Crites ram air hood

[CometJunkie64]

has anyone bought a crites ram air hood? im worried if i buy one that it may the gaps may be to big or that the latch wont meet up.

[CALIFORNIA CALIENTE]

They line up great,both of mine needed very little massaging to fit. ROY.

[popscomet]

While my hood is a tear drop,not the ram air,it still is a CRITES ,I had a good friend that rebuilds Corvettes ,work mine over and put in on,,he said it was the best and required less work to get it to fit than any other 'glass hood he'd ever messed with,I also had Crites drill all the holes,before shipping..I use a prop rod instead of springs on the hinges,and it looks as good today as it did way back in the 90's when installed,,,,JUST my nickles worth best of luck pop

[CometJunkie64]

thanks guys, did you have to do any modifications to get the hood latch to fit? and did you also get the the hood pin also drilled in?

[popscomet]

TOOK latch from original hood bolted to tear drop,fit like factory,as the hinges did also,thats why I mention letting CRITES drill the holes,I do not have hood PINS pop

[CometJunkie64]

then i will defiantly be letting them cut the holes, thanks Pop

[popscomet]

BEEN thinking----BEST I recall....they charge a small fee xtra for doing the holes,,BUT it's worth it in the end,,,it wasn;t very expensive pop

[CALIFORNIA CALIENTE]

Let Crites drill and tap the hinge and latch holes,worth the little extra charge!!!DO NOT use stock hinge springs!!!!!! ROY.

[alans 64]

Let Crites drill and tap the hinge and latch holes,worth the little extra charge!!!DO NOT use stock hinge springs!!!!!! ROY.

ditto, ditto, and ditto. quality on mine was excellent. only a little adjusting and sanding. as Roy said hood latch was dead on and so were the hinges. no springs on mine, just prop rod.

alan

[albert]

My Crites hood lines up well and latch is no problem. I have factory hinges without spring installed and I use the prop rod supplied by Crites. I also do not like hood pins and it has been pointed out by someone that all of the pressure or hood lifting at higher speeds is impacting the hood nearest the cowl. I don't remember if it was Roy or Pops that advised me to drill about six 3/8" holes on the cowl side of the round ring on the underside of the Crites hood, the round ring of fiberglass where the air is forced into the filter/carb. This relieves some of the pressure and avoids a lot of hood lift at high speed. It worked for me and I am glad that I don't have hood pins.

[CALIFORNIA CALIENTE]

Albert;it was me,but I had to install hood pins after seeing a top end photo of my Comet last year.The hood was lifting up over 3/4" at the edges and I don't need,or want,another broken hood!!!! ROY.

[albert]

Roy, I imagine you are racing and need the hood pins as insurance for the pressure/lift that happens at higher speeds. What type of hood pins did you end up using? I may go to the hood pins if I can find some good quality and good looking ones. Anybody have any suggestions?

[CometJunkie64]

thanks guys, i most likely wont be getting around to it till later this summer, ill be doing a lot of express way traveling, like Roy i really wouldnt want to have to replace the hood after just putting it on.

[CALIFORNIA CALIENTE]

Albert;I used some I got from NAPA,Mr.Gasket I think,pretty well made except the pins,already broke one!! I think if you stayed under 120 the hood may be OK,not sure though,not worth the chance of a broken hood!!! ROY.

[albert]

Thanks Roy, I will likely never be above 85 mph, it's easy to do that with my 5 speed Tremec and 3.55 rear. I'm too old to go too fast. Love 64-65 Comets because they look like they are going fast even when they're standing still!! I like reading your posts and wish you well.