L88 hood scoop and front lip installation help

rzkas

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 15, 2010
Messages
61
Location
washington
hi and how are you? i need help to install a l88 hood scoop to my hood. when i just put the scoop on top the hood it looks like it will not install because is not completely level or flat to the contour/shape/surface of the hood.

here is the hood that i have
http://s1211.photobucket.com/albums/...t=DSC01170.jpg

here is the scoop
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Corvette-L-8...250986&vxp=mtr

my front bumper has a opening in the middle. the lip mount just fine to the sides of the bumper but what do i have to do to mount it or bolt it to make the lip hold be strong on the middle open area.

pls help. picture and description guide will be helpful. thanks

i have a 82 corvette
 
OK, wow, where to start?
Man, you have some work ahead of you. The car is obviously the recipient of a hard front end smack. I suspect that you'll find that one, if not both, front fenders is improperly aligned. By the looks of the repair, I would bet money on it. The hood that's on there is not the factory one, although that shouldn't matter if everything else were aligned correctly. That hood may not be the best starter for an L-88 scoop, but I haven't tried grafting a scoop onto an existing hood.

I suspect the reason the front is saggy is because in the rush to put the car back together, whoever patched it simply omitted the front bumper support/crush bar. If you look underneath the very front of the car there should be big sheetmetal tabs bolted to the front frame horns. Welded to the tabs are the crush bar. It's actually one smaller bar that goes laterally across the car and two angled bars that come together in the center of the front bumper with a big steel plate the front bumper bolts to. A bit more complicated than that but I suspect when you peek under there, you will either see nothing or a mangled mess of steel. Either way, we need to know these things.

Is there any evidence of frame damage? You need to get the car up in the front, either on jackstands or ramps. Take a good, long look underneath for any signs that the frame is either now or has been buckled. If it was buckled, has it been straightened? This needs to be addressed before you start working with the FG or you will just be chasing your tail. As long as the frame is straight, you need to confirm the fenders are aligned correctly. That will entail taking some detailed measurements of various points. But we can address that after we've established the general health of the supporting structure.

This would be one of those times when it would be really handy to snap a couple pics from under the front so we can kind of see what you have to work with. We're hoping for the best but sometimes people count on buyers getting the "fever" to unload something they've done a half ass job fixing. Either way, we'll do what we can to walk you through it.
 
Actually, after looking through your photobucket album a little, I can tell by picture #11 you're missing the crush bar. You'll have to source one or fabricate a simple hanger for the front bumper.

The hood can be raised up on that side fairly easily. It's as simple as cutting some shims to slide in between the hood and hinge (or hinge and hinge mount). That will go a long way to getting the hood reasonably aligned.

I can also see that the "Cease" fire fuel injection is long gone. Depending on where you are, I hope that won't be a problem with licensing. Aside from the body panels, how does it drive?
 
here is how I started my L88 scoop install. Most scoops are universal and not made for a certain car and thats why yours isn't designed to just fit.

Mine was originally a POS hood I bought off ebay and I cut the scoop section out. So it fits my original hood pretty good, If it isn't a long style scoop expect a lot of work to make it work.

82hood2.jpg

82hood4.jpg
 
Actually, after looking through your photobucket album a little, I can tell by picture #11 you're missing the crush bar. You'll have to source one or fabricate a simple hanger for the front bumper.

The hood can be raised up on that side fairly easily. It's as simple as cutting some shims to slide in between the hood and hinge (or hinge and hinge mount). That will go a long way to getting the hood reasonably aligned.

I can also see that the "Cease" fire fuel injection is long gone. Depending on where you are, I hope that won't be a problem with licensing. Aside from the body panels, how does it drive?

it drives great. i don't have to do emission and the car has been through state patrol inspection as it and it passed the inspection.
 
Good news then.
Next thing is to get it up on jackstands or a rack and look for frame damage. Please post pictures. Even if there is some frame damage, it's not the end of the world like it used to be. I had an estimate for a truck of mine to have the frame straightened after a wreck and the estimate was only $600. Obviously, no damage would be better but that's the first step. Can't get anything right with a crooked frame.
 
Actually, after looking through your photobucket album a little, I can tell by picture #11 you're missing the crush bar. You'll have to source one or fabricate a simple hanger for the front bumper.

The hood can be raised up on that side fairly easily. It's as simple as cutting some shims to slide in between the hood and hinge (or hinge and hinge mount). That will go a long way to getting the hood reasonably aligned.

I can also see that the "Cease" fire fuel injection is long gone. Depending on where you are, I hope that won't be a problem with licensing. Aside from the body panels, how does it drive?

yes it has the crush bar/bumper support and it straight
 
Good news then.
Next thing is to get it up on jackstands or a rack and look for frame damage. Please post pictures. Even if there is some frame damage, it's not the end of the world like it used to be. I had an estimate for a truck of mine to have the frame straightened after a wreck and the estimate was only $600. Obviously, no damage would be better but that's the first step. Can't get anything right with a crooked frame.

it was in the shop and the mechanic that worked on it was also a body mech. he replaced my entire braking system including the brake lines. he said the frame is fine.
 
here is how I started my L88 scoop install. Most scoops are universal and not made for a certain car and thats why yours isn't designed to just fit.

Mine was originally a POS hood I bought off ebay and I cut the scoop section out. So it fits my original hood pretty good, If it isn't a long style scoop expect a lot of work to make it work.

82hood2.jpg

82hood4.jpg

so how do you go about reinforcing/supporting the scoop. my scoop is made out of plastic materials and fiberglass. to make firm and hard the after installation you can press down on the scoop and it doesn't sink in or go down
 
here is how I started my L88 scoop install. Most scoops are universal and not made for a certain car and thats why yours isn't designed to just fit.

Mine was originally a POS hood I bought off ebay and I cut the scoop section out. So it fits my original hood pretty good, If it isn't a long style scoop expect a lot of work to make it work.

82hood2.jpg

82hood4.jpg

so how do you go about reinforcing/supporting the scoop. my scoop is made out of plastic materials and fiberglass. to make firm and hard the after installation you can press down on the scoop and it doesn't sink in or go down

I have the rear L88 frame section that supports the back of the hood, I will be grafting that into my original frame. Plus I will be bonding the scoop to the original frame and then glassing and filling. After that build up the inside of the scoop with reinforcement fiberglass to thicken it. Then sand smooth so it looks like the original inside of press molded parts.

After it is all done I will be making a mold of the hood to give to people so they can make a fiberglass skin to put on their original hood frames.

Even with this whole section removed from my original hood it was still stronger then the hood I bought. I have seen after-market L88 hoods and one thing I have always noticed is they buyers always have huge hood to fender gaps.

This is how the gaps should be and I have never seen a after-market hood bolt on and not fit like this without a lot of work. After mine is done it will fit perfectly and be as strong as the original hood was.

strippedvette11.jpg
 
it was in the shop and the mechanic that worked on it was also a body mech. he replaced my entire braking system including the brake lines. he said the frame is fine.

Very glad to hear it. Now just to get a basic idea of the fiberglass alignment, park it on flat ground and get some basic measurements from the ground to the top of the fender arch and then a few measurements to the seam between the bumper and fender. Let's see what you have.
 
Gotta tell ya, I think you have other work to do before I'd start going after the hood. The front surround isn't fitting right, and from what I can see in the pics, I wonder if the header bar isn't loose too. You can do the hood all you want, but until you get the rest of the front clip situated, it won't matter, and the hood's the easy part. Like Clutchdust said, the rebar (the big fiberglass reinforcement piece that the cushion that's supposed to be behind the bumper is missing, you should be able to see it with the grills out of place like they are in pic #11, that big honk'n metal push bar isn't what we're talking about. All these pieces help hold the nose on the car, so I'd look into it. Also, looks like some of the front supports may be either broken or loose, you shouldn't see the corners at the front of the hood so uneven, and are the headlights out of adjustment or is there support issues there to? You can see what's supposed to be behind that front end by going through my thread here, and Jeff has posted so good pics in it too.
 
i replaced the 80lbs impact crap and vacuum tank with some homemade structure.... lighter and stronger than the day my 79 left the factory..... now that said..... yes, there seems to be sumtin wrong with your front surround, nothing seems to fit the way it should..... I'd cut the front surround lose to nsure I can get it the correct position... it is a lot of work but probably the best way to get it " right "
 
This may not be the post you're looking for but believe me, we're really trying to help.
My suggestion would be to unbolt the front bumper cover and post some pictures of what you have there. Might give us a better idea of what's going on under the 'glass. Anything else, and we're pretty much like the "Professor" on Gilligan's Island trying to build a radio out of palm leaves and crab shells. Just wild-ass guessing.
 
This may not be the post you're looking for but believe me, we're really trying to help.
My suggestion would be to unbolt the front bumper cover and post some pictures of what you have there. Might give us a better idea of what's going on under the 'glass. Anything else, and we're pretty much like the "Professor" on Gilligan's Island trying to build a radio out of palm leaves and crab shells. Just wild-ass guessing.

i agree, take some more photos without the bumper.... let's investigate some more but I am convinced there is something fishy about the front end... something isn't right here.....
 
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