Sparknotes: The liner is great! Scroll for pics.
The story begins when I first purchased my WMS Ram Air intake and installed it. It worked like a charm and things were great until I slammed the hood. It didn't latch from the height I normally drop it at, which was unfortunate, it meant things weren't fitting right. I dropped the hood from a little higher and it shut, so I left it at that.
A few months down the road I check on it again and see a huge worn out hole on the factory hood mat right above where the filter was sitting and I could see an imprint of where it was sitting on the filter. That area of the factory mat is puffy and foamy, which interferred with the filter. I thought to myself, this was unfortunate considering WMS designed this intake to work on a factory car. I then realized that since the mat was smothering half the filter, that was half of my intake volume cut off, and the bottom of the filter was already touching the tray underneath it. I decided I had a problem and I had to fix it.
I began thinking of options and narrowed it down to two, take out the hood mat and reangle the filter up a little which would solve the problem, but then I don't have the protection from heat that the factory liner offers for the paint on the top of the hood. I decided the only other option would be to replace the hoodliner with another one.
I began looking at options and discovered there weren't many. In fact, there was only one at the time. I ordered the WMS Sleek Hoodmat with the mindset that, since WMS made it, it has got to work. I even asked them if it would work with the factory engine cover and was told yes. I received it, centered the running horse sticker on it and installed it on the hood with the double sided tape supplied around the edges. It's ABS plastic so it's stiff and attaches with the factory push pins and tape. I drove it around for a while and looked under the hood to find wear marks on the liner where it was resting on the engine cover and boy was I pissed. I took off the engine cover for the time being to avoid any further damage to it and decided later I would reinstall the liner with more tape in the middle to stop it from sagging.
I did just that, and low and behold it did not change the situation. I had literally covered the entire underside with double sided high temp exterior tape from Home Depot and it would not work. The problem was that in the center area of the hood, it goes up, which the plastic liner wont contour to. The mat had solved the problem of the factory mat rubbing on the filter because it was thin, but now created a new one. I needed something that contoured to the hood and would raise up in the middle to allow for the cover to be installed.
After doing more research I happened to come across some posts on some older mustang forums about an eBay member who produces very nice looking mats for Fords. I located his eBay ID "tbirddmnd" and contacted him and found that he had never produced a mat for an S197 but I offered to help. The guy was great and had outstanding communication. Soon, he had one prototyped on a local mustang and once I saw pics of it installed, I was sold on it. I placed the order and soon it arrived at my house.
I read over the instructions and narrowed the install options down to two; either install it with the hood on the car, or take the hood off the car and install it like that. I decided on the later because you needed to glue the liner on and shape it to the hood which would prove difficult if done while the hood was on the car. I drilled two 1/8" holes in each hinge on the hood before taking it off then unbolted it. I grabbed two long 2x4's from the garage and laid them on the floor and draped a comforter over it and placed the hood down. I uninstalled the WMS liner, and masked off the area where I didn't want glue to go and got the mat ready. started in the center then worked my way out to the sides and soon it was done. I reinstalled the hood by starting the nuts on the hood, then placing four drill bits in the holes to align it perfectly then cinched down the nuts.
All in all, the mat is PERFECT! Solved all of my problems and install was not that big of a deal. I dabbed touch up paint on the holes I drilled and for those who will say that water will get into the hood, it wont, there are breather holes all over the underside along the sides of the hood from the factory. I included pics for everyone to see! He also can do custom decals for you if you'd like. I had a "GT" decal made as an after thought and should receive it soon, I will update the post with a pic once its on the liner. In short, the liner solved all of my problems and it sure is a great piece.
WMS Hoodliner (notice the engine cover is off)
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View attachment 302675
Hood off car:
View attachment 302677
View attachment 302680
View attachment 302682
Me masking:
View attachment 302684
Mat glued down before cleanup of excess glue around edges. To clean it up you need Goo-Gone or anything or that sort:
View attachment 302686
Installed back on the car:
View attachment 302688
View attachment 302690
The story begins when I first purchased my WMS Ram Air intake and installed it. It worked like a charm and things were great until I slammed the hood. It didn't latch from the height I normally drop it at, which was unfortunate, it meant things weren't fitting right. I dropped the hood from a little higher and it shut, so I left it at that.
A few months down the road I check on it again and see a huge worn out hole on the factory hood mat right above where the filter was sitting and I could see an imprint of where it was sitting on the filter. That area of the factory mat is puffy and foamy, which interferred with the filter. I thought to myself, this was unfortunate considering WMS designed this intake to work on a factory car. I then realized that since the mat was smothering half the filter, that was half of my intake volume cut off, and the bottom of the filter was already touching the tray underneath it. I decided I had a problem and I had to fix it.
I began thinking of options and narrowed it down to two, take out the hood mat and reangle the filter up a little which would solve the problem, but then I don't have the protection from heat that the factory liner offers for the paint on the top of the hood. I decided the only other option would be to replace the hoodliner with another one.
I began looking at options and discovered there weren't many. In fact, there was only one at the time. I ordered the WMS Sleek Hoodmat with the mindset that, since WMS made it, it has got to work. I even asked them if it would work with the factory engine cover and was told yes. I received it, centered the running horse sticker on it and installed it on the hood with the double sided tape supplied around the edges. It's ABS plastic so it's stiff and attaches with the factory push pins and tape. I drove it around for a while and looked under the hood to find wear marks on the liner where it was resting on the engine cover and boy was I pissed. I took off the engine cover for the time being to avoid any further damage to it and decided later I would reinstall the liner with more tape in the middle to stop it from sagging.
I did just that, and low and behold it did not change the situation. I had literally covered the entire underside with double sided high temp exterior tape from Home Depot and it would not work. The problem was that in the center area of the hood, it goes up, which the plastic liner wont contour to. The mat had solved the problem of the factory mat rubbing on the filter because it was thin, but now created a new one. I needed something that contoured to the hood and would raise up in the middle to allow for the cover to be installed.
After doing more research I happened to come across some posts on some older mustang forums about an eBay member who produces very nice looking mats for Fords. I located his eBay ID "tbirddmnd" and contacted him and found that he had never produced a mat for an S197 but I offered to help. The guy was great and had outstanding communication. Soon, he had one prototyped on a local mustang and once I saw pics of it installed, I was sold on it. I placed the order and soon it arrived at my house.
I read over the instructions and narrowed the install options down to two; either install it with the hood on the car, or take the hood off the car and install it like that. I decided on the later because you needed to glue the liner on and shape it to the hood which would prove difficult if done while the hood was on the car. I drilled two 1/8" holes in each hinge on the hood before taking it off then unbolted it. I grabbed two long 2x4's from the garage and laid them on the floor and draped a comforter over it and placed the hood down. I uninstalled the WMS liner, and masked off the area where I didn't want glue to go and got the mat ready. started in the center then worked my way out to the sides and soon it was done. I reinstalled the hood by starting the nuts on the hood, then placing four drill bits in the holes to align it perfectly then cinched down the nuts.
All in all, the mat is PERFECT! Solved all of my problems and install was not that big of a deal. I dabbed touch up paint on the holes I drilled and for those who will say that water will get into the hood, it wont, there are breather holes all over the underside along the sides of the hood from the factory. I included pics for everyone to see! He also can do custom decals for you if you'd like. I had a "GT" decal made as an after thought and should receive it soon, I will update the post with a pic once its on the liner. In short, the liner solved all of my problems and it sure is a great piece.
WMS Hoodliner (notice the engine cover is off)
View attachment 302673
View attachment 302675
Hood off car:
View attachment 302677
View attachment 302680
View attachment 302682
Me masking:
View attachment 302684
Mat glued down before cleanup of excess glue around edges. To clean it up you need Goo-Gone or anything or that sort:
View attachment 302686
Installed back on the car:
View attachment 302688
View attachment 302690
Thanks for posting
I am getting pretty close to just pulling it off an leaving it off. Glad to hear that there is an alternative. 
