Hoodrat

2 years ago.

2 years ago.

Once upon a time, I bought Sharka this rare Garage Vary type II hood. That was actually two years ago at the time of this posting. April of 2013. The hood has just been sitting in my shed, waiting until I had funds to paint the whole car.

It sat. It was sad. The hood wondered if it would ever be used.

Then I had a spare half hour and decided I wanted to play with my toys.

Hoodless

Hoodless.

Sparco hood pin kit

Sparco hood pin kit

Geoff had a similar hood on Scrat. Actually, I think it was the same hood. The EXACT same hood. Same chicken wire, same rusty hood pins.

Exact same rusty hood pins.

Old and rusty vs new hotness.

Old and rusty vs new hotness.

Installed

Installed.

When Scrat got painted, Geoff had the hood pins refreshed and passed along the info that Sparco hood pins were an exact match. I bought said Sparco hood pins. They sat in a box for 2 years.

That’s just shameful. But not quite as shameful as a hood like this sitting against a wall for 2 years.

As promised, the pins were exactly the right part. It took me a while to get the original rusty ones off. The hardware had rusted together. Once they finally gave way, a pile of JDM dirt poured free from under each.

Hood pin spot.

Hood pin spot.

The pin fits perfectly.

The pin fits perfectly.

This is something I didn’t expect – the Sparco hood pins are an exact fit for the OEM hood bump rubber locations. An EXACT fit. And this is indeed the spot where the hood’s original owner tapped in. All I had to do was remove the bump rubber and get the pin height correct.

In place.

In place.

Closed for the first time.

Closed for the first time.

It actually took me about an hour to get the hood closed. Massaging the pins into the exact right height and location was not easy. And then I had to take out the FM intake isolator box and trim it slightly to let it fit. And then I had to trim the right side hood pin because the rad overflow bottle was in the way.

And then and then, (wash, rinse, repeat)…

On it went for an hour. Finally, the hood closed and was pinned shut.

Sweet. But not quite right...

Sweet. But not quite right…

Before I even started work, I decided I wanted to drive around like this for a month or two. I fully intend to paint the hood. I am not a fan of a white hood. But… I wanted to enjoy my toys. It was time to finally use this old beauty.

But… I can do better, right? At least a little bit better?

I grabbed some scrap vinyl off the shelf that was close to Montego Blue and cut out some stripes. A few hours later…

Attitude.

Attitude.

Again, let me emphasis that this is not the way I want to take Sharka. It looks ridiculous.

But.

AWESOME ridiculous!!! I love it. Such attitude. That hood NEEDED to be installed and used for a bit. It begged for it.

Sharka: Boy Racer

Sharka: Boy Racer

What do you think?

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  • Nick says:

    And once upon a time you said Sharka was done. Hahaha

  • Stoly says:

    So. Much. Awesome.

  • Brad says:

    Cars like this are never done Adam. Makes me fear for my Supra, as I’m genuinely running out of things to modify that wouldn’t genuinely be change simply for the sake of change.

    I’ll probably move onto the Miata instead, so long as I have a daily driver in one of the other cars. Hood looks good man!

  • Zip says:

    Wow. Just. Wow.

  • Mark says:

    Great hood. Could i ask where you bought that from? Did you experience a significant drop in water/intake temps?

    • revlimiter says:

      I got it from a dude named Sean who posts as “JDMPalace” on many of the Miata forums. He’s great.

      And no… not much of a temp drop. The rear of the hood is a cowl induction design. I need to block it up to make the hood extract with more efficiency.

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