I've noticed a few things about ram air hoods while shopping online. I see that if i wanted a "true" ram air hood i would have to pay out the ***! So i was scanning ebay to see if i can find a better deal on a used one and noticed a few cheaper deals. But obviously you get what you pay for because these hoods don't have the fronts cut out, are unpainted, and need to be pinned on. And, so you better understand where i am coming from, i don't want to buy the cheaper hood and look like some kind of poser! I have my own bodyshop guy who can take care of painting and any modifications. The other thing is that i really don't want the one thats pinned on. I really prefer the bolt on hood. So after an extremely long explaination here are my questions.

1.If you guys have any words of wisdom please feel free...
2.If i can buy the bolt on hood that does not have the air dams cut out, would it be worth it to save money and do it myself?
3.Would the pin on hoods be worth it to save money without looking cheap?
4. Has anybody come across some really good deals?
I realize these questions are pretty rediculous so i appreciate you guys taking time to help. I have a few more questions but i figured we will start with these.

 

is this hood eventually gonna be functional? if you're just doing it for looks i would get one without the precut intake. either way if you haven't checked out vfn, they have some pretty gould deals on bolt on and pin on hoods. i just don't see the point in buying one for looks, that's why i haven't picked one up yet.

 

honestly, if i were you, i would search, find, and buy an oem GM WS6 hood. I have built, and part out lots of t/a's and from my experiences, most aftermarket hoods are junk. The ebay knockoffs are crap, they need alot of finish sanding to get the pits out of them, and you have to cut the nostrils out of the hood. i bought a hood and airbox setup from ramairhoods.com for the first car i built and it was a total Bi*ch to make fit even halfway decent. just my $.02 here. im sure more will chime in on this topic

 

Well i dont just want in for looks but the fully functional ones are so expensive, i just dont understand why this hood costs 650 bucks for maybe 5-10 extra HP(am i wrong?). It looks absolutely awsome so i guess i was focusing more on looks than HP gains. Plus i thought i could cut out the fronts (professionally) to at least let some cool air in to keep the engine bay a little cooler? Is that stupid?? lol

 

either stock or one of the hoods roger at US exotics makes (or HAS made-i think he's out of the fbody scene but you can find one of his hoods on this board used if you're lucky). He does some badass work, all his stuff is very unique, and they fit THE BEST out of any aftermarket hood ive ever seen and/or purchased. He makes a "WS9" hood for the 98-02 Firebird/Trans Ams and also the Superhawk hood which is pretty rare (some hate, some love it, its basically a glorified/exaggerated firehawk hood but looks pretty nice imho) Anyways "I" wouldnt buy any other but the two mentioned above. Ive gone through ALOT of hoods over the years and those have been absolutely the best by far. Of course you could go stock OEM WS6 but its gonna cost you. For fitment and what you want it for try to find a US exotics WS9 hood or OEM WS6. Good luck on your search

 

for the money, it's not worth it for the hp gains and it's already been said what a pain in the *** the knock-off hoods are to fit and look right. if you do get an after market hood i would go with the vfn, but like the other guy said, try and hold out for an oem.

 

Its funny you mention roger from us exotics. I was just reading about his work tonight. I can't seem to find any of his work ( and it doesn't help that i'm not sure where to look). But there's definitly a lot of positive and happy customers of his.........man where is he when you need him haha!

 

ok thanks for the feedback, i will keep that in mind.

 

If your going to get a aftermarket hood I would go with a Harwood, have seen a lot of good parts from them!!

 

I lucked out on my "poser" hood for the T/A. Some guy at a yardsale was selling a WS6 style hood for like $200. I figured it was better than the $1300 for the real thing so I gave it a shot. Luckily, it fit 99% perfect the first time I mounted it up. I had to cut out all of the holes, but that's what a dremel/drill is for. I have yet to paint the damn thing but I'm in no rush-it's primer black now and looks pretty darn close.




Even though I was lucky I say go for OEM, and not a used one from Evil-bay but a new one from GM, because it's your car and you wanna' get it right the first time. Why take the risk of dealing with an ill-fitting product that probably won't last as long as the SMC-made hood from GM? Also, like everyone else has said don't buy a ram-air hood for performance, because even from the factory ram-air hoods are more for looks than anything else...

 

i got lucky with mine and got an OEM prototype off ebay for $307

the only thing wrong with it that can still be seen is a slight divot on the drivers side which was a hole due to the fiberglass spreading which is why they had to redo the mold. the hole is filled but if you look for it you can see it. i still think i got a heck of a deal and the body shop said the hood fit perfectly without any sanding (they did have to remove a bolt and retap a hole because one of the bolt holes had a little rust in the threads which caused the bolt to snap but other than that there was no problem)




(the blemish is on the drivers (right in pic) side of the hood in the dip between the center section and the outer section about 1/3 of the way up from the front. it appears as a black dot in the photo below of the unpainted hood)

here is what i started off with



I know this won't help for finding an LS1 hood but i'm just saying sometimes you can get lucky and find some decent deals out there. i'm pretty sure the knockoff hoods cost more than $307

 

Hey thanks. I really appreciate the examples and info. I think i will hold out for a bit and hopefully something will pop up.

 

Fast Toys just came out with their WS9 good. Just saw a thread on it. Check that out!

 

fast toys has a really good deal on a new style hood, u should give them a call of check out https://ls1tech.com/forums/new-produ...ctor-hood.html