Questions directed at folks with Cobra R hood...

ratio411

Founding Member
Apr 21, 2002
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Pensacola FL
I am looking at obtaining a 94 GT convertible.

It has the bone stock 5.0 and stock hood.

I was looking at the choices of hoods available in case I decide to get the car.
2 reasons I am looking:

1: For the look.

2: For hood clearance as I would like to use an aggressive intake, like the GT40 or 93 Cobra intake.

So, my questions for you in the know:

Ford Racing M-16612-R58 - Ford Racing SVT Cobra R Hoods - summitracing.com

1: Will this hood give me the hood clearance I need to go with a taller intake, and maybe even put an insulator between the upper and lower?

2: Is this hood a quality part?

3: Does it come ready to paint as they claim? I know many custom hood companies show you a pic of a nice hood, often on a car, but you get a warped and untrimmed turd when it arrives. Then you have to spend another 500 bux just to get it to fit the car.

4: Do you know of other hood manufacturers that don't have the 'turd' problem from question 3? If so, please tell me who so I can look at other hood styles that I might find more appealing or unique. I am open to suggestions of other hoods that you know will give me the clearance I need.

5: Will the SVT hood really weigh less than the stock hood? The stocker is relatively light I thought.:shrug: My carbon fiber Maverick hood only weighs 18# (factory latch and hinges too)... This SVT hood lists at a whopping 33#! Why so much?


Thank you for all your input and suggestions!:flag:
Dave
 
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It really is a nice clean hood. Sometimes less is truly more.
Probably the only style I would like better is a cowl design with similar 'soft edges' like this one,
to match the soft lines of the 94 body. Harwood makes a cowl I like in general,
but the edges are too sharp for the rest of the body.
 
Check out H.O. Fibertrends (hofibertrends.com). They were the makers of the original R hood put on the 1995 Cobra R so quality is great. Not to mention its only $389. And yes you will clear with this hood. I have a GT40 intake with a spacer and clear this hood with ease. It weighs 24 pounds and yes, is FAR lighter than the stock hood.
 
Odds are that hood is gonna come from HO fibertrends... I think thats a Ford part number. You might as well save a few bucks and get it from HO.... shipping can be $$$ on hoods.

I have HO 1.2 R hood and it clears my GT4O with a 1" spacer and still has room.

The u/side is raw glass on the HO hood in case your not aware. I wanted the OEM hood for the latching...I didnt want hood pins..The HO hood stays put with factory latching...

The 1.5 isnt open out back...I cut mine to open it...

U/side
41750.jpg
 
its a good hood and will give you plenty of clearance. though, you wouldn't need the hood for clearance unless you put an intake spacer on.

shameless pic whoring:
513472_63_full.jpg
 
FYI the Cervini R hood is finished underneath, but does not weigh less than a stocker. It also has a flat top on the rear of the cowl, my wife's GT has an original Cobra R take-off hood and my Cobra has a Cervini piece, the difference is subtle on the outside but very noticeable from inside the car.. The HO Fibertrends/FRPP hood curves a little at the edges of the cowl.

DSCF1008.jpg


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DSCF1015.jpg
 
Man, those are some nice cars there!
I love that 'opal frost' color. I don't think I have ever seen that, or at least I
have never noticed that color before. I have a fetish for black cars, but
have been trying to ween myself from black cars. They are gorgeous, but are
horrible to maintain. Therefore I have been forcing myself to look at and
apprieciate other colors in order to discover new preferences.

Anyway, on the subject of hood clearance... I noticed today, while fiddling under
the hood of the 94 vert, that it has a tower brace setup. There are 3 bars, 1 bar
from each strut tower to the firewall, and then 1 bar from one tower to the other.
Anyway, the bar going across is right over the stock intake, and leaves very little
clearance. It looks like I may not be able to use an aftermarket intake if I wish to
retain the tower brace. I am a fan of sub connectors and tower braces as well as
Cobra intakes. So it is a hard choice. I am turning the car over to my son in a year,
so the brace would win over a performance mod I suppose.

Thoughts?
 
i hadn't had a brace for god knows how long on my car, years and years. finally put a BBK one on last year. didn't notice a darn thing. its not a bad thing to have and there are plenty of aftermarket ones out there but that shouldn't be any factor in your intake or hood choices.
 
I suppose I could cut the forward bar and reroute it around the front of the upper.
Pretty much making a copy of the one I saw the pic of. I can be cheap sometimes,
especially if it means buying something I already have, or throwing away a good
mod to make another mod. Neither makes any sense to me. I think I'll just modify the
bar that is on there now and have the best of both worlds.;)

Shows how much I know about these cars... I never knew this brace came stock.

Question...
I was looking at some parts online and it seems that the 98 SN95 was the only one
to come stock with an actual grille. Am I understanding this correctly?

I like the idea of a honeycomb grille in my car.
So can I fit a 98 honeycomb grille into my 94?
Will it fit a Cobra bumper cover when I get around to making that mod?
Did the 98 Cobra have the grille in a Cobra bumper cover?

Thanks for putting up with me dragging this out.
I am hungry for knowledge and have alot of catching up to do!
Dave
 
Question...
I was looking at some parts online and it seems that the 98 SN95 was the only one
to come stock with an actual grille. Am I understanding this correctly?

I like the idea of a honeycomb grille in my car.
So can I fit a 98 honeycomb grille into my 94?
Will it fit a Cobra bumper cover when I get around to making that mod?
Did the 98 Cobra have the grille in a Cobra bumper cover?

Thanks for putting up with me dragging this out.
I am hungry for knowledge and have alot of catching up to do!
Dave

the honeycomb grill didn't come out till 99 in the new edge body style. and no you can't use it. your best option for a grill is to either make one, ebay special, or the billet chrome ones.

Mr. Bodykit