How To: Install and adjust a CF Hood
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How To: Install and adjust a CF Hood
Alignment is a critical step in the installation of a carbon fiber hood. Here are some tips.
For problems with getting the hood to latch:
You have a slight amount of adjustable play available to you with loosening, adjusting, and then retightening the portion of your hood latch that is mounted to the frame/arm in front of the radiator. Make sure that the hood is not hitting the bumpers by the shocks also.
If the latch does not line up, you can adjust the brackets that hold the hood in any direction. If you notice there are little lines there to use as guides.
What may also help is to use washers and make the latch on the hood lower.
DO NOT drop the CF hood to get it to latch (like we do with the OEM aluminum hood) !! You *don't* want to do that. You want to *set* the CF hood gently into the latching mechanism. Then press firmly with your hand...central to the mount-point of the latch/hook until it clicks into a latched position.
For side to side alignment problems:
One might POSSIBLY loosen, adjust, and re-tighten the two strap hinges where they mount to the car. If there isn't enough "play", one might possibly drill out the holes/slots larger where the bolts pass through the lower strap hinge to mount it to the car, thereby allowing more "play" to work with than originally intended by design. Of course, once the fitment seems right, then tightening down would take care of the play. If you *do* drill out the holes in the strap hinges...probably not a bad idea to apply some primer/paint where you drilled.
General Discussion:
It takes patience and time to adjust the hood properly. Even if you bought an OEM hood you would need to adjust it somewhat. Here is the key that most people don't do. There are a total of 4 bolts on each of the brackets that connects the hood to the car. Two attach the hood to the bracket, the other two attach the bracket to the car. Everyone only adjusts the 2 bolts that attach the bracket to the hood. Reason being one of the two bolts on the other end is hard to reach. You need to make the effort to take off the plastic piece on the windshield to get to that bolt so that you can move the bracket left-right and/or up down. This will help you in getting the extra little space you need for a proper fit.
Some other tips:
There are 4 black rubber stoppers. Guess what folks those are adjustable as well. You can turn those to make one side higher/lower.
Now about the latch, the latch can be adjusted with the bolts that it is attached with. You can get a lot of play out of those bolts. Sometimes the latch does not hit the opening correctly. As you close the hood push the latch inward toward the windshield. This will prevent it from hitting the metal bracket and not the opening.
You can move the hinges around at the point where they bolt to the car. However the rear most bolt on these cannot be reached without removing the rubber covers AND the hard plastic cowling over the wiper motors. There is a little "lip" on the hard plastic bit that makes it almost impossible to get to (or at least I found it to be).
My tip is this: If you're going to be switching hoods every once in a while and want easier access to that rear bolt, pull out your trusty Dremel and grind a little "notch" into that plastic lip so that you can fit a 10mm socket into it with the hood closed. This lip is covered by the rubber "boots" on either side so the notch won't be apparent and you won't have to take off the plastic piece (and wiper arms) each time you adjust the hood
What about the size of the holes for the windshield washer jets ?:
Q: The holes that fit the washers are a little too small, should I cut the hood a little? or cut the plastic underneath the washers? A: take a dremel to it and cut slowly until it fits.
For problems with getting the hood to latch:
You have a slight amount of adjustable play available to you with loosening, adjusting, and then retightening the portion of your hood latch that is mounted to the frame/arm in front of the radiator. Make sure that the hood is not hitting the bumpers by the shocks also.
If the latch does not line up, you can adjust the brackets that hold the hood in any direction. If you notice there are little lines there to use as guides.
What may also help is to use washers and make the latch on the hood lower.
DO NOT drop the CF hood to get it to latch (like we do with the OEM aluminum hood) !! You *don't* want to do that. You want to *set* the CF hood gently into the latching mechanism. Then press firmly with your hand...central to the mount-point of the latch/hook until it clicks into a latched position.
For side to side alignment problems:
One might POSSIBLY loosen, adjust, and re-tighten the two strap hinges where they mount to the car. If there isn't enough "play", one might possibly drill out the holes/slots larger where the bolts pass through the lower strap hinge to mount it to the car, thereby allowing more "play" to work with than originally intended by design. Of course, once the fitment seems right, then tightening down would take care of the play. If you *do* drill out the holes in the strap hinges...probably not a bad idea to apply some primer/paint where you drilled.
General Discussion:
It takes patience and time to adjust the hood properly. Even if you bought an OEM hood you would need to adjust it somewhat. Here is the key that most people don't do. There are a total of 4 bolts on each of the brackets that connects the hood to the car. Two attach the hood to the bracket, the other two attach the bracket to the car. Everyone only adjusts the 2 bolts that attach the bracket to the hood. Reason being one of the two bolts on the other end is hard to reach. You need to make the effort to take off the plastic piece on the windshield to get to that bolt so that you can move the bracket left-right and/or up down. This will help you in getting the extra little space you need for a proper fit.
Some other tips:
There are 4 black rubber stoppers. Guess what folks those are adjustable as well. You can turn those to make one side higher/lower.
Now about the latch, the latch can be adjusted with the bolts that it is attached with. You can get a lot of play out of those bolts. Sometimes the latch does not hit the opening correctly. As you close the hood push the latch inward toward the windshield. This will prevent it from hitting the metal bracket and not the opening.
You can move the hinges around at the point where they bolt to the car. However the rear most bolt on these cannot be reached without removing the rubber covers AND the hard plastic cowling over the wiper motors. There is a little "lip" on the hard plastic bit that makes it almost impossible to get to (or at least I found it to be).
My tip is this: If you're going to be switching hoods every once in a while and want easier access to that rear bolt, pull out your trusty Dremel and grind a little "notch" into that plastic lip so that you can fit a 10mm socket into it with the hood closed. This lip is covered by the rubber "boots" on either side so the notch won't be apparent and you won't have to take off the plastic piece (and wiper arms) each time you adjust the hood
What about the size of the holes for the windshield washer jets ?:
Q: The holes that fit the washers are a little too small, should I cut the hood a little? or cut the plastic underneath the washers? A: take a dremel to it and cut slowly until it fits.
. Now I just need to order my CF hood and I will DEFINANTLY be using this 
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Joined: Mar 2006
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From: Gainesville, FL
Originally Posted by Jakup,Jun 13 2006, 12:52 AM
When you said not to drop the CF hood, but to set it down the press it to latch it, was this just for the adjusting phase, or for everytime you close the hood?
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