Bowed AAR Cuda hood.. Where to get a new one..

Hello,

Im planing to get a another hood for my AAR Cuda. The original is very bowed.

Is there anyone that makes OE correct aar hoods today? I want the very best & close to original as possible.


Hood is more bowed on passenger side.

Thanks
Nicklas

They come from the factory that way. The factory bulletin says to remove the hood springs and use a prop rod. The west Texas sun flattened mine out in two days

That is the answer, Nicklas. Keep the original!

Jim

Nicklas, If your hood is original, keep it, even rework it if needed, maybe post a pic of the amount of bow you have so we can look to see if the support structure needs to be broken loose from the underside.
Yes the originals tend to not be a perfect match to the fender contour, largely because resin shrinks as it cures, so the curvature of the hood will close up a little as the resin cures. The support structure helps with this a bit but does not cure it completely. Personally I prefer the look of an AAR with a little bow in the center, its simply a part of these cars.

Set the hood down on a pair of 2x4x4 blocks with a hole for the hood pin in the centre of the 4 inch side.

Place a towel of 2 layers over the infected area.

Set a clean big block cylinder head on towel and leave it for at least 5 days.

Repeat if necessary.

Without knowing the extent of the bow and if the hood may have previously been repaired, there’s no way to say if this will work, but based on my experience this is a long shot. I believe there is a gross underestimate on the role the bonded under support plays and the ability to overcome that stiffening with heat and weight.

Wow...Experience...i have none other than owning several of these cars and helping others since 1980

Are you sure? Have you ever tried this?

How do you know it does not work?

Repairs have nothing to do with the bow in the stock hoods.

A request was made for the OP to post a photo of the hood as it is today, this would help to better understand just how much the hood would need to move. Many an AAR hood suffered the fate of being ripped from its backing structure when someone would forget to install the hood pins, the subsequent repair often leaves these hoods in far worse shape than they would have left the factory.

I've worked pretty extensively with composites of different types and cut my teeth as a tool engineer. Early composites were not well understood, things like CTE, shrink factor and spring-in were not well understood or accounted for in tooling. So the factory hood wasn't as perfect as you may be able to achieve today.

To your point, I have never tried to simply add weight to a hood in an attempt to flatten curvature. I suspect only the smallest of movement will be achieved and the hood will quickly revert to its original shape. That said I would encourage the OP to give your suggestion a try as it is a much easier, less intrusive fix that anyone can perform.

ASC&P used to make the best repro T/A hoods, not sure if they are still in business; they may have supplied Year One. The originals can be repaired by adding additional stiffening to the internal bracing, longer than the original steel insert. The factory steel insert the hinges bolts to is too short.

ASC&P is all done, as to where their molds went? someone must know?

I've been "lucky" the last 40 years with my repro T/A hood (Fiberglass Trends) on my Challenger, still nice and flat, and has had the springs on it for 40 years now

I am not far from where Barry made those hoods... He also made nice 442 hoods. I get down that way every so often I can ask as I know someone close to him that has a business still near there what actually happened to the molds... The farm he made them at was sold and being developed..

I have one of his hoods. It is well made! Wasn't he a hit Air Balloon guy

Thanks for the heads up.

And this could work?

Might be worth a shot.. Have you done this on a few aar cars before? Im just afraid of cracking the hood.. the car is nicly restored so i really would like to fix the hood so it matches the rest of the car.. and original is always original.. i have seen NOS hoods for sale that i have considered buying.. but i live in Sweden so shipping is no fun.

I have added a few pics to my first post..

Thanks
Nicklas

The information i have provided is factual and based on owning an AAR that i brought in 1980 and sold in 2012 that HAD the same warped area on the hood when i bought the car. Many other cars have been repaired with this technical information since 1980. I forgot to mention it works better if the hood car is placed in the hot sun for several hours before applying the "fix". It will not crack the hood! As i recall i wrote a tech article in the All American Racer Magazine regarding these hoods.

You can give us all the mumbo jumbo and more that you have provided Dr Aar#2 but the information i have provided is real world and it works.

Dilbert, thanks for contributing all that “technical” information, I’m certain I can’t provide any value added input.

Since I’m always disappointed when I read threads were disagreements turn into mud slinging matches I’ll choose to bow out and remain a gentlemen.

The op asked where to buy a new hood, not how to fix his.

If the sun idea and blocks don't work, The idea of opening up the rear of the hood spine where the hood hinges attached has been done before. The idea is to cut the rib open in the back and shove a piece of pipe into the cavity. It stiffens the area and stops the bulging of the hood. There were articles about this technic year ago

Yes, that's his initial request, but seeing he's in Sweden, shipping costs alone will be phenomenal, either matching or superseding the cost of a hood alone DAMHIK, plus there WAS only one source for a faithful reproduction, and seeing as that he has a "nice" original, other than having that massive bow(s) present, personally I think he should rework the original, it will take an individual knowledgeable in fiberglass repair to properly brace the hood back to the shape desired, cut into the stressed area underneath, insert stiffeners that won't telegraph later on into the surface, and re-glass the whole thing back together, it could be done without disturbing the painted finish...if the right individual is employed

Yeah you could park an elephant on it in the sun for a short term fix, and then turn the car into a vampire, allowing it out only on cool summer nights never to see daylight ever again, but between the spring tension, underhood heat and the memory that fiberglass has taken, surgery IMHO is the only cure

Mike

Hi Mike.

Thanks for your input.. the problem is to find a good fiberglass guy that know what he is doing.. not good if the hood gets unusable..

Yes shipping is expensive but biggest problem is shipping damage risk. Im willing to pay whatever it cost to get another hood BUT it must be OE correct.. if that not is possible i think someone have a good business here to start making correct hoods.

Thanks
Nicklas

Nicklas,

Sweden has to have plenty of guys that are involved with Fiberglass Boats. One of those guys should be able to fix the hood. Start talking to those guys.

Morty

Think they may still do that... Notary work for sure... I think there was Barry and maybe his brother or another relative...

http://asctitleandtags.com/

[quote=fastmark]They come from the factory that way. The factory bulletin says to remove the hood springs and use a prop rod. The west Texas sun flattened mine out in two days [/quote

After two pages of advice, mine is still the same. Your oem hood is the most valuable for the car. Take the springs off and let it sit. It will flatten out. The sun will help. Be careful adding weight. It can go to far. I’d post a picture but this site does not like my iPhone.

Yes maby i need to do that..

Does anyone have a copy they can post or know where this document can be seen?
Maybe Barry???

This method worked on the bow in my AAR hood. Only other thing that I did was Took the car for a ride first to get the hood hot from the engine heat on a hot 90 degree day and used a 2x6 under the head on top of the towel. Put it in the garage with the head on it for a week and the bow was almost completely gone. I lived with that bow for 26 years before I tried this. Should have done it earler. Its been almost a year and the bow has not come back yet.

Give it a try what is the worst that can happen, you might have to rework the hood anyway?
And It does'nt cost you anything to try.

Unless that OE hood is repaired to add stiffness to it it WILL eventually flex and crack the gel coat, and worse, no matter whether you remove the springs or not.Even with the springs removed the hood will flex in the opposite direction upon lifting it. The factory steel insert that the bolts thread into to mount the hood is all the stiffness there is up to that point. Where the steel stops, is where it flexes and eventually cracks. The original fiberglass channel is not strong enough to support it. The best way I know how to make an "invisible" "repair" is to insert some sort of stiffening material (hollow pipe, etc.) into the channel from the very back of it, by carefully sawing away at the end 'cap' of the channel at the very back of the hood where it's least visible. Insert the stiffening device , then set the hood upside down and lock it into a position where the bend is gone. Then pour mixed epoxy resin into the channel to set the stiffening device in place. Make sure to thread bolts into the OE hood mounting holes before pouring the resin. You only get one shot at it, so you have to get it right the 1st time. Not for the faint of heart. Some judicious gel coat work at the place the channel is opened up to reattach the removed piece, and some dark primer and you're done.

71redcuda: are you sure your car has the correct AAR hood springs? They are smaller in diameter than steel hood springs, and while they still promoted the bulge, when someone put standard springs on a glass hood car the hood would really warp!

Make sure your springs are as weak as possible once you "fix" the hood.

This all good info, but again does anyone recommend a replacement hood. I also have a hood that someone left,the pins and folded,the hood back. The inner frame structure in front and behind the hinge mounts is cracked completely around. I’m surprised the hood hasn’t come completely apart. The inner structure needs to be rebuilt. So I am looking for a hood also.

Common issue reported on original hoods. Those hoods are supposed to have special hood springs. I’m not sure if you can find a repro hood that would work any better? Even if you do, you want to keep the original hood.

Nicklas, I purchased one 5 months ago from Year One and I'm very happy with it. It was molded from a nice original hood and even the holes for the clips and screws underneath were faintly there just needing to be opened up. Eddie

My friend has a restored FM3 AAR. He bought a new year one piece and it is extremely nice. One thing he does is to not store it with the hood pinned down. He always pulls the pins so no pressure is in the hinge area during long term storage stints.

I replaced my hood back in the late 80s with one from year one. It was exact to my orig except for the wedge bumps that touch the plastic wedges on the inside lip of thefender. The year one hood just didn’t have em. So I made em with fiberglass and they are still there today. Wish I knew about straightening the original hood... I woulda done that

The year one hoods used to be made by ASC&P which they no longer make them... I looked into buying one last year and ended up molding a race glass hood to a steel frame. I know mine won't bow.

interesting. what did you use for springs ? did you do anything to mimic a "fiberglass appearance" to the hood framework ?

I just left it rough and painted flat black. It's just a clone, so wasn't too concerned about looking original. I had cuda hood the top was shot and got the fiberglass race glass hood on ebay for basically nothing using ebay bucks. I did buy some good 3m adhesive made for bonding materials like this.

AAR out of Florida was making these and nice pieces. I have the repo T/A hood. Nice piece but after 10 years even it has started to bow. I tried all those fixes on my original hood. None of them worked.

I've had my Fiberglass Trends repro T/A hood on my Challenger since about 1979 (39 yrs) with the springs always on...been lucky, still hasn't bowed...