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I have a 1994 Firebird formula, id like to get a ram air hood and I decided on the 97 ws6 style ram air hood. Now I am thinking about two brands, Trufiber or harwood. Curious about peoples experiences with each company, if yall had fitment issues, needed work done to reshape them or if yall were able to send them back. Would hate to spend 500 on a hood and its pretty misshapened. I do wonder about Summit only selling hardwood hoods. It leads me to think other companies have more issues since I know Summit can be picky on what things they will sell and are good about faulty products.
I also wanted to ask about the Harwood style of hoods where the ram air isnt functional. Cant that be cut and made into a functional ram air hood ? Thanks.
Out of three fiber glass hoods, I've had only one that fit nearly perfect was supplied by Eckler's. It was for my 72 Corvette. The Eckler's hood fit nearly as well as the OEM hood.
Took two hoods to get it right on my 91RS from a different vendor. Even the 2nd hood had fitment issues but at least it wasn't U shaped like the first.
I'd call and talk with Eckler's and see if they can provide assurance their fbody hoods are as high quality as their Corvette hoods.
I have the WS9 hood from TruFiber on my Formula and it's awesome!
I have received nothing but compliments on the fit of the TruFiber hood. I picked it up from their shop in Houston and got to see a bit of the shop and a couple other employee / customer cars and was able to see a 93-97 WS6 style hood and it fit just as good as any factory ones I've seen, including the old 93 T/A I had which had an OEM WS6 hood swapped on.
Checked on Eclers and says they are out of stock. I wonder if them make them to order, Might just have to give them a call. I know two guys who have gotten lucky with trufiber but one time their hood was shaped like a bananna front to back. That hood looks like its was really well made too ! I will give Ecklers a call tomorrow and see whats up.
Harwood has always been a good fitting hood. If you keep a eye on Ebay you may find a OEM hood which is best fit by far. I found a real one on my Marketplace
I have a Harwood fiberglass hood that I bought from Summit, but it's on a Camaro. I have never had a problem with Summit, their customer service is great. The hood took a little time to adjust along the fenders but overall the fit was good.
The hood looks super nice ! When you say adjusting you just mean on the pins, no remolding or fixing the shape of the hood ? I ordered a hood from true fiber, it should be here the latest, the 13th. If this hood has issues, I will try out harwood through summit; theyre really good when something doesnt go right.
Only thing is.. I am thinking about putting some hood pins behind where the pop up lights are. A the quick latch type. I am not sure if its really needed however I wouldn't want the worst fear with a fiber glass hood to come true.
Only thing I may be concerned about is the air parachuting inside the hood itself. Should I drill some pressure relief holes in the back of the hood on or under the hood ? Would hood pins do the trick ? Quite excited now that its here !
Last edited by Money_Pit; Feb 9, 2023 at 11:49 AM.
It looks to be a full bolt on hood, so I wouldn't worry about it. Honestly, you get more air into the engine compartment from underneath than you ever would through those nostrils. And for it to become an issue, you'd have to be going 150 MPH+.
Got the hood on the car and got some hood stoppers. Kinda fixed the hood from being crooked but overall I think looks nice. Not too worried about the gaps, was like that with the oem hood anyway, though I suppose there is some weirdness with how it was molded, otherwise it is really good.
That's honestly a pretty good fit. I'd think you could raise the rear on the driver's side slightly, and lower the drivers front bumpstop a bit and it would look as good as the passenger side. I'd run that all day!
Yea Im surprised how well it looks now with the stoppers allowing for some correction. though I can tell that the corners closest to the bumper seem to be "twisted" in a way as part of a design flaw. Though Ill give that a try to bring it down a little more then it should be perfect !!!
My Suncoast Creations hood, which was one of the best ones out when it came out, has a design flaw in that the rear corners by the cowl sit below the fender line. Not a big deal to me, it just shows that even the highest quality hoods will never be perfect. Yours will look killer once you get some paint on it.
Also, keep in mind that the headlight metal covers can be adjusted all sorts of ways as well. If your body guy is halfway decent, he should be able to line it up even better and it will look killer!
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Aftermarket hood 
