Your thoughts on the W30-style hood for '81-'88 Cutlass's...

[G_Body_Enthusiast]

i like it BUT i think its too big. if it was smaller IE; more subtle looking i'd like it more.

i think its beats a cowl induction hod simply because i've seen those on everything including vehicles that probably have no business having one. i like different and this is different IMO. like when someone uses an engine that isnt a chevy. cowl induction hoods are great and all but very common and sometimes too common.

i wish companies would try to offer more than just a cowl induction hood for buick olds pontiac cars. some do but most dont.

 

[86Cutlass383SR]

I had always wanted that hood. I thought it looked sharp and I still do. But, with that said, someone once mentioned that the front angle of the scoop inlets don't match the angle of the hood line. They do match the angle of the 68 - 72 hoods but the g-body hoods have a differant angle. They just took the early scoops and mated them to our hoods and the angles just don't look right mixed together.

I thought about just buying the scoops and having someone rework the angle so it matched the g-body angled hoodline. Since that is beyond the scope of my skills or time, it'd probably never happen. Even if it did, then I'd still have 'glass scoops molded to a steel hood. Not that a street-weight glass hood would be much lighter (it might be, I dunno) I'd rather have an all glass or all steel hood.

Now if per chance some manufacturer should read this, I think it be nice to either have a proper glass W30 hood with the correvct angles or steel scoops we could weld to out hoods.

I also like the hold-downs on the original hoods. Would be nice to incorporate that into the glass hood.

Now, with all that, I'll probably stick with the stock hood.

 

[Blake442]

I really like them.

I wish they didn't call it the W-30 hood, when the hood it's modeled after was actually option W-25, and is not a W-30 only piece.

I was planning on buying one of those for my 442 before I got on the aluminum hood band wagon.

I had also planned on incorporating the '70-'72 twisting hood locks into it as well like Doug mentioned.

I built my engine compartment around the fact that the center of the "W-30" hood is still stock height in the center. Worked out fine for me once I decided to go with the lighter aluminum factory piece.

I've also heard that they take a lot of work to get them straight and fitting nicely.

 

[waggin]

For me (personal preference), the lines of the 81-88 stock hood are hard to beat. I've yet to see anything that improves on the clean stock lines and a lot that detracts from the clean stock lines. The only reason I'd do anything else is if I needed clearance underneath.

 

[79_koda_cutlass]

wou this hood fit on a 79 cutlass supreme?

 

[darthvaderolds]

I hated the W25 hood on my FE3-X , but let them do it cause Bill said it would look great. I later went with the Cowl scoop much better and cleaner look.

 

[darthvaderolds]

Re:

Yes, but it is a replica and not the original. Here is the original:

The original is an 85, the car you pictured is an 86 (grilles). The original has a header panel that has more in common with the 87-88 one than the 81-86. Note the OLDSMOBILE script on the top and the side marker turn signals that wrap around the headlight. Nothing against the guy who built that replica, it is very close to the original and nicely done, but my point was about the original's hood.

When you have facts and know what you are talking about then talk. My car with the 86 grills is an 85 . The grills were on the car in march of 85 when i had the car done , just as on the original sports a advance preview of the euro nose. The W25 was also what was put on the car, that was there original plan but GM Engineering wanted the cowl scoop. I let them do the W25 hood but never was really crazy about it felt it took away from the great G Body lines and later installed the correct cowl scoop.
I also have the original one piece fron t header that FE3X Clone has done really a great job in inproving . The original header was strickly looks didn't work well and limited airflow tremendously ok for a show car but not a driver, thats why they di just the lower part of the airdam on my FE3-X
here is the original airdam that I have stored away

along with the 2 complete FE3-X ground effects kits

g body cowl scoop on the car is kick *ss any ONLY one ever designed for the G BODY

Here is the car as I first got it in 1985 with Oldsmobile FE3-X designer and Aerotech designer Bill Porterfield

Car looks ok , but again I think it takes away from the lines of the car, it was a fuctional W25 hood but I still had problems with this one off proto type hood

as you can see the car looks amazing with the cowl hood and it just goes better with the over all design of the FE3X

 

[cdg1984]

I know this is old, but since you brought it back ill just throw my 2 cents in....personally i like the w30 hood. Ive been thinkin when i paint i might get one and paint the stripes black with the rest of the car a really dark candy red. But thats WAY down the line. The hood you got now looks good too, i just prefer the w30.

 

[FE3X CLONE]

Hey Angelo, I still have your original W-25 hood and have to say that you can tell this was an original GM design compared to the aftermarket W-25 hoods.
I still want to use it on my '87 but the issue I'm having is air cleaner clearance. What are your thoughts on modifying this hood? On one hand I hate to do it because of it's history, but on the other hand I think it would look really good.

My thought's were to do something similar to what the A-body guys do and raise the center above the air cleaner for more clearance. I was also considering fixing the front hoodscoop angles to match the car as well as enlarging the openings (making them taller.

Thoughts?

 

[DrRansom442]

I'll +1 the "W30" hood, but only if they are fully functional. If I could find one for the right price, it would go on with my euro clip.