but it looked like he barely trimmed it..... Looks as if he painted it and dzus'd it and was done with it....

1QuickT-A

iTrader: (12)

I just got off the phone with VFN a few minutes ago.. I'm gonna take some pics of my hood tonight if I can and email them to them. The lady was very nice about it and actually sounded like she wanted to help. This hood has pissed me off so bad that I almost threw it out in the lot at the shop and backed over it with my truck.. No lie! I had to sit down and talk myself out of it..

1QuickT-A

iTrader: (12)

How much did you trim off of the lip on each side? I have my plates mounted about a 1/4-1/2 inch from the top of the fender and there is only like 1/2" left of the lip on the hood and I can still barely get them to fasten correctly. I also have the fasteners mounted about a 1/4" from the edge of the hood all the way down and it seems like that is still to far away from the edge. If I put the hood on and lock the passenger side it has about a 1/2" gap between the hood and the fender and the other side is tight and will not fasten.

Racecraft Inc.

iTrader: (1)

We make dzus rails for the Mustangs and will have some GM specific rails next week here is a link to our Mustang parts the GM will look the same we just had to change the length and spacing. We have two versions steel weld ons and aluminum bolt ons.
http://www.racecraft.com/proddetail.php?prod=704063
http://www.racecraft.com/proddetail.php?prod=704065

Z8'S

iTrader: (6)

Very Cool !!!!! please post when they become available.

DopeFedZ

iTrader: (34)

Those look good I'll be ordering a set of the Fbody specific bolt on versions.

OutlawZ

iTrader: (4)

What do you mean by "lip"????? I'll tell you what I've trimmed so far. I built a jig plate for my jigsaw that would keep the jigsaw 1" exactly from the edge of the hood (meaning the back of the hood that comes near the windshield/mirror area.... I started by following that slicing 1" off and went all the way around the back of the hood. I'm going to trim another 1" probably tonight and then see where i'm at.....

When you say Lip i'm thinking you mean like a 90 degree angle on the edges of the hood???? I don't have that. My hood is completely flat at the edges. It isn't a bolt on sunoco deal just a pin on.... I thought pin on deals come only this way???? Yours came with a 90 degree lip at the edges????

and if your hood is tight on one side when it's good on the other how did you measure before you drilled holes and mounted your dzus fasteners to the hood????? I have harwood's instructions on how to do these hoods and it said do 4 corners first, with the hood taped down so it absolutely CANNOT move...... prior to that get your measurements of every single dzus backing plate from the fender to the center of the hole.... then mark that distance on the hood and drill a pilot hole and ensure you're in the center of the backing plate. then enlarge the hole to 1/2" and then put a 5/8" countersink on it.... drill your holes that will hold the rivets bolting the dzus fasteners to the hood... then have the hood painted before putting ANY hardware on the hood... that's how harwood says to do it...

I'm thinking we don't have the same hood. If yours has a lip...

and yeah those racecraft rails look awesome..... now that i have all my backing plates mounted and riveted

SPEEDYws6

iTrader: (9)

Awsome, let us know I'm about to order a hood.

1QuickT-A

iTrader: (12)

We have the same hood, but it sounds like mine is a piece of ****.. I have the extended cowl pin on sunoco hood for a 98-02 camaro. The sides of the hood DO have the 90* edge/lip on them. It was about 3/4 of an inch long. I had to cut it about 3/4 of the way off just to get the hood to sit down even with the fender. I then had to cut that rail that runs down the inside of the fenders completely off..

I had no idea how to start this project so after a few weeks of running from it I finally started on it. I laid the hood on the car then I got the plates and laid them on the hood with the 90* piece going down between the hood and the fenders. I spaced them out evenly with a tape measure and I then took a white marker and marked the holes to be drilled out. I mounted the fasteners to the hood and then we made some rails. The rails were too thick (1/8" aluminum) and the fasteners wouldn't reach the springs. SO I cut the "edge/lip" on the sides of the hood even more and the fasteners still wouldn't reach. The gap wasn't too bad with the aluminum rails I just couldn't get the fasteners to reach because of the 90* edge on the hood.. SO I tossed the rails and put the plates on. Thats when the gap became a problem. We have tried to much different **** I can't even remember half of what we did.. I got so mad I let some other people work with it and they came up with nothing as well.

I think I need them to send me a new hood..

OutlawZ

iTrader: (4)

yeah we have the same hood but mine is for a 93-97 LT1 car.... dunno how much of a difference that that is...... but mine does not have a 90 degree lip on it.... it's completely flat which to me seems like will help it fit better cause i don't have to contend with that lip not letting the hood sit on the backing plates..... What harwood says on their instructions is to completely cut off the 90 degree lip where the backing plates are going to be... So then the hood will sit completely on the plates..... should bring the hood close enough to the fasteners that the dzus deals grab the lock-wire....

i'll try and take some pics of mine in the next few days. I've got the back end trimmed where I want it except for the cowl itself which I might have a body shop professionally trim to get it completely even.... cause I'm off a bit....

tektrans

iTrader: (23)

I used duz fasteners riveted to some aluminum stock, then I just used the stock fender bolts to secure them. I drilled the mounting holes a bit oversized to allow for some adjustability. I'll try and get some pics up after work if you want.
The way I did it you can't see any of the fasteners at all.

1QuickT-A

iTrader: (12)

We used 1/8" thick x 1.5" wide aluminum flat bar and put brackets on the bottom side of it and bolted it to the fender just like you did.. I'm gonna put them back on tonight and trim the edge of the hood down more if I can without screwing it up. I don't think its gonna look right, but I'm gonna try it.