I hope someone out here can help me. I bought a 1969 427 corvette about 25 years ago. I still have her. She was a j title which I guess is a 10 owner car so anything is possible . It had a L 88 hood on it which has the cold air box on the underside . Most other L 88 hoods I look at don't have the cold air box on the inside. It does appear to be factory. So am I looking at an original L 88 hood ? The car appears to be a 427/390 but I can't be certain . Thanks Guys ! Let me know what you think. DAVE

 

Reading the Vette Vues fact book the air box was used on the L88 and the
ZL-1

 

Hi DK,
Welcome!
First post!!
The Bizzoco 69 Stingray guide book indicates that the cool air induction hood used on L88 and ZL1 equipped cars had it's own RPO number even though it wasn't shown on the Corvette Order. ZL2
Regards,
Alan

 

Is there any part numbers molded into the hood. Post some pics. I think the after market cold air intakes may be molded different than stock. 25 years ago was only the 1990's, so it could be aftermarket. They do sell the intake seperate

 

Possibly. Post some pics of your hood.

 

I will have to get some pics for you. If I go to a corvette show and look at the hoods on the original cars I don't find the molded box under the hood . I did however find a L 88 hood for sale which was very pricey and it looked just like the one I have. My guess would be that a reproduction L 88 hood would not have the cold airbox.I will look for some numbers when I get a chance. Thanks for the help.

 

the air box is/was available from Ecklers (and probably ACI) as well as the L-88 hood, both were also available "over the counter" from GM

 

I have a 1969 Corvette with an L-88 hood with cold air box and I bought and installed it and it is aftermarket. The hood was purchased in the early 1980's.

 

I have an early hood with the air box but it has the Baldwin motion scoop on top.ive had a couple people look at it and have said it's a genuine GM hood and may be one actually done by motion as it's consistent with some they did.if yours is an actual GM hood it should be easy to tell by looking

 

Most of the aftermarket suppliers of L88 hoods also offer the air box as a separate part. I have the air box for my L88 hood on my '79 which I have never installed.

 

original hoods sold by Motion were of very poor quality

 

And the part that was grafted on certainly fell in that catagory when it was media blasted.unfortunately I had people inspect it and neglected to take pictures.but the way things are going I may need to media blast it and start over.

 

Starting with the op,
The real deal factory l88 hood which btw was available over the gm parts counter had a few features that while not 100% provenance did point to it being gm not aftermarket,
Real gm l88 hoods had in the back of the scoop a tacky little " Z" fiberglass brace i guess the combos of thin fiberglass and high engine compartment heat gm feared the scoop would sag,
The gm l88 is press molded like corvette parts, most aftermarket is hand laid, you can tell looking at the inside, the aftermarket air boxes vary too,
In my case my aftermarket l88 hood because the inside is so smooth and nice had a fellow who flipped camaro and corvette parts just sure it was real gm, but his price dropped 90% and i bought it for 125,00, when i showed him its aftermarket.

It will take more than a gm l88 hood to make your car a long lost factory l88, tall money car, since the hoods sold over the counte, look for solid proof, window stickers, tank stickers, documented owner history, most real l88s saw track time..with correct block stampings, no radio, correct to l88 options are just a few things to look for the fact they can be faked makes proving the car real even harder...

My hood, my air box different than ecklers,




Motion hoods,
As howard pointed out were hit or miss some very ratty resin heavy messes,
My mako front clip a motion part is very heavy, but pretty nice,
Motion farmed out their glass and some you can still buy today,

The famed phase hoods were a 69-72 stock gm bb hood with forward dips filled then tack a 67 bb scoop on that modded too, this was done by many people not just motion, motion just made it famous, if the hood is cut up factory hoods glassed together its likely not a motion part as motion had a hood mold and it was one piece and smooth inside.


I actually wanted a phase hood but found my l88 first....

 

There is a Z bracket that supports the back side of the scoop to the frame.
Only the OEM L88 hoods had that support bracket.

 

Thats not entirely true i have seen hand laid non gm l88 hoods with that Z bracket