Hints for fitting & adjusting Keystone hood

[OC Cruzer]

I recently installed a ram-air hood and for me it was not just a matter of taking off the stock hood and bolting on the Keystone hood.
When I put the new hood on, it really left alot to be desired as far as the fit goes.
Anyway, I was finally able to get the second one to fit close to perfect and thought I'd share some of the things I ran into for anyone that may have one that doesn't fit quite right.
Alot of you probably have figured most of this stuff out.

First, Keystone had to send me 2 hoods.
The first one they sent could never have been made to fit. You'd almost have to re-engineer the car to make it work.
I called Keystone, explained what problems I was having and they were GREAT.
Really FIRST CLASS customer service.
Basically, they were willing to do whatever it took to make me happy.
They shipped me a new hood, let me keep the first hood for a couple weeks till I had a chance to change them out, then they sent a truck to pick up the first hood. Alot of back and forth shipping at no xtra charge.
The 2 things they were concerned about on the first hood, is that it hadn't been painted and that I had done everything I could to make it fit.

When fitting the second hood, I found that if you can't get a good fit with just the hinge to hood bolts, if you center the bolts in the hinge holes and tighten them up, then remove the wiper cowling and with the hood closed, reach in and loosen the hinge to fender bolts.
There is alot of adjustment available there .
Move the HOOD around till it's right, or as right as you can get it, then tighten those bolts up and fine tune the fit with the hinge to hood bolts.

The hinge to hood bolts will let you adjust the hood side to side and front to back.
The hinge to fender bolts will let you adjust it front to back and up and down.

I found that it was hard to get the hood to go down far enough at the back, no matter how much I adjusted. What I found was, the inside of the hood, on both sides, was hitting the front corners of the plastic wiper cowling when it was closed.
I filed those two spots until the hood no longer hit them and the hood sits the way it should now.

If you take the rubber caps off of the two rear posts that the hood rests on you can screw them up and down.

Also, it's ALOT easier to adjust the fit if you don't install the front latch piece on the hood until you get it the way you want.
When you are finished, and install the latch piece on the hood, you may have to adjust the part of the latch that's mounted to the front of the car.
With the hood closed and latched, push down on the front of the hood and if it moves, the hood is not resting on the front bumpers and you need to move the latch part attached to the car down some.

Alot of times, if you install a steel hood and get it almost right, you can kinda cheat alittle and bend the hood some to get it the way you want it.
There is NO way to do that with a fiberglass hood. It don't bend, at all.

Hope this helps someone because fitting the hood can really be time consuming, but well worth the time and effort.

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[golddream]

Originally Posted by OC Cruzer

I recently installed a ram-air hood and for me it was not just a matter of taking off the stock hood and bolting on the Keystone hood.
When I put the new hood on, it really left alot to be desired as far as the fit goes.
Anyway, I was finally able to get the second one to fit close to perfect and thought I'd share some of the things I ran into for anyone that may have one that doesn't fit quite right.
Alot of you probably have figured most of this stuff out.

First, Keystone had to send me 2 hoods.
The first one they sent could never have been made to fit. You'd almost have to re-engineer the car to make it work.
I called Keystone, explained what problems I was having and they were GREAT.
Really FIRST CLASS customer service.
Basically, they were willing to do whatever it took to make me happy.
They shipped me a new hood, let me keep the first hood for a couple weeks till I had a chance to change them out, then they sent a truck to pick up the first hood. Alot of back and forth shipping at no xtra charge.
The 2 things they were concerned about on the first hood, is that it hadn't been painted and that I had done everything I could to make it fit.

When fitting the second hood, I found that if you can't get a good fit with just the hinge to hood bolts, if you center the bolts in the hinge holes and tighten them up, then remove the wiper cowling and with the hood closed, reach in and loosen the hinge to fender bolts.
There is alot of adjustment available there .
Move the HOOD around till it's right, or as right as you can get it, then tighten those bolts up and fine tune the fit with the hinge to hood bolts.

The hinge to hood bolts will let you adjust the hood side to side and front to back.
The hinge to fender bolts will let you adjust it front to back and up and down.

I found that it was hard to get the hood to go down far enough at the back, no matter how much I adjusted. What I found was, the inside of the hood, on both sides, was hitting the front corners of the plastic wiper cowling when it was closed.
I filed those two spots until the hood no longer hit them and the hood sits the way it should now.

If you take the rubber caps off of the two rear posts that the hood rests on you can screw them up and down.

Also, it's ALOT easier to adjust the fit if you don't install the front latch piece on the hood until you get it the way you want.
When you are finished, and install the latch piece on the hood, you may have to adjust the part of the latch that's mounted to the front of the car.
With the hood closed and latched, push down on the front of the hood and if it moves, the hood is not resting on the front bumpers and you need to move the latch part attached to the car down some.

Alot of times, if you install a steel hood and get it almost right, you can kinda cheat alittle and bend the hood some to get it the way you want it.
There is NO way to do that with a fiberglass hood. It don't bend, at all.

Hope this helps someone because fitting the hood can really be time consuming, but well worth the time and effort.

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HI THERE

who did you buy it from & do you have a number to call them.
whar did it cost

thanks

[OC Cruzer]

Hey golddream,
I purchased the hood from Revel Enterprises. They are a sponsor (guess that's the right word) of PTE and their link is at the top of the page.

If I need anything for the PT, from now on, I'll check their site first.
Barry and Tammy are nice people and are great to work with.

When I had problems with the first hood, they were there to help.
It really wasn't a big deal to me, that I had a problem with the first hood. Sh!t happens.
What was important, was how my problem was going to be delt with.

With that issue, Keystone AND Revel did good, so it just stayed a minor inconvenience that sometimes just happens.

I believe I paid $529.00 (+ $120.00 shipping to my home ) for the hood.

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[wrea3_98]

I have never seen a Keystone hood that fits exactly like the factory hood. The fiberglass on the new keystone hoods flexes a bit and needs a bit of tweaking. Usually on the corners above the hinges is where to have to make the adjustments. The lines arent always exact but I have had ZERO customers complain about it. Our body guy is great and makes all of them look factory. The finishing is the hardest part as they always have small pinholes in the gelcoat that need filled. We sell them all the time with no difficulty. Good Luck! Race and Street. PS... I also have bought PTeazer hoods for PT's and Suncoast Creations and for lots of different cars and have the same issues with them.

[Dreamin2]

Got mine frome Race and street when they had them on sell last month.(dual) Had to adjust rubber boots at the front but went pretty good I thought.

[OC Cruzer]

[quote=wrea3_98]

I have never seen a Keystone hood that fits exactly like the factory hood.

The lines arent always exact but I have had ZERO customers complain about it. Our body guy is great and makes all of them look factory.

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Your body guy would never have made my first hood look factory.

The style lines were fine, but unless you were willing to add fiberglass to the rear hood corner where it met the door edge, or do nothing and settle for a 1/2" gap in the area where the hood met the door at the top, then the hood was defective.

I know SOME aftermarket fiberglass hoods need 3+ hours of work to get them right before you paint them.
The Keystone hoods are better quality then that.
I called tech. service at Keystone, told them what the problem was, what I had done to try to correct it and *THEY* decided the solution was to replace the hood.
The second hood is fine, no issues except taking the time to make ALL the available adjustments to get it to fit.

I don't care how good ANY product is, there will be times when ANYTHING will slip past quality control and is just BAD.
Maybe it's only 1 in 100, but that 1 goes somewhere.

That was the case with the first hood.
IT, was the 1 in 100.

In hindsite, if I had it to do all over again, I would without question still get the Keystone hood

The reason I posted was,
1 = let people know, who may not know, that there is ALOT of adjustment options possible to get the hood to fit. Especially where the hinges bolt to the body.
IF---there is a wide gap between the fender and hood, it can easily be fixed with some adjusting.

2 = When I buy ANYTHING from a company or a manufacturer and have a problem with the product, I expect to be taken care of and the problem resolved to our mutual satisfaction.

If I get a run around, or after going thru the chain of command, can't get my problem resolved, then I will be all over the forums giving potential buyers a heads up.
There is no excuse for bad customer service,----- NEVER,--- EVER !!!

By the same token, if I have a problem with a product, go thru the chain of command and my issue is quickly and fairly resolved, I'll be all over the forums posting that also.
That is exactly the service I got from Revel and Keystone.
Both Revel and Keystone made every possible effort to deal with my particular issue and in return, ended up having one more, of many, satisfied customers, that would recommend them.

I've also purchased from Race & Street, They are great to deal with and their customer service is also exceptional.

Too bad there isn't a list on the forums of "good guys" and "bad guys" so the good guys, who care about their customers get more business and then, well----- the other guys will not get the business that should have gone to the companies that do a good job.

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