Toolman / Carbon Fiber Gen 1 Plus Hood

[gosho89]

Very impressed with the quality, fit and finish of the hood. Much better then most aftermarket hoods I've seen around. Latchs great, required very little effort to install.

Installation was straight forward but once we had three bolts particaly threaded in, it was obvious that one bolt was not completely lining up to the nut in the hood. This was easily solved by oversized all the holes on the driverside hood bracket by 1/16" (including the lower holes in the hood bracket were it mounts to the inner fender) this allowed just enough movement for the hood and bracket to line up perfectly. This is common since factory hoods have floating nut clips that allows for hood moment during the assembly process. Once the hood was lowered the gaps along the fenders and hood came out perfect just like the factory (possible better in some cases). To adjust the hood latch required lowering the front hood stops down 3 turns. At this point I removed the grill to assure the hood was lined up and latching correctly. Once confirmed, I raised the stops a 1/2 turn at a time until the hood match the fenders, making sure the hood had proper tension once it was latched. Mine latchs great, wouldn't be a problem, no hood pins neccesary.............. already speed tested Can't wait to get my hands on a CF grill.

The hardest part of the project was removing the Heavy Stock hood

 

[2 4shofast]

Damn Very nice!

 

[Toolman]

Thanks for the positive feedback Kerry. We aim to please. Very glad you are enjoying your purchase. And a CF grille will look great on that beautiful car!

 

[Jonny Cash]

Finally!!

Looks good man.

Nice paint too!

 

[PROPHET]

That looks great!

 

[DavidT]

Gen. 1's like yours are what makes me want to get another one
Very nice!

 

[K-Dawg]

That's beautifulness.

 

[SHOMA]

Sweet Car! I liek that color a lot on the GEN Is. ON a side ntoe, Tim when will you be making a GEN II CF hood? Id be interested ni checking it out.
Kevin

 

[Toolman]

Starting GB within the week!

 

[shojuan]

One thing I've noticed about my hood is that there are several areas about the size of an older dollar coin when viewed from an angle it looks like the reflection you get from a small dent. I don't *feel* a dent but the optical effect is there. Maybe the cloth is off level there under the epoxy? Were some dollar coins stuck under the cloth for reinforcement, lol? I noticed early yesterday the morning condensation wasn't on those spots..different thermal properties below I suppose.

In any event I want to know if all the hoods got 'em or if I got an oddball. One of the spots is visible from the driver's seat and my eye gets drawn there often.

I'm glad the latching area was reinforced with metal. Hood seems nice and secure so I'm not going to worry about hood pins. Two paws just left and right of front center and a firm yet gentle quick push down and it latches with a satisfying dull thud. It's a different sound and feeling than what I was used to but so much more pleasant than the sound of a steel hood coming down on the latch.

Yup, the fourth bracket hole was off on my hood too. Installation would have taken less than 10 minutes if those holes had lined up perfect. My hood sits a little below the fenders. Some washers between the brackets and bolts would raise it up but I'll leave it for now. Extra wind downforce on the hood with it below deck a bit?...

I didn't count how much I turned down my hood stop pads. I used a couple blobs of acrylic paint on the pads to mark the hood (wipes right off with a damp shop towel) and turned them down until there were no marks, then up a tiny bit at a time until the paint showed the hood just making contact. Not sure if the pads should be higher than that...I bet it's just contacting the pad during the latching motion but not bearing down on them at rest.

Again, would like to know if all the hoods have those optical aberations or if it's just mine.