stupid question about fiberglas hood

1991notchbackLX · Jan 1, 2008

So, I'm going to be ordering a 4" cowl hood for my 91 notch in the next week or two. Obviously, like all things in life, you get what you pay for, but I was wondering if you guys could point me in the right direction. The Cervini hood is $479 and the Champion Fiberglass Products hood is $270, not to mention shipping. That's a fairly large price difference, will ordering the cheaper hood come back to bite me in the ass when it's time for fitment, body work and paint? What brand hood fits the best with the least prep? Or are they all the same? Any info would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

TRWXXA · Jan 1, 2008

Can't help you with the fiberglass hood comparison. But either way, make sure you get a good set of hood pins to hold the new hood closed. There are plenty of horror stories on here about fiberglass hoods flying open on the road.

EMW150 · Jan 1, 2008

The Cervini hoods are definately top quality. It takes very little prep work to paint them in comparison to others I've seen. The downside is they're heavy compared to alot of the others.

408gt91 · Jan 1, 2008

I just bought a 4" harwood and all i had to do is move the latch over and it fit. i now just have to prep and paint.

bigcahoona · Jan 1, 2008

I'm happy with the Harwood. I did install hood pins to be on the safe side.

SuperStang83 · Jan 1, 2008

Cervinis is the best, but I heard that Design Concepts are good too. I am not positive if that is the company name. Do a search and you will see a lot of threads of this nature.

1991notchbackLX · Jan 1, 2008

the harwood hoods come primed that dark grey color?

skunk21 · Jan 1, 2008

I'll be looking for a hood myself soon. the cervini is top notch and highly recommend on the site, I also looked at HO Fibertrends and they are well recieved by some too and they also supplied hoods to Ford the Coba R's. give a look..

http://www.hofibertrends.com/87-93 parts page.htm

85_SS_302_Coupe · Jan 1, 2008

1991notchbackLX said:
the harwood hoods come primed that dark grey color?

Not primer, it's a gel coat.

I would buy a Harwood before i'd buy Cervinis just because the quality difference doesn't justify the price IMO. The only reason to buy a hood from Cervinis over Harwood would be if you wanted a style that Harwood doesn't make, like the Cobra style heat extractor hood. A lot of the Cervinis products are buying the name. They make good products but they're not the only company out there who do, and others do it for cheaper.

ttop88 · Jan 1, 2008

If you do your own body work it wont matter. This pic is a champion hood. There is 40+hours to make it look like this. If you don't do body work buy the cervinis hood. It is a much nicer piece out of box. It would still take 5-10hours to be this slick tho.
View attachment 339245

ttop88 · Jan 1, 2008

85_SS_302_Coupe said:
Not primer, it's a gel coat.

I would buy a Harwood before i'd buy Cervinis just because the quality difference doesn't justify the price IMO. The only reason to buy a hood from Cervinis over Harwood would be if you wanted a style that Harwood doesn't make, like the Cobra style heat extractor hood. A lot of the Cervinis products are buying the name. They make good products but they're not the only company out there who do, and others do it for cheaper.

I completly disagree. My first glass hood was a harwood. You get what you pay for! The gaps and over all fit is the differance. The harwood is a good quality hood but the fit and finish sucks! Hell you can see in the above pics of the harwood that the hood fits like crap around the headlights. If you want the same gaps with a glass hood as you get with the factory steel hood you haft to pay for it! Regardless of what others will tell you no glass hood is ready for a scuff and shoot out of box. Unless you have low standards and are easily satisfied

85_SS_302_Coupe · Jan 1, 2008

I'm not saying Cervinis is cheap....but clearly you got a bad hood. I've seen Harwoods bolted on and look perfect.

Don't even get me started on Cervinis and their Stalker nose fitment...i can get you pictures of how fantastic they fit.

1991notchbackLX · Jan 2, 2008

thanks for the info guys

cardudeusa · Jan 2, 2008

Check out Design Concepts, I believe their website is www.designconceptsauto.com I've had 2 hoods from them and they are just as good as Cervinis. I've also had a Champion hood and it didn't fit really great and the quality was a bit rough.

cevtv · Jan 2, 2008

Don't know how true it may be, but the rumor was that Design Concepts was actually Cervini's seconds.....

88mouse · Jan 2, 2008

I have harwood and Cervinis. They both fit real good. The Cervinis weighs at least double that of the harwood.

dls322 · Jan 2, 2008

Just an FYI, i'm not sure what state your from but I heard some have hood height restrictions. I heard in PA that 3" was the limit....no idea if this is true but it would be something i would check out if i was buying a new hood.
My .02

2000xp8 · Jan 2, 2008

A 4 inch hood is really tall, unless you need the clearance for the engine, i'd get a 2.
And if you don't work at a body shop, buy a cervini's.
Body works is super expensive these days, and the $150 you save on a hood, could land up costing you a couple hundred in the long run.
If you want to save a few bucks, get the cervini's from a swap meet if they have their truck there.
They are in NJ, which is where i live, but still, i got my hood at E town, No shipping, no tax, and they cut $50 off the price.

7-UP BILL · Jan 2, 2008

I have a 2-1/2 cowl Harwood hood. The guy who painted it said it was the nicest hood from a manufacturer he has ever seen. ( Shop ONLY does custom paint work and restoration) He put maybe 2 hrs into prep he said. Hood is now 10 years old and still looks great. See @ www.cardomain.com search Fyrfyter303

FYI. You'll need to ck your local laws before adding a 4" cowl. Some states like NJ will fail you at inspection due to visibility issues.

lvboost · Jan 2, 2008

h.o fiber trends has got to be the best fitting hood i think.they are the guys who acually make the fiber glass hood for ford h.ofibertrends.com

stupid question about fiberglas hood

1991notchbackLX

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