Hood pins

J.Cagle

New Member
Jul 20, 2009
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SouthEast Kansas
I have a fiberglass hood on my car and it moves around quite a bit at hiway speeds. Its recommended to put hood pins on. I was just curious to see who has what styles and brands of hood pins and what you think of them. Also, are they hard to instal? Thanks, Jared
 
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It's a safety issue only for us. We don't have any yet, but we are talking about it for the first time. Car is expected to go 140+ at the strip next time out, but we don't have to worry about highway winds and 18 wheeler blasts, since car is not street-legal anymore.

We'll likely get some real plain ones that work well but don't necessarily look great. May even paint them the hood color, to make them less noticeable.
 
I went with the Billet shelby hood pins w/o the logo. They are very nice. The install was gut wrenching and took probably 4 hours, although I have to be very perfectionicious so the lining up part took me the most time.

Then drilling a hole in your hood, sucked; and I thought that was worst part of the battle. I then had to drill 4 more screws that held the billet plate onto the hood (4 for one side)

The bottom two screws went on fine for both sides, but the top two screws, the same screws would not catch because of the under frame of the stock hood, and in-order of them TO catch, it would inturn dent the hood.

So I had to run all around town and find 1/4 inch longer stainless matching screws

all-in-all it went well.


P.S. My stock hood fluttered at highway speeds and popped up to the safety latch the first time I took her home, I guess I was on the highway, but not sure if I was at highway speeds :)

anyway, I suggest getting them.
 
Yeah, Ive been looking at the shelby aluminum ones. I really like the looks of them. They actually look quality. I just don't know about drilling into my nice new hood. I guess drilling a whole is easier than picking up the pieces on the hiway if it flies off. What do you need to do to figure out where to drill the hole in the hood?
 
A lot of people have found that by adjusting their hood bumper stops (to allow for a little more pressure when closing the hood) pretty much reduces the hood flapping dance, etc. I know it worked for me...but drilling holes in my hood would never be an option for me...only for the brave.
 
I had a lot of hood flutter at high speeds so I installed the Shelby non-logo pins. I've installed pins on many of my cars, so it's getting simpler each time. The Shelby pins are good quality. Here's these pins on my '07 GT....

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I had the same pins as five oh brian with my stock hood, but I placed them near the outside edges. The brackets that come with them have you mount them on the upper radiator support. For me, that was too close together. I know emay and heavygt have thiers out near the sides as well. The thing about mounting out there is you need extra care in proper positioning of the scuff plate or they won't line up. Mine didn't line up great, but they worked. I have yet to put them on with the Steeda hood. I like the look without them and hope I don't pay the price of not having them on there. As far as finding the hole location for the hood, you figure out where you want the pins, install them, place something on the top of the pin, gently let the hood down and wherever it marks the underside of the hood is where you drill.

Here was mine.
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Thanks, kooldawg. Man, yur car is pretty awesome the way it looks now, but I LOVE the way it looks in that picture!
Thanks! I liked the way it looked as well, but I had the stripe/color concept in mind for a couple of years. I was going to go with the Steeda hood/Roush fascia route for a meaner look, but a buddy mentioned the GT500 route and I believe that turned out better. I still have the wheels/tires as they are my drag strip setup with the MT ET Streets:nice:

five oh brian had to modify either the grille, bumper or both to fit the V6 grille. I'm sure he'll give more specifics.
 
I think I'd rather pay the 100+ bucks for the aluminum ones. They look more quality. Those cheap ones will look terrible in a year or so. They get rusty.

Very big difference in the quality. If you're going to be drilling holes in your hood it better be for something that's nice! :nice:

I am looking to get the black shelby hood pins without the logo anyone know where to get them.

Scott Drake used to sell Black hood pins but they stopped because the coating wasn't holding up and was starting to chip. I think that some stores still have some stock left over so that's why you see some here and there. I wouldn't buy them because they are going to chip.
 
Five-oh-Brian, I just noticed something. You have what appears to be a 6cyl pony grille in your car. Where did you get one to fit a gt bumper???? I want one of these for mine, but didnt think theyd fit.

A friend of mine has a 2006 V6 Pony Package. He & I swapped grills/foglights. The V6 grill is a little smaller than the GT opening, so I ran very thick, marine quality weather stripping around the edge of the grill to fill in the gap. Had to fabricate my own brackets as the mounting tabs are different between the two grills, but it's all hidden under the radiator cover so it looks like a factory install. Wiring for the lights is identical for the V6 and GT.