??how to ID a true factory ws6 hood 96-97
01-13-2010, 02:59 PM
#2
I'm just guessing here, but I'm sure you could identify an aftermarket by their composition: an OEM hood is made from SMC, and I'm sure there's no aftermarket hood that isn't made out of fiberglass. There're probably other stampings and whatnot that an OEM hood has that a copy wouldn't. I'm sure genuine WS6 hood owners will chime in here, as I run a cheap fiberglass copy lol...
01-13-2010, 03:04 PM
#3
I'm just guessing here, but I'm sure you could identify an aftermarket by their composition: an OEM hood is made from SMC, and I'm sure there's no aftermarket hood that isn't made out of fiberglass. There're probably other stampings and whatnot that an OEM hood has that a copy wouldn't. I'm sure genuine WS6 hood owners will chime in here, as I run a cheap fiberglass copy lol...
does anyone have pics of a underside of a true hood (or pics of an aftmkt hood)???
01-13-2010, 08:37 PM
#5
Sheet-molded-compound. It's what most parts of the body are made out of, like the front fenders for example. The real WS6 hood should feel just like that, but I guess if it's painted then....
What about the baffles. I wonder if aftermarket hoods have the baffles on them. I know mine didn't have baffles...
01-14-2010, 12:10 AM
#6
TECH Enthusiast
iTrader: (4)
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Lawn Guyland
Posts: 675
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I believe the one I bought has factory decals of the belt routing and the vin of the original T/A on 2 seperate decals underneath... I can double check if necessary?
01-14-2010, 04:52 AM
#7
TECH Fanatic
iTrader: (5)
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: ORANGECOUNTY
Posts: 1,005
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
the "vents" in the oem hood are plastic and removable, most aftermarket hoods have them molded in. i had a 97 ws6 and there were no decals on the hood for belt routing.... it was located next to the air box... where it should be.... also, they never put a vin on a hood
Trending Topics
01-14-2010, 06:38 AM
#8
TECH Regular
iTrader: (9)
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Citrus springs Fl
Posts: 457
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I have a slp hood biggest thing if it on the car fitment will give it away i bolted mine on closed the hood and it was perfect , no vin number on the hood never heard of that . I can get you a pic of mine but i cut it alittle to fit a ls1 ram air set up .
01-14-2010, 07:36 PM
#13
TECH Enthusiast
iTrader: (4)
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Lawn Guyland
Posts: 675
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
These are on the underside of the hood, at the front, on the drivers side... as shown in the pic below.
Last edited by DriftR; 01-14-2010 at 09:23 PM.
01-15-2010, 12:49 AM
#14
TECH Junkie
iTrader: (2)
Join Date: May 2006
Location: somewhere that doesn't get snow
Posts: 3,455
Likes: 0
Received 2 Likes
on
2 Posts
here's a pic of my unpainted hood just for reference. I was told there were ~ 25 first run hoods that had a blemish in the dip on the drivers side of the hood and they were all given away/sold to an employee who sold them to a friend of his and that friend was selling them on ebay for ~ 10 years and i got one of his last ones. I talked to someone at the T/A nationals in 2008 who looked at the blemish on my hood (it was fixed before painting but you can stil slightly see where it was) and he confirmed it was an oem hood. I know this doesn't help for a regular oem hood though. the blemish appears as a black dot in the pic. As for the vents, i was able to use the $40/pr ones from hawks and they popped right in. you can see the tabs that the grills clip into in the unpainted pic. another thing i noticed that the oem has that it doesn't look like the aftermarkets do is a drain hole on each side of the piece that the hood latches attatch too. even the SLP doesn't appear to have them. they are large enough that you can put your thumb through them.
you can see the fixed blemish over on the right side in the pic (drivers side of car)
and here's a pic of the baffles behind the grills
this is how the underside of the hood should look if its oem. (i don't have the stickers as mentioned before because it was unpainted and stickerless)
in contrast, here's an aftermarket hood. one noteable difference is on the lip of the hood where it meets at the middle. on the oem its an even line all the way across. on the aftermarkets i've seen (i think that one is a sunoco maybe?) the line gets thicker in the middle (compare it to the pic above of my oem hood and you'll see what i'm talking about)
here's another aftermarket WS6 hood and you can see the nostrils are a bit rounder than the oem hood.
I always heard the oem ram air intake rubber gasket would not not fit under an aftermarket hood but use i just found this pic from teh t/a nats last year and that is definately an oem box with an aftermarket hood (notice the uneven lip on the hood i mentioned earlier)
oh there is also the SLP hood which looks pretty close to an oem but supposedly won't allow you to use the gasket on the box. here is one of those where the underside of the hood pretty much resembles the oem, but it has a gasket for the box. come to think of it, it also looks like the area around the hood latch mechanism is more rounded on this SLP hood than the oem hood. i never noticed that before (i haven't seen too many SLP hoods to notice i guess but now looking at that picture it does look different than mine)
so basically in these pics the only oem hood is on my car, the other cars have some sort of aftermarket be it SLP (the silver car) Harwood? (the green car and i'm not 100% that its harwood but the curve of the scoops resembles harwood) and possibly suncoast (red car with aftermarket box and probably that other black car too)
Last edited by 1995blacktattop; 01-15-2010 at 01:49 AM.
01-15-2010, 11:57 AM
#16
TECH Junkie
iTrader: (2)
Join Date: May 2006
Location: somewhere that doesn't get snow
Posts: 3,455
Likes: 0
Received 2 Likes
on
2 Posts
one more thing i noticed with the hoods closed. on an oem hood there is a subtle line that goes up the middle of the hood whereas on most of the aftermarket ones it's not there. you can see the line i'm referring to in this pic.
oh and i think i made one minor mistake on what i said. on that silver formula, that is actually a firehawk hood, not a WS6, so the underside might be a little different because of that. i just found this pic with it closed and it wasn't a ws6 hood. but the rest of the info is accurate. I still don't think the SLP hood will allow for the gasket as this is something i heard at the nationals a few times. in fact when you could still get a box new from SLP it came like the one pictured with the silver 'vert where it doesn't say pontiac ram air and the gasket came as a seperate 4 piece stick on kit for the hood. only the actual Pontiac box had the moulded gasket attatched to it.
oh and i think i made one minor mistake on what i said. on that silver formula, that is actually a firehawk hood, not a WS6, so the underside might be a little different because of that. i just found this pic with it closed and it wasn't a ws6 hood. but the rest of the info is accurate. I still don't think the SLP hood will allow for the gasket as this is something i heard at the nationals a few times. in fact when you could still get a box new from SLP it came like the one pictured with the silver 'vert where it doesn't say pontiac ram air and the gasket came as a seperate 4 piece stick on kit for the hood. only the actual Pontiac box had the moulded gasket attatched to it.
01-15-2010, 02:55 PM
#18
TECH Fanatic
iTrader: (5)
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: ORANGECOUNTY
Posts: 1,005
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
thast interesting, ive never heard of stickers on the underside of the hood, i was the 3rd owner of mine and knew the guy a brought it from pretty well and mine ddint have it
as far as having one repaired, i was told to take it to a boat shop, theyre made of fiberglass, they gotta know what theyre doing?
as far as having one repaired, i was told to take it to a boat shop, theyre made of fiberglass, they gotta know what theyre doing?
01-15-2010, 05:41 PM
#20
TECH Junkie
iTrader: (2)
Join Date: May 2006
Location: somewhere that doesn't get snow
Posts: 3,455
Likes: 0
Received 2 Likes
on
2 Posts
thast interesting, ive never heard of stickers on the underside of the hood, i was the 3rd owner of mine and knew the guy a brought it from pretty well and mine ddint have it
as far as having one repaired, i was told to take it to a boat shop, theyre made of fiberglass, they gotta know what theyre doing?
as far as having one repaired, i was told to take it to a boat shop, theyre made of fiberglass, they gotta know what theyre doing?