If you aren't handy with a dremel or lite DIY then maybe this is not for you.
Ok let's start off by saying the packaging and quality were pretty top notch. I will admit that my hood came with some slight damage but nothing that would be a deal breaker for even an average person. That out of the way, time to dig in!
First off, before you take off your hood, go to a hardware store and pick up a couple things. The hinge and striker bolts from your stock hood
WILL NOT WORK! The bolts that come with the hood will not work because the hinge bolts are too long and the strike bolts are too short to be safe in my opinion. You will need 4 M8 x 1.25 pitch for the hinges and 2 M6x1.00 pitch for the striker. I bought additional washers to be safe. Make sure to drive down the bolts
BY HAND before putting the hood up on the car. This will give you a chance to clean out resin and debris before you're stuck in an awkward position over you car with a hood on your head doing a circus balancing act while trying to thread the bolts... Or so I hear... Once all that is done put the the hood up and bolt it down
BY HAND so not to wreck mounting area. Then close up the hood and you're done!
Or at least that is what would like to say but you would be wrong! So after the hood is attached, you remember that striker you put on? Look at it again! You'll notice there is not a hole in the hood for the hood latch to go into so your hood won't close. Put some grease/toothpaste on the latch and drop the hood down to mark where to cut. Now cut a 1"x 2" hole in the underside of the hood to fit said latch. I used a 90 degree electric saw, a dremel will work or any type of cutting tool. Now drop the hood and you're ready to roll!
Just kidding! You will now notice that the hood sits a little low and you'll start you realize that none of the trim on your hood can transfer. But, you will need to get the rubber bumpers! From there I could only think of 3 options, leave it, but the hood would be loose and rattle/shake, which is not adviseable. Cut up/drill the hood to add hood pins. And the last, fit the bumpers from the stock hood on to the body some where or use metal/pad screw type hood cushions on GM trucks. The hood bumpers would be incredibly hard to mount on the hood itself due to the thickness of material on the lower. I chose the latter, but will be tapping for truck style bumpers tomorrow when I get the parts.
I do have aerotech hood pins I could install I just really don't want to ruin the clean look and it hurts my soul lol.
With the current use of stock bumpers they are basically maxed out to use this method so the hood has probably the minimum comfort level to feel safe to drive. The hood sits fairly flush with these but if your fenders have ever been removed and reglued/spot welded on they may not fit as good or they may even fit better, hard to say.
So overall, easy install and I got to spend some time with my dad and my daughter got to help so that was cool. This shouldn't take more than 30 mins to install assuming you did all the prior item purchases and prep the area.
Stock Hood Weighed in a little over 45 lbs, this hood weighed in at just under 30 lbs, so its around a 15 lbs drop.
Edit: Just to clarify, when I said by hand, I meant with hand tools, not mini impacts, too much vibration could break something.
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