How do you like the hood? Did you get the cowl vent cut open or the screens added? Been wanting one for years. Would love to see more pictures of how it looks on your car. (Most of the people I know with Cobra R hoods went with the Cervini's Hood, but I can't get past their name embossed in the center of the underside.)
I think it was a good call to paint the underside. It doesn't have to be perfect or polished glossy, but the color match looks better than bare tan fiberglass. It's hard to tell from the picture, but it almost looks like a flat or dull black - sort of like a factory hood blanket, so it just blends in and looks right. Love how your car is coming together!
Well, I had two small issues with the HO Fibretrends hood order. His shipping company only has 1 single terminal in Iowa, which was two hours away from me. So after paying $180 for truck shipping, I still had to drive two hours each way to get it.. HO did refund $100 of the shipping cost to offset my gas and time, so it worked out fine and fairly.
The only other issue was that I had to do quite a bit more work getting the hood to fit than I have with any Cervini hood. I had to remove my cowl panel and remove my hood hinge from the car and shim under it to get the back corner of the hood even with the fender on one side. I had to move my hood latch about 3/4" toward the passenger side for the hood to even attempt to close. I also had to unbolt my fenders, remove the factory shims from a couple spots, and add them to others to get it line up pretty well. Maybe I was just lucky with my two previous Cevini hoods, but they took no effort to bolt on and fit.
To answer your question, yes I had the vents cut out and the screens installed. There is one spot where too much glue was applied, and you can see a glob stuck in the mesh when sitting in the car.
As for the finish, I've always liked a particular spray can truck bedliner spray. I've used it on three hoods now. It dries nice and evenly on a non porous surface, and has a flat finish. You can touch up a spot, and it blends right in. It holds up to heat as well, and you can't scape if off if you try. It's good stuff.
At the end of the day, I do really like the hood. It's VERY light, compared to Cervini hoods. The construction and lack of underside support allows for the weight savings, but also allows for the hood to flex. It stays shut fine with the metal reinforced latch area, but I may end up installing aero hood latches to be on the safe side. I'll wash the car and get you pictures tomorrow.