Are there any differences in the hoods?

I am going to have to replace the hood on my '82 due to rot on the frame by the latch and I keep looking at the 87 - 96 wide cowl hood but not sure if it will properly fit the older body lines/grill.

 

Big difference in the front of the hoods. 87 to 91 cowl will work on the 86 and earlier truck and this is somewhat popular to do due to the smaller holes which let in less debris than the 80 to 86 cowl, but the 92 and up have a lower profile than 91 and earlier. They will only work with the 92 and up hood and fenders. In your case, you will need to stay with the 82 to 86 hood. 80/81 hood will fit, but it also has the big FORD letters along the front edge, which are not present in the 82 to 86 hood.

 

If you are carzy like someone I know
If your hood skin it good and just the frame is bad, besides the latch area check by the hinge areas as mine had rot there.
Anyway if the skin is good and if the frames are the same between the years (you would need to check this to make sure as I dont know if they are the same?) but the outsides different you could swap in the later frame into your skin.

I know of a 70 AMC Javelin hood that was "skinned" to treat rust between skin & frame and put back together.
Bad frame

Good parts

I also know of a 81 F100 hood that was "skinned" to fix a dent, hammer & dolly, and put back together.
Just be careful when pulling the skin & frame apart as the factory glues the 2 together with dabs of glue to keep them from vibrating and making noise.
If you pry them apart you can dent the skin and end up with more work needed on the hood skin.
Dave ----

 

Thats what I was wondering. I dont like the narrow cowl that is on the 80 - 86 listed hood but like the wider cowl. Other option I looked at was the GT500 style scooped hood for the 80-86 trucks but I think I will just get a OE steel hood from Dennis-Carpenter.

The skin isnt rotted but when I stripped the hood down to paint it myself years ago I found the hood skin was quite wavy. Its a big reason why I am thinking of just replacing the whole hood vs trying to repair what I have. The one I have is not near the latch yet but it looks like its spreading towards it.

I just am trying to decide which hood to go with for my truck.

This is the Dennis-Carpenter Steel hood that I am most likely going to go with. Cost is under $500 for it and its steel.



This is a steel goodmark 2" cowl hood but I just dont like the super narrow cowl with the hood having the raised center section that is nearly to the fenders. This one is also $732


This is the GT500 style scoop hood that I kind of like but I just dont think it will go with the theme of my truck which is more of a 80s/90s style that is geared more towards an actual truck that is taken off road and not a pavement princess.


This is a photo of the 2" cowl hood I found online installed and it just doesnt look that good in my opinion.

 

Oh I know wavy and why I said about the glue between the skin & frame as mine ended up W A V Y!
If my skin rots away I would never know as it has body filler over the top

You cant find a good hood hood in a junk yard down there?
Or do they crush stuff older than 10 years?

I am with you I like the factory flat hood.
Dave ----

 

Not around here, anything over 10 years old doesnt last in a junkyard around here. There was a '96 explorer that came in to one of the local LKQ`s that I was going to rob the engine out of for a buildable core for my roller 302 build for my truck, called them up to see if the engine was still in as the truck arrived the day before they told me someone already snagged the engine out of it yesterday. Old trucks in junkyards just dont last long they either get picked clean or they are crushed in short order to make room for more modern vehicles due to limited space for the junkyards. The city here has a insane ordinance where junkyards cant expand with in city limits any more if I reading it correctly and current junkyards are grandfathered in but once they close down as a junkyard thats it they can never open up as a new junkyard.

Why I am having such a time trying to source a bench seat for my truck to have covered in dark blue leather to replace the cloth explorer seats I currently have.

 

Thats how it was when I lived up north, older stuff did not last long, mostly crushed before being picked clean.
I have not gone junk yard hunting down here but I am not finding much older stuff on line here either
Good luck on the hunt for a good hood.
Dave ----