Has anyone purchased one of Roger's new Superhawk hoods?
09-09-2011, 04:36 PM
#42
Contact Joe or Roger for a price guys. I'm not selling these so I wont be posting a price.
I got the thing mounted finally, took a bit of adjustment to get some of the gross gaps eliminated (probably from me having the brackets on slightly crooked>
Modified hood latch. Chopped the handle out and cut a relief vein in the handle so that i could bend it down. Its rough but it actually works quite well like this. Reachable and fully functional with no catches.
Front Shot, lookin hot.
Still needs some adjusting but its hard to make the adjustments myself. I'll probably just leave it as is for the time being and let the guys at the paint/body shop do the fine adjusting for me. The front Driver side sits about a pinky's width too high, Its not the bumpstop, its currently adjusted all the way down and doesnt even make contact with the hood. Not terribly noticeable but small things like that are ALWAYS noticeable on your own car.
Overall i'm loving it. As i mentioned before it still needs some fine adjustments. It could do with a slight lowering and my front clip could use a slight lift to meet the hood near the nostrils. I'll probably end up slipping in some shims where those pop rivets are for the front clip, tuck them away so theyre not visible all the while raising the front clip up slightly.
All in all though I'm loving this thing. Its going to take some getting used to from the driver's seat. I'm used to seeing 2 large cowls instead of 1 larger cowl. The back texture is different as well. Its got a flat cut off whereas my last hood (Suncoast Creations WS6) looked like it had the upper flat part and then inset a bit was the vertical "wall" if you will. Cant wait to get this thing through a few heat cycles and then over to paint/adjustments. Sorry in advance for the blackberry pics, not sure what i did with my camera after i moved last year.
I got the thing mounted finally, took a bit of adjustment to get some of the gross gaps eliminated (probably from me having the brackets on slightly crooked>
Modified hood latch. Chopped the handle out and cut a relief vein in the handle so that i could bend it down. Its rough but it actually works quite well like this. Reachable and fully functional with no catches.
Front Shot, lookin hot.
Still needs some adjusting but its hard to make the adjustments myself. I'll probably just leave it as is for the time being and let the guys at the paint/body shop do the fine adjusting for me. The front Driver side sits about a pinky's width too high, Its not the bumpstop, its currently adjusted all the way down and doesnt even make contact with the hood. Not terribly noticeable but small things like that are ALWAYS noticeable on your own car.
Overall i'm loving it. As i mentioned before it still needs some fine adjustments. It could do with a slight lowering and my front clip could use a slight lift to meet the hood near the nostrils. I'll probably end up slipping in some shims where those pop rivets are for the front clip, tuck them away so theyre not visible all the while raising the front clip up slightly.
All in all though I'm loving this thing. Its going to take some getting used to from the driver's seat. I'm used to seeing 2 large cowls instead of 1 larger cowl. The back texture is different as well. Its got a flat cut off whereas my last hood (Suncoast Creations WS6) looked like it had the upper flat part and then inset a bit was the vertical "wall" if you will. Cant wait to get this thing through a few heat cycles and then over to paint/adjustments. Sorry in advance for the blackberry pics, not sure what i did with my camera after i moved last year. 
09-09-2011, 05:12 PM
#44
As far as how much higher it is than a WS6 hood i'm not sure I've never owned an authentic WS6 hood. My Suncoast WS6 hood sat noticeably higher in the cowls than a stock WS6 hood though and the Superhawk hood sits oh so slightly higher than that at the peaks of the 2 smoother cowls in the back (unless my eyes are playing tricks with me).
As for the hood latch, it basically needs to be shortened and bent if you dont shorten it too much. If you put the stock hood latch on you'll notice that the handle actually sits right at the edge if not slightly further out than the rim of the hood. Also you'll notice that with the way its shaped it wants to hug the hood which would prevent you from lifting up on it at all. I chopped the handle portion off not too far from the part you'd normally lift up on and then i cut a 'V" shaped relief vein in the arm of the latch so that i could bend it without causing any unsightly wrinkling in the metal. Worked like a charm.
As for the hood latch, it basically needs to be shortened and bent if you dont shorten it too much. If you put the stock hood latch on you'll notice that the handle actually sits right at the edge if not slightly further out than the rim of the hood. Also you'll notice that with the way its shaped it wants to hug the hood which would prevent you from lifting up on it at all. I chopped the handle portion off not too far from the part you'd normally lift up on and then i cut a 'V" shaped relief vein in the arm of the latch so that i could bend it without causing any unsightly wrinkling in the metal. Worked like a charm.
09-10-2011, 08:48 AM
#48
Shipping was extra, it came by FedEx Freight. I ended up paying a discounted rate since the shipping handn't been plan handn't been setup for years and it caused delays. I'm not sure if they're going to continue to use FedEx freight or if they're going to go back to how they used to ship it so i cant really quote you on that. Either way though they did tell me up front that shipping would be extra. Just expect to spend a bit more after your initial purchase. You'll pay for the shipping either when they deliver or when you pick it up.
09-11-2011, 10:22 AM
#50
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As far as bending that latch goes, you don't have to do anything like that. Your best bet is to just not put that piece on. I've had one of the original roger hoods for years and it stays on perfectly fine from the U shaped lock.
As for weight, you will have to shut this hood hard to get it down. They're light as hell 30 pounds is a safe overestimate.
As for weight, you will have to shut this hood hard to get it down. They're light as hell 30 pounds is a safe overestimate.
09-11-2011, 01:26 PM
#51
I never shut the hood down hard can't be good for the fiberglass. I just hold the latch, set the hood down as far as it'll go then give it a gentle push from the top. I was noticing that the stock hood struts are too strong. I'll probably look at getting some weaker ones. Or if there's a way to adjust the stockers.
Put up my old hood for sale on a local board. I'll probably put it up on craigslist soon too so I can use that money to get the superhawk hood painted. Hope the old one sells fast.
Put up my old hood for sale on a local board. I'll probably put it up on craigslist soon too so I can use that money to get the superhawk hood painted. Hope the old one sells fast.
09-13-2011, 04:09 PM
#53
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Idk who roger is or joe but i have a Ws9 Hood on my 02 Firebird Formula Trans Am if you wanna check that out. i know some hoods you have to shave off certain parts of your car but this one i didnt and is a perfect fit.
09-18-2011, 10:03 PM
#55
Well, I found a page from way back in the day where roger gave a damn good explanation on how to make adjustments to the hood and decided to give it a go. I modified it a bit in a way that i thought would make it easier and while i still think that my extra steps made things turn out the way they did, it certainly didnt make the job easier.
I started by loosening all of the nuts/bolts to the hood to allow for free movement. This included loosening the U bolt that goes into the hood latch on the radiator support.
Lowered all 4 rubber bump stops to the very lowest point of travel.
Extra step: I took off the hood struts from the hood end. I removed these during the alignment since they are meant for a stock weight hood I figured they were pushing the hood and didnt allow me to make the adjustments that i wanted to make. In testing it out i couldnt even compress one in by hand once it was disconnected from the hood.
I loosened the bolts to the hood catch/latch (the part thats affixed to the radiator support beam and lowered it all the way.
I shut the hood completely and noticed that with the latch lowered to its very lowest point, my hood wouldnt shut. I slowly raised the latch and shut the hood repeatedly until i found the lowest point for the latch that still allowed for the hood to be shut and stay latched (for lack of a better word).
Once shut completely, I centered the hood as best i could. I ended up pulling the hood forward and pusing the back towards the driver side slightly and the front towards the passenger side to get the most of my gaps perfectly equal on each side
Opening the hood (realizing the jolt from opening the hood throws off my alightment slightly) I centered it as best i could without raising the hood. I then propped the hood open with a small paint can from the radiator support beam. This allowed me enough room (barely) to reach in and tighten the bolts by hand, getting them as tight as i could by hand which still allows me to move the hood and make further adjustments later. I did this on both sides.
Lowering the hood again to its fully closed state I still noticed that the driver side front corner was too high. I could fit my pinky finger in through the gap where as the passenger side sat pretty flush. I found some wide and thin washers and used them as shims on the back most passenger side screw that goes into the hood. This raised the back passenger side and effectively lowered the front drivers corner. 3 Washers ended up being too much so i ended up backing it down to 2 washers and both front corners sit damn near flush to the front fenders. The back corners sit very flush as well (the driver side sits a hairs width lower than the fender along its entirety but even i cant notice it by eye, can only feel it with my fingers. Good enough for me.
With the hood sitting as well as i could possibly imagine it being i did end up having to make adjustments to my headlights. Both of them needed to be pulled forward slightly to increase the gap between them and the hood to allow for proper operation (open/close) and the lids needed to be raised and lowered to even out with the hood and the edges of the bumper/fender. In one of my pics you'll notice that i had a slightly raised passenger side lid, this has now been fixed and its sitting nice and flush.
There is only one more thing i need to do to make the alignment complete. the only gap that i'm unsatisfied with is the gap between the hood and the bumper (in the nostrils area). i can raise the bumper slightly by hand and push it back to lesen the gap to a perfect size but those plastic push pins do nothing to hold it in place once in position. I'm going to need to hit up the hardware store sometime this week, get 3 bolts/nuts and 6 washers to go with it and bolt them down tight once i've alighned the bumper to the hood in the upper center.
Sorry for the novel
just excited to be making progress with this. Unfortunately i dont seem to have any interest in my old hood locally which i was hoping would sell fast so i could use the cash to paint the new hood. I need to get an exhaust setup for the car ordered soon to allow time for shipping and installation since i've got emissions coming up at the beginning of the year but once i get that purchase out of the way a paint job is soon to follow. Sorry for not having any pics of my progress, it was dark out by the time i finished and my phone wasnt charged enough to last through pics w/ flash. I'll get some pics up soon though.
I started by loosening all of the nuts/bolts to the hood to allow for free movement. This included loosening the U bolt that goes into the hood latch on the radiator support.
Lowered all 4 rubber bump stops to the very lowest point of travel.
Extra step: I took off the hood struts from the hood end. I removed these during the alignment since they are meant for a stock weight hood I figured they were pushing the hood and didnt allow me to make the adjustments that i wanted to make. In testing it out i couldnt even compress one in by hand once it was disconnected from the hood.
I loosened the bolts to the hood catch/latch (the part thats affixed to the radiator support beam and lowered it all the way.
I shut the hood completely and noticed that with the latch lowered to its very lowest point, my hood wouldnt shut. I slowly raised the latch and shut the hood repeatedly until i found the lowest point for the latch that still allowed for the hood to be shut and stay latched (for lack of a better word).
Once shut completely, I centered the hood as best i could. I ended up pulling the hood forward and pusing the back towards the driver side slightly and the front towards the passenger side to get the most of my gaps perfectly equal on each side
Opening the hood (realizing the jolt from opening the hood throws off my alightment slightly) I centered it as best i could without raising the hood. I then propped the hood open with a small paint can from the radiator support beam. This allowed me enough room (barely) to reach in and tighten the bolts by hand, getting them as tight as i could by hand which still allows me to move the hood and make further adjustments later. I did this on both sides.
Lowering the hood again to its fully closed state I still noticed that the driver side front corner was too high. I could fit my pinky finger in through the gap where as the passenger side sat pretty flush. I found some wide and thin washers and used them as shims on the back most passenger side screw that goes into the hood. This raised the back passenger side and effectively lowered the front drivers corner. 3 Washers ended up being too much so i ended up backing it down to 2 washers and both front corners sit damn near flush to the front fenders. The back corners sit very flush as well (the driver side sits a hairs width lower than the fender along its entirety but even i cant notice it by eye, can only feel it with my fingers. Good enough for me.
With the hood sitting as well as i could possibly imagine it being i did end up having to make adjustments to my headlights. Both of them needed to be pulled forward slightly to increase the gap between them and the hood to allow for proper operation (open/close) and the lids needed to be raised and lowered to even out with the hood and the edges of the bumper/fender. In one of my pics you'll notice that i had a slightly raised passenger side lid, this has now been fixed and its sitting nice and flush.
There is only one more thing i need to do to make the alignment complete. the only gap that i'm unsatisfied with is the gap between the hood and the bumper (in the nostrils area). i can raise the bumper slightly by hand and push it back to lesen the gap to a perfect size but those plastic push pins do nothing to hold it in place once in position. I'm going to need to hit up the hardware store sometime this week, get 3 bolts/nuts and 6 washers to go with it and bolt them down tight once i've alighned the bumper to the hood in the upper center.
Sorry for the novel
just excited to be making progress with this. Unfortunately i dont seem to have any interest in my old hood locally which i was hoping would sell fast so i could use the cash to paint the new hood. I need to get an exhaust setup for the car ordered soon to allow time for shipping and installation since i've got emissions coming up at the beginning of the year but once i get that purchase out of the way a paint job is soon to follow. Sorry for not having any pics of my progress, it was dark out by the time i finished and my phone wasnt charged enough to last through pics w/ flash. I'll get some pics up soon though. 
09-19-2011, 09:01 PM
#58
Tried to lessen the gap between the nostrils and the front bumper but it doesnt look like i'll be able to. I tried to push the bumper back at the top as best i could but it didnt budge much due to the brackets/foam behind it. It looks like the reason that the gap is ever so slightly larger than it should be is due to the intercooler. The mounting brackets are mounted in the same bolts that the black bumper support bolts in to. This pushes that bumper support out approximately an 1/8 of an inch. Nothing drastic but its something I'll have to deal with i guess. The glare and shadows in the pic make it hard to see in some spots and emphasizes it in others but here's what I'm lookin at.
Oh well not bad at all IMO
Oh well not bad at all IMO
10-08-2011, 08:41 AM
#59
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hood Roger is one of the most standout dudes I have ever met. Great person and a tremendous architect with those hoods. I bought a hood from him and it wasnt quite right but roger stood behind his product and shipped out another one and when i got it (obviously the superhawk) The car was a straight out head turner. thanks Roger!
