CK5
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Best replacement hood?
- Thread starter Snakerake
- Start date
Others will chime in but I'm going to say Auto Metel Direct will probably be best quality, other than good used.
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www.autometaldirect.com
Auto Metal Direct
Classic muscle car and truck restoration parts and accessories
www.autometaldirect.com
I got mine from a company called "goodmark" https://www.goodmarkindustries.com/c-1866-hoods.aspx
Excellent quality,fit perfect.
Excellent quality,fit perfect.
Lets us know how the sheet metal thickness compares to oem. I spent years in the junk yard and only found once a rust free non dented hood... which happens to be the same color as my k5 hood. A great find. Many hoods I find in the junk yard have bent hood issues.
Auto Metal Direct premium line (I vouch for the premium door thickness, but not the hood) gets my vote OOOORRRRR you buy the one off my '88. I'm doing a front clip swap. I live in West TN, I see you're in AL.
May I chime. in with a question? Does Auto Metal Direct also do doors (78 K5)? Is it OEM gauge and quality?
I have no first hand knowledge about AMD doors. I have heard that AMD has the best doors.
I have a set of NOS GM doors and they fit the 78 k5 well.
I know that NOS GM rockers are thicker then aftermarket. This I have measured myself.
Haven't fitted the doors yet. If I can ever get all the floor work done my body man said he would come and help me fit them before I bring it to the shop. I can attest to the thickness though, they are OE. At one point I had two pairs of doors. When I would move them around in the shop you could tell the weight difference as soon as you picked them up.
As for rockers, I've been relatively pleased with the thickness of the one I got from Holley. Installed one last week. Very close to oe thickness.
As for rockers, I've been relatively pleased with the thickness of the one I got from Holley. Installed one last week. Very close to oe thickness.
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I got the hood from AMD. It’s very nice and feels solid. I can’t tell exactly how thick the steel is but it’s sturdy.
They double boxed it so it got delivered without any damage.
It’ll be a few weeks before I can test fit it though. I pulled off my fenders and doors to fix some dents and get them in primer.
They double boxed it so it got delivered without any damage.
It’ll be a few weeks before I can test fit it though. I pulled off my fenders and doors to fix some dents and get them in primer.
Please keep us updated on the fit. Did you get the 73-78 hood with out the lip, 78-81 hood with the lip or 82+ hood? Your original photo looks like a 73-78 hood.
Keep us in the loop. I truly believe you'll have good luck, but I'd like to hear your honest opinion once it's fitted. I ended up talking on the phone with a sales representative from AMD for about 10 minutes the other day about mine and his Blazer while getting some order info ready for parts. They are very vested in their square body parts that they design and he told me some of the panels he actually used on his '82. It was nice to know that they actually are car/truck people. You don't get that feel when you call LMC.
79-80 is the year break for the "lip" or embossment on the front of the 73-80 style front ends. Each year actually has a different hood but they're all super minor differences underneath but as far as what you can see on the exterior and the two breaks are 73 to 78 and 79 to 80
what were the underneath differences?
I looked back and found some of the pictures a guy sent me that knows the differences real well. Without getting too deep into it it's basically the structural part underneath. There are different creases and different structural designs. If I looked under 10 hoods that were original I might could guess one year style correctly. The 73 to 74 is kind of distinct but after that they all do kind of look the same but they do have differences. Most of it is for safety purposes. Don't want to get your head lopped off in a front end collision.
73-80 style hoods have the tendency for bent hood. before i knew better I bent the hood on my 78
