Reproduction good quality?

[ItWillBeSlow]

Who is running an aftermarket hood and what are your experiences, good or bad?

My original needs more blasting than I have time for with my paint schedule. I have had good luck with my repop sheet metal so far and would prefer to use a repop hood if they are generally decent quality.

The guy I buy all my pets from locally sources tri plus / key parts / counterpart

[ItWillBeSlow]

Surely someone out there is running one .. ��

[1968 K20]

Not sure the year you need but I bought a repo 67-68 hood and had to cut both side and reweld to make it match up with the top of the fenders. The hood sides had too much of an arc to it. I don't know the brand but it was from LMC about 2 years ago. I did research in it before and it seems all 67-68 repo hoods are bad. I do remember hearing the 69-72 hoods fit pretty good. GMC Pauls might be a good place to start, he would not carry/sell 67-68 because of the fitment issues so I would assume he if he has the 69-72 they would fit good. Hope this helps.

[tjc]

I also tried a re-pop hood for my 68 c10 and front corner were not close enough for me, and were about 20 lbs lighter

[HO455]

My 67 raised cowl repop was a mess. Which style hood do you want?

[ItWillBeSlow]

My truck is a 72 and I want the OE style

[ItWillBeSlow]

Just realized the thread title should be HOOD. And I buy parts not pets.. that’s what you get for creating a thread on a phone.

[Ironhorse]

Would help to know your location. I have a nice 71 Chevrolet hood, original with a repaint. No rust or dents, straight center ridge. Shipping would be a real killer tho.

[ItWillBeSlow]

I’m in Tennessee. Not opposed to an OEM repurposed hood but the goal is to have it paint ready in a week or so, and that is why I am not blasting my original.

[Ironhorse]

Tennessee is a fair piece from Kansas and as mentioned this hood is really nice and straight but does need a repaint.

[ItWillBeSlow]

Bump for 71-72 reproduction hood experiences

[lks dcvn]

I used almost every Key Part replacement panel on my 71 Blazer rebuild. Disclaimer - your experience will vary as it seems that every part is not consistent when built - even when buying the parts from the same source or vendor.

New panels used on my build include all Key Parts (some items came in tri-plus boxes even though ordered from Key Parts (supplier)) - front fenders, hood, core support, inner fenders, torsion boxes, floor patch panels, outer rockers for 1969-72 C10/Blazer. All parts were ordered from JEG's as they offer free shipping on almost all of these parts (except the hood), which I was happy to pay freight shipping on given the savings of shipping the other parts. Key Parts seems to be the highest standard (IMHO) for aftermarket quality these days from what I have found. Don't order a set of outer rockers from RockAuto and expect them to fit. My Key Parts outer rockers were hefty and only need minor tweaking to be decent.

All new body bolts and mounts were installed and new doors with OEM rebuilt hinges were hung prior to doing any floor repair so things would line up after. My driver side fender/hood lined up pretty good out of the box with only little tweaking needed. My passenger side was less fun and needed some work (and still does). I'm saving any more panel gap adjustment for now and driving it until it gets too cold here as this has taken a year to get the parts delivered and have the time to do the work. All the panels still need final fit/fitment for me to be happy with them. Outer rockers are just screwed in for now to assure the doors line up and close without rubbing/catching. I still have plenty of work to get the panels lined up - I just wanted to drive it before winter.

My hood hinges were also old/tired and bent so I am having them rebuilt by www.hoodhingerepair.com as we speak to make sure that isn't part of my passenger side hood alignment issue.

[ItWillBeSlow]

Thanks for the input - this is the kind of information I am looking for. You have two variables in your "fitment equation" since you are also using repop fenders. What do you plan to adjust to get your passenger gap closed more?

Did you have an OEM hood to compare dimensions and weight to? I will likely be buying a repop within a week or so and will measure and weigh for comparison sake

[lks dcvn]

I need to get my rebuilt hood hinges back so I can start with a solid base before I make any other adjustments. My passenger side is the one that was bent so that may be part of my issue.

I do have an OEM hood that I still have that I can measure from as needed.

[ItWillBeSlow]

Bump for any more feedback

[pjmoreland]

What's the condition of your original hood? I don't have any experience with reproduction hoods, but based on my experience with other reproduction parts (fender, rockers, cab corners), I personally would go out of my way to use original parts when possible.

[ItWillBeSlow]

Originally Posted by pjmoreland

What's the condition of your original hood? I don't have any experience with reproduction hoods, but based on my experience with other reproduction parts (fender, rockers, cab corners), I personally would go out of my way to use original parts when possible.

My original hood is in good shape meaning it has no dents. It has a light cover of pitted rust and some heavy rust underneath near the battery tray. It could be blasted but blasters are several weeks out and I still run the risk they warp it.

I am painting my truck in 2 weeks with plenty of other things to get done than fool with the hood if I don’t have to. I want a reproduction hood because Incan have it in epoxy within 3 hours of getting it to my house and I can buy them locally. Even if I source a nice local OE hood I have many hours to get it prepped for epoxy.

[toolboxchev]

IMHO, scrap the schedule use an oem hood and blast it, then use something like......SPI Epoxy!

Done

[ItWillBeSlow]

Originally Posted by toolboxchev

IMHO, scrap the schedule use an oem hood and blast it, then use something like......SPI Epoxy!

Done

I can appreciate the enthusiasm - however the schedule is strictly based on SPI epoxy, which must maintain a minimum of 65 degrees and I am doing this in my garage heading into fall

[ItWillBeSlow]

Update-

Bought a repro Tri-Plus hood today and test fitted. Overall the dimensions match the OE hood spot on in every way I could reasonably measure. Once installed the fender gaps left/right looked pretty good on both sides; slightly tight if anything. The passenger side hood to fender gap was high about 3/8". I am fairly confident this is due to some hinge wear and also the fact that I did not have the rubber bumpers on the fender or the stopper posts in the front corners that attach to the grill shell. If I had those bumpers installed I could have closed the hood a little tighter and it would have settled a bit flatter. I also plan to enlarge the mounting holes on the passenger hinge so it can sit a bit lower.

Gap on the rear seam with the cowl was fairly large (.5"), but isn't there a rubber seal in this crack?

[davischevy]

Originally Posted by ItWillBeSlow

Update-

Bought a repro Tri-Plus hood today and test fitted. Overall the dimensions match the OE hood spot on in every way I could reasonably measure. Once installed the fender gaps left/right looked pretty good on both sides; slightly tight if anything. The passenger side hood to fender gap was high about 3/8". I am fairly confident this is due to some hinge wear and also the fact that I did not have the rubber bumpers on the fender or the stopper posts in the front corners that attach to the grill shell. If I had those bumpers installed I could have closed the hood a little tighter and it would have settled a bit flatter. I also plan to enlarge the mounting holes on the passenger hinge so it can sit a bit lower.

Gap on the rear seam with the cowl was fairly large (.5"), but isn't there a rubber seal in this crack?

There is a seal at the back, but it is not visible when the hood is closed.

That said, your new hood looks pretty good to me. You can make that gap at the back go away with some adjustment. Even with NOS sheet metal I have had to use all kinds of pushing and pulling devices to get them to fit.

[lks dcvn]

yep - all looks familiar - my driver side was pretty close and the pass side was a bit proud. I'm still waiting on my rebuilt hinges so that may improve the gap a bit.

My rear hood to cowl spacing was also a bit larger than I expected and will take some tweaking to be close to 3/8" or so that I would prefer.

Looks good though - are you happy with the results so far?

[ItWillBeSlow]

Originally Posted by lks dcvn

yep - all looks familiar - my driver side was pretty close and the pass side was a bit proud. I'm still waiting on my rebuilt hinges so that may improve the gap a bit.

My rear hood to cowl spacing was also a bit larger than I expected and will take some tweaking to be close to 3/8" or so that I would prefer.

Looks good though - are you happy with the results so far?

Yes I am, it is better than I expected and think I can work out the high side without too much trouble at final fit. Getting a little more adjustment in the brackets and the rubber bumpers installed should help take care of it. I am also happy that the hood is not lighter than stock.

[toolboxchev]

Glad to see its working out, Tri Plus is the go to I hear for all panels.

[ItWillBeSlow]

I also weighed the hood today -

Reproduction came in at 70LB and the OE hood was 68LB. Surprising to see them equal, I expected the reproduction to be lighter.