elwaldo

I am restoring a 1969 corvette conv. and am thinking of eliminating the windshield wiper door and replace with longer hood. Will a later model hood fit my 69 , or will I have to purchase a new longer hood?

69Vett

restored means many things to many people,
I personnally would be very dissappointed, if I went to buy a restored 69 Corvette,
only to find all of the wiper mech. missing.
I would suggest keep such a classic Auto in tact, with all the parts you can.
It is not cheap or easy. 69VETT

rajsid

I believe that a late model hood will not fit on a 69. You will need a longer 68-72 hood. Ecklers sells them.

Personally, I agree with 69Vett.
It also depends on how close to stock your car is. If it is an original car, I would leave it as is. If it's already well modified, just go at it.

How about some pics of the car?
We love seeing vette pics

vettebuyer6369

I have seen people put later model (73-76) style hoods on wiper door cars. I'm not sure how much adjustment/modification would be necessary. Used hoods of that vintage are plentiful and very, very cheap.

That said, I agree with the purists. It really looks terrible. The hood lines rarely line up cleanly at the cowl and often you can see the exposed unfinished bottom of the windshield. If you choose to do this, please take my word for this and keep the parts. If you dont decide to go back to the correct look, at least have the parts available when you sell the car. It could make a difference.

Easy Mike

Correct. The longer hoods will mount, but the rear corners of the hood will not meet with the fender lines on the 68-72 cars at the windshield. The corners will stick up about half an inch.

If you're set on making the swap, go with an aftermarket hood for this specific application.

Alan 71

Hi e,
I agree with 69... the wiper door is part of what makes 68-72 cars interesting. The system can be a bit of a bother but is pretty cool.
Please keep it. I also agree that a 'restored' car should have it.
Regards,
Alan

7T1vette

Keep the wiper door (if you can); go with an aftermarket 'long' hood for your year car, if you can't.

10caipirinhas

Put all your old parts in a box and save 'em for the next guy when you sell the car, and you are doing the right thing for the brand, and staying true to the marketplace. Sometimes OEM doesn't always make sense or work right.

Then go buy your long hood.

I figure the "long" L88 hood and all the associated small parts/fitting/paint, etc, I will need to do it right to clear my carb on the car I be modifying will cost me $2,500 when it is all said and done......

temvette72

Here is a pic of my install. I put a new front clip on my 72 (a previous owner had grafted a 73 clip on it). I reused the 73 hood. You can see where I had to modify the rear part of the fenders (by the windshield pillars) to match the contour of the long hood. I could have built up the fender with 'glass and filler, but the manufacturer of the clip (J&D Corvette) also makes the little filler panels that I grafted in on the new clip to match the hood. Pretty slick, but if I had the stock hood and wiper mechanism, I would've preferred to keep it stock looking. Good luck!

Temvette72

1969RAY

Well, I know the purist have a strong argument here, but these are not "windsheild wiper door" cars, they are chrome bumper cars. OK, they have wiper doors but its a bit of a gimmick to me. I put on an Ecklers long L88 hood during my restoration and I love it. Funny too, I've never had anybody ask where the wiper door went or why it's missing. The hood is loo-ong and it looks goo-od. The wipers work great, they hide underneath and it fits perfectly both sides, top and bottom. So, if the next owner wants the door, he can find one on ebay and put it on. That can be his project. Build it the way YOU want it.

markdtn

The wiper door finishes the hood all the way to the windshield. I would definitely deduct from any car I looked at that didn't have it.

schmegeggie

Where did your wiper door go, and why is it missing?

schmegeggie

I'll agree here. I've been very frustrated with my wiper door, and I still don't have it all working properly, but I'll keep it and get it working someday. Hell, I don't drive it in the rain anyway!
Stick with the stock hood, you can thank us all later.

KTKelly

Don't you dare customize YOUR car. That would just be wrong...



Why next thing you know you'll be putting some 17", or 18" rims on it....

IcemanZ06

do what YOU want. if it's a show quality completely original car it would probably be pretty stupid to get rid of a major piece like the wiper door but if it's not, do what you want. It's YOUR car. Just realize that the purists will adjust the price accordingly if you ever sell it.

My car is a mixmatch of parts from the years prior to my purchase. Its so far from original (doesnt even have the original motor) that I'm probably going to do the long hood too. It will also clean up the firewall since you can ditch the actuator.

to each his own

elwaldo

I have the original wiper door plus an extra one and a brand new regular hood. I thought the vacuum system would be to complicated for me to figure out where all the new hoses go. I would rather keep it original if I could find an easy schematic of where all the hoses go to head lights and wipers.

rajsid

The point to note is... if/when you sell your car, it will always be priced based on how close it is to stock. Usually, the closer to stock cars gets more money than a highly modified car.

I've never heard of anyone (not even a mod guy) buying a highly modified car at a high price.

1969RAY

Pretty funny there, Schmeg.....