bpmurr

My RKSport Cali Dream hood is starting to crack on each side of the drivers side vent. Has anyone else had problems with their hood? Mine shakes pretty bad when going over 85. I have a feeling all that bumping around might be causing it.

I have the Ford Racing hood pins but never put them in. Now I'm not sure if I should bother if I need to get a new hood. I'm interested to see what you all think.

paradigm1220

That sucks bad, cause that's a really nice looking hood! If you keep it for much longer, I would put the hood ties on cause I would hate for part of it to break off while you're driving. I'm no expert, but as far as safety, I would put the ties on. What material is the hood?

Thunder Road

I wouldnt put a fiberglass hood on without pins. Also do you by chance have hood struts? A no no with a glass hood.

bpmurr

I do have struts, why is that a bad thing?

Thunder Road

Basically the struts put pressure against the hood and can cause problems. Heres a thread you might want to check out.
http://forums.bradbarnett.net/showth...ss+hood+struts

Bottom line all glass hoods arent equal. The best ones have steel reinforcement plates for strength. A lot of them dont, and it seems the Cali Dreamin is one of many that are lacking in this respect.

bpmurr

I sent the two pics below to RKSport and they got right back to me. They are going to look into the issue for me. I'm very impressed so far with how responsive they are.

rony1976

RKs customer service is impressive, and you should've put hood pins if you are going to driving fast. I drove it around for a day without them, and I was scared the hood was going to fly open. With the pins, I've driven 120+ and I don't see the thing move AT ALL!

bpmurr

They told me they went 90MPH in their test car without any issues. In fact they said their hood shook less then the stock hood.

Dougxox

IMO, where the crack is, is not caused by hood struts. I would think the cracks from the struts would be back by the struts not the front air intake.
Add the hood pins when you get the problem resolved.

rony1976

Well, I tried adjusting the stops, the latch, my mom ... and nothing worked! Put the pins, and it doesn't shake. Problem solved.

I also never had any issues at 130+ with the stock hood either...

One more thing I'd like to warn you about: the Ford Hood Pin Kit, the metal stud that's supposed to bolt onto the frame/body, it's not long enough to reach other. I guess I could start another thread to ask which one should I use, 'cause trying to make the Ford one work for me was a pain in the royal you know what

Boltzman

When I finally get my hood, I'm gonna hold out for the KR style pins.

rony1976

That style pin is already available for sale. Also, what's the word on Shelby about releasing that hood? I didn't think it was going to be within reach... $1,800 or something like that!?!?!?

bpmurr

That's my exact line of thinking. RKSport at first didn't want to honor the warranty and blamed it on the installation and hood struts. Problem is the hood is lines up fine, and the crack is not near the place you would expect. Either near the front of the hood where I close it or back by the struts.

Right now RKSport is evaluating my high res pictures I sent last night. Hopefully they will stand behind their product. My body shop looked at the hood and said it was really thin in those areas and air pressure probably cracked it. Regardless even if I got a new hood from RKSport it isn't going to be cheap to have the rough taken out of it and painted. This a great opertunity to show the Mustang community how well they stand behind their product. I hope they don't blow it.

05mustangman

well ive got this same hood with the frpp hood pins on. no probs at all. i also have the hodd struts. not one problem with them.

Boltzman

They are from1968 no?/I have not seen brand new modern ones.

bpmurr

Still waiting on the GM and production manager to take a look at my hood pics. They were in the middle of moving some equipment at the factory today. Hopefully I'll get a positive resolution.

backafter20

My CD hood shook like a leaf, even at slower speeds. I followed the instructions here: http://forums.bradbarnett.net/showth...ins+california
and had no problems. Unfortunately, the pics that were associated with that thread are no longer there, but there are good verbal instructions in post #31. Your cracks are probably stress related from not having the pins. I would think that RKSport should come right out and say that pins are required. If they don't, then they should make good on problems associated with not having them. They do say not to use struts, though.

SC67Stang

Yep, those are my install instructions!
Had my hood for over 2 years now and no cracks.
Only drove the car twice without the hood pins and knew right away they were needed if you were going to go over 70 MPH.
I can send anyone pics if they need them for the install, just let me know.
Hope RKSport makes it right for you!

bpmurr

They had nothing on there site prior to me presenting this issue to them about not using struts. I agree that they should require the use of hood pins to stop from stress cracks like mine. However, they claim they can hit 90MPH in the white Stang they show with no shaking. Hopefully, they will stand behind their product and look at this issue as a why to make the hood better moving forward.

bpmurr

Here are some better shots of one side of the crack.





I really just don't see how it's hood struts because of the location. Keep in mind it's doing the same thing on the other side of this vent. Just not as big yet.