Hood Quality
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 943
Likes: 73
Hood Quality
Ecklers has a 77-81 fiberglass hood with 1 1/2" additional clearance. Based on the 80-81 stock design, it's part number is 38095. Do these hoods actually fit? Has anyone bought one that can give some feedback?
Race Director
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 19,294
Likes: 2,754
From: Charlotte NC
Hate to say it...it is a 'hit or miss' issue. All you can hope for is the best. And honestly...ti does not matter who's hood you buy. Due to it being hand-laid...there are variables that can be off a little bit...and knowing that no two Corvettes are the same...it is what it is.
DUB
DUB
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 943
Likes: 73
Hate to say it...it is a 'hit or miss' issue. All you can hope for is the best. And honestly...ti does not matter who's hood you buy. Due to it being hand-laid...there are variables that can be off a little bit...and knowing that no two Corvettes are the same...it is what it is.
DUB
DUB
Race Director
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 19,294
Likes: 2,754
From: Charlotte NC
DUB
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 2,071
Likes: 147
From: S Nevada
I bought an Ecklers hood. It's a BB/LT-1 hood. I would suspect made by the same vendor. Quality was good, but being it was a hand laid hood, the underside was textured. The fit was nearly spot on, a little blending here and there got a very acceptable fit. I did spend a lot of time sanding and filling the underside for a smooth appearance. And it did require a little filler and lots of block sanding to get a straight, glass smooth exterior. All in all I was happy, except they really need to package the thing better for shipping. I sent the first one back as the carrier damaged it. The 2nd one arrived and although the box was crushed, no physical damage occurred. Ecklers did compensate me for the time delay.
Race Director
Joined: Jan 2007
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From: Danville Illinois
2025 Corvette of the Year Finalist - Modified
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2019 C3 of Year Finalist (appearance mods)
I have an Ecklers L88 hood on my 75 and it fit pretty good.
I admit it was 35 years ago but still a good hood. They have probability thinned the material down somewhat in 35 years tho.
Hope this helps.
I admit it was 35 years ago but still a good hood. They have probability thinned the material down somewhat in 35 years tho.
Hope this helps.
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 943
Likes: 73
I bought an Ecklers hood. It's a BB/LT-1 hood. I would suspect made by the same vendor. Quality was good, but being it was a hand laid hood, the underside was textured. The fit was nearly spot on, a little blending here and there got a very acceptable fit. I did spend a lot of time sanding and filling the underside for a smooth appearance. And it did require a little filler and lots of block sanding to get a straight, glass smooth exterior. All in all I was happy, except they really need to package the thing better for shipping. I sent the first one back as the carrier damaged it. The 2nd one arrived and although the box was crushed, no physical damage occurred. Ecklers did compensate me for the time delay.
Melting Slicks
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 2,431
Likes: 52
From: Florida
An entire front end
Fiberglass front bumper cover
Fiberglass rear bumper cover
High rise hood
The quality and fit has always been good. How well the hood fits your car will depend on the position your fenders are bonded to your fender wells. You may have to do body work/fitting to match the arch. There are also rubber bumpers used in the drip rail to affect the "arch". You may have to shim under the hinges to raise/lower the front. Be careful when reaching the latching stage because if you get the hood stuck on the latch pins because of a bad alignment, it may be quite difficult to get it to release so leave the latches off until that stage and then take your time aligning the latches. If they do get stuck, try sliding the hood port and starboard to get it to unlatch.
Jim
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Safety Car
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From: anchorage ak
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 943
Likes: 73
I think I need to either put a different intake manifold on or buy this hood real soon. The offset, dropped (Allstar) air cleaner just sits way to low on the carb. It sits so low that I had to take the air baffle off the top of the Q-Jet just to get the air cleaner top on.
