Second-Gen Camaro Cowl Hood - Comin' Up in Da Hood

Goodmark's Second-Gen Steel 2-inch Cowl Hood

By Grant Peterson

Photography by Grant Peterson

You gotta have enough room, right? On an airplane, at the movies, it's hard to be comfortable without space to move around. A Camaro isn't the biggest or the smallest car out there, but its fire-breathing V-8 also needs some well-deserved space. There's no better way to get this than how Chevrolet intended it-a cowl-induction hood. This ain't no fiberglass job that's gonna fold up like a taco when you try and close it, and it's not one of those absurdly tall hoods that a family of moose can sleep under; save those for the big boys at the track. Goodmark Industries makes this steel 2-incher just like they should, and it fits, too!

This isn't rocket science, but it's easier with some help, or your neighbor might find you in a compromised situation. This would be an easier item to add at the start of a project since it'll obviously need to be painted to match your car, but if your car is already in dressed in the shiny stuff, you're probably well acquainted with your painter.

Of course, Goodmark has just about anything your Camaro might need as far as tin goes, so check 'em out!

Flavio unpacks the beautiful... read full caption Flavio unpacks the beautiful work of steel from Goodmark Industries. All the lines are nice and crisp.	Look at that bottom! All of... read full caption Look at that bottom! All of the underside looks factory and has the recess for the air cleaner; it has all the right stuff where you need it.	Check out what you're dealing... read full caption Check out what you're dealing with before tearing everything apart. Check the gaps all around the old hood to see if there is anything screwy that needs to be addressed before the Goodmark hood goes on.
Get a buddy and start to unbolt... read full caption Get a buddy and start to unbolt the old hood. Depending on the state of your car, a little penetrating oil might help out on rusty hardware.	And we have liftoff! Clear... read full caption And we have liftoff! Clear a place to set the hood before hand and make sure your careful with its corners, you can always sell a clean hood to offset the cost of the Goodmark piece or you might want to save it for a rainy day.	You can take this opportunity... read full caption You can take this opportunity with the hood off to get to anything that might be tough to reach later or to paint the hood hinges, etc.
With the hoods together like... read full caption With the hoods together like this, it was easy to swap all the parts like the latch to the Goodmark hood.	Until Flavio gets the Camaro... read full caption Until Flavio gets the Camaro painted he's gonna use the stock front and back weather striping since it came off with out falling apart. A tool like this will help get the clips to pull out of their holes. This piece lies along the cowl of the car at the back of the hood.	Same goes for the piece at... read full caption Same goes for the piece at the front that lies along the radiator core support. Some thinner was used to clean it up before snapping into the Goodmark hood that already has all the right holes for this.
With the new cowl hood, on... read full caption With the new cowl hood, on don't tighten the four bolts that hold it to the hinges all the way yet. If you just barely snug them down so that the hood can be shifted for adjustment when it's closed it'll make things easier. Take some time adjusting things-it'll make a big difference in the end!	Flavio gets behind the wheel... read full caption Flavio gets behind the wheel to check out the new scenery. Notice the even gap between the hood and the fender. There can be spots both on the hood and the fenders or area above the grille that might need some fine-tuning in the body shop before paint, but overall, everything fit well.	With the added room and airflow... read full caption With the added room and airflow into the motor things can start to get serious now! Whether you've got a small-block, Rat motor, or beyond, a hood from Goodmark would be a great idea.