Hello, I have a question for those folk that are using after market ram air hoods on their T/As. What brand do you use and how is the fit on it. I have seen some really crappy aftermarket hoods out there, and I wanted to get some recommendations, before I am make a purchase.
Thanks for the feedback.

 

I cant remember the brand of mine but I had to block sand it alot because it was wavy as hell. I think I primed and blocked it atleast 3 times before painting. It came out nice and it fit good enough. All the cheap ones will need alot of blocking and my car was black so its even worse. If your getting someone else to paint it it will cost alot and they probably wont do it that great.

 

Na, I'll be painting myself. About time for me to get into some body work. I am just a bit worried about the alignment of the hood in relation to the fenders. I really don't want to have add 1/4 inch of bondo on top of the hood to line it up with the fenders. I can always use spacers on the hinges...

 

I know you asked for aftermarket people but i'm gonna give you my input. try to find a used OEM if you can. i paid $307.51 on ebay in jan 08 for an oem prototype hood. it cost ~ 1/2 what a knockoff would have and 1/5 what a real one would. it only needed one small hole filled (why it was a prototype, its the black dot in the first pic on the drivers side of the hood in the little dip between the outer part and raised middle section) and repair the corners from being stood up for a few years. the SLP hood is supposedly the closest "aftermarket" hood to the oem since it uses the oem molds. for whatever reason i've heard the oem airbox won't fit under an SLP hood and some aftermarkets when using the gasket. mine works fine with the gasket in place.

 

Very nice. I would definetly pick one OEM up if I could find one. Ebay is flooded with cheap aftermarket crap. So far I heard pretty good things about Suncoast hoods. SLPs are nice, but its impossible to get them anymore.

 

i thought you could still buy them from SLP? what about year one? i'll admit i got really lucky on my hood since its a real oem that i got cheaper than most of the cheap aftermarket ones.

 

They are on SLP's website for $799, I'm trying to talk my dad into getting one for his '97 Formula vert.

According to SLP "This is the original OEM hood that was used on the LT1/LT4 Pontiac Firehawk."

True or untrue? didn't SLP make these hoods for GM to begin with or did GM make their own hoods for WS6's? I always thought the LT1 Firehawk and WS6 hoods were the same.

 

trufiber is the way to go

 

Their is a difference between the Firehawk hood and WS6 hood for the LT1's. The Firehawk nostrils meet the hood in a more rounded way than the WS6. I believe most people prefer the WS6, but it is a matter of taste.

 

actually he's referring to the 96-97 firehawk. IIRC SLP ran out of firehawk hoods and started using OEM WS6 hoods on some firehawks in those years.

I don't remember the name of the company but i don't think it was SLP who made the hoods for GM i think it was some 3rd party vendor. i was at the T/A nats last year and talked to one of the GM guys and showed him my hood and he confirmed that a 3rd party company did make the 96-97 WS6 hoods. (and 95 Comp T/A since those were the first cars with this hood)

here's a 97 LT4 Firehawk with a WS6 hood btw. the red one below that is another 97 firehawk but it has the firehawk hood. i think maybe only the LT4 hawks had the WS6 hood

 

Here's a link to a thread with pics that shows the difference.

https://ls1tech.com/forums/special-e...ifference.html