Stock hood weight?

[Stephen]

Anybody ever weigh their stock steel hood? I'm just curious to see what kind of weight this fiberglass hood is going to save me.

[Eat_Ford_GTA]

Im not sure but I put the Ram air hood on mine..and I can tell a difference with the weight up front. It took two of us to carry my old hood..and I could carry mine around by my self. Going to a fiberglass hood is great and looks good and frees up weight. Just remember..block block and block some more. I got mine from GTfiberglass and that was a mistake...it was my bday present and ordered in October and got it in Feb. So and couldnt get them to return calls or anything. It was a bad deal..just thought Id add that info.

[Stephen]

We had one on my wife's RS, but we never weighed it, but yeah, there is a noticable difference, for sure.

The one I was planning on getting was from GTFiberglass.

Was it a bad fit? Bad finish? or just slow shipping and lack of communication with them?

[MunsonGTA]

stephen why don't you just take your hood off and weigh it?

[Eat_Ford_GTA]

It was a good looking hood but they broke it 3 times and communication was really bad. They are cheaper..but if your in ahurry dont be... Then I had trouble geting my air box it took another month and the grilles..finally I just went to GM and bought them and the decals..and I had them credit my card back..it was about a a 6 month process.

[Stephen]

stephen why don't you just take your hood off and weigh it?

Like that is a simple process... :rolleyes:

I wasn't asking anyone to just take theirs off & weigh it. Just if anybody had ever bothered to weigh theirs already.

As far as weighing it, I would, but 2 things...

1. It takes two people to remove a stock hood. I was just curious. It's not a make or break decision.
2. I couldn't be one of them. With my permanent disability situation, there is no way I could be one of the two. You think I didn't think of that/wish I could already? As it is, I'll hafta consider having it shipped and getting onto my car to begin with.

[gtayumiko]

So did you ever find out how much weight the "real" metal GTA hood weighs compared to the fiberglass one? Since the one you are getting shipped is fiberglass, it should not be too much money for shipping. The "real" metal GTA hood, I do not even want to think about how much that would cost to ship one of them.

You are going to get different hood shocks for the fiberglass hood right? The shocks for a metal hood are more powerful from what I have read on this site from other members over the years who have switched the metal hoods for the fiberglass ones. The shocks for metal hoods will be too powerful and people have actually cracked their fiberglass hoods when pushing them down to close them, because it takes more pressure to push down the hood shocks for the metal hoods. Yumiko

[Stephen]

The closest I've gotten is a guy that weighed his Camaro hood at 60lbs. The one I want is 40lbs-45lbs. Not exactly lightweight, but I think it has a steel inner structure frame, to keep it from flexing.

On my wifes Harwood, we ditched the struts completely. Some people have used dead struts. A steel hood would be too heavy for them, but lighter fiberglass hoods seem just right. Too bad no company has stepped up, and made a weaker strut, for fiberglass hoods.

I'll be sure to weigh my GTA hood, when I swap hoods. Not if, WHEN.

[gtayumiko]

In that case, you would probably get rid of more weight from your GTA if you were to remove the factory front seats and put in those lightweight ones that they sell at those auto part chain stores.

About the hood shock. I wonder if you were to use a pair of hoodshocks that were worn out. Because in the past when I removed the hoodshocks from my GTA because they no longer held up the hood or even helped raise up the hood when opening it, I could still not push in the shock after I removed it from my car. So it must still be able to work, just not so powerful. So if they are worn out, I would think that they may work good for the fiberglass hoods since those hoods are much more lighter then the metal ones. Yumiko

[Stephen]

I need to replace my hood because Bambi took it out, not just for weight savings.

As for the worn out shocks, that's what I just posted above. Used ones are good for fiberglass hoods.

[FearThisGTA]

If you call Gabreil's tech line # and tell them them the measurements you need and the wt they may have one that will work. When I get home tonight I will see if I can find the # if you cant.

[Stephen]

I'm in no hurry...Don't have the new hood anyways, so I can't verify the weight. Phones do me no good (except text messaging). In my wreck, 3 years ago, I lost it. Which makes simple things, like just ordering pizza suck! I'm stuck with the 1 place that does online ordering.

[gtayumiko]

Sixty pounds for the stock "real" hood seems not too much. I always thought it was more because it seems really heavy when there were times that I helped my friends move it around while it was off of my car. I would have guessed eighty pounds minimum.

And about the hood shocks, you may want to check because I thought some people on this site with notchbacks were advising people who were going to replace their regular hatchback with a notchback that they need to get the "softer" shock from GM, for the same reason I was mentioning it for the front hood. Yumiko

[Stephen]

Yep. We had a Harwood 'glass hood on my wife's 90RS. Ditching the hood shocks was a must, and I already figured I'd hafta do that with this one.

I've thought about blown ones, that won't hold up a steel hood, might be strong enough still, for a 'glass hood.

No hurry....the new hood hasn't been built yet, so I've got mine.

[FearThisGTA]

I have thought about gettin a 4th gen style Raptor hood for mine, but I think I would rather have a fiberglass style oem lookin one, if I was gonna get one, but I havent seen one anyway so it wouldnt make much difference.

[Stephen]

Several places make a flat, stock hood, but none of them have the recesses for our vents. A good fiberglass person could cut the recesses, and fit the vents in though. It would be cool, if a fiberglass hood could have the recesses for our vents though, huh?

[FearThisGTA]

Yeah it would and then fab up a way so you could have ram air as well. :sly:

[Stephen]

The problem is though, our vents could only be considered cold air, not a true ram air.

At speed, there is a low pressure boundary layer, which would basically only pull in cold air, rather getting pressurized ram air.

Now, with something like the RAI or RAII hoods, they are raised enough, to get the ram air effect.

I can't find anyone still making the RAI hood, only the RAII hoods. If the RAII hood had all 4 nostrils, like my Tahoe did, I'd get that one.

http://www.geocities.com/cranfords@sbcglobal.net/images/Tahoe/ramairsidet.jpg http://www.geocities.com/cranfords@sbcglobal.net/images/Tahoe/frontview.jpg

[FearThisGTA]

True and I fergot about that, but, it would still be cool, b/c it would be kinda stealth. :sly:

[strc09]

Cliff...a Ram Air II hood would look sweet on your 91. Not so much on mine. I prefer the Ram Air I hood style on mine since the lines seem to flow better.

[FearThisGTA]

I know I have thought about it, but, I am lookin for a pic of my car with one on it, its actually a side view. I saw it somewhere and dont remember where. :( It also had a 4th gen wing on it and it was green to boot.

[strc09]

Hmmm...I'll look around. I just know it looks killer. :D

[Stephen]

Well, I found a 91/92 (kinda looks green), but the hood fit is bad...http://www.omnipotent-goku.com/iroc/images/firebird/raii_91_92_bird.jpg

I have no idea who's page this is, I just stumbled across it one day, but there are THOUSANDS of pics, organized into Camaros, Firebirds, etc. I recognized several cars from TGO.

Omnipotent-goku.com (http://www.omnipotent-goku.com/iroc/gallery/index.php)

[strc09]

Yeah...that one looks like it has fitment issues, but on other cars that I've seen that hood on look awesome!

[merc3065]

Post again if you need the actual weight #s of the stock T/A hood.

I've got one in the garage that I can weigh up this weekend. I just have to dig it out.

It has the hinges, shocks, underhood padding, all the plasticky bits etc all attached still so it would be pretty accurate. Just hope the scale I have can handle it's weight lol