Hey guys, I've got a new Vis hood that is flapping around an awful lot at 65+ mph. I'm not a fan of the hood pin idea, but I'm less of a fan of it coming off as I've heard of other Vis's doing. I've got the rubber stoppers adjusted well so as to keep pressure on it, but the outside edges are just lifting too much...so I'm left with installing hood pins.

I've looked at both the Sparco style ones, the Aerocatch ones, and the NRG locking ones(too hard to adjust). I love the Aerocatch, but they involve a LOT of cutting and are expensive, so I'm leaning toward the Sparco-style pins. But my main concern is that to mount the pins on rad support, you have to install them through the reinforcing structure of the hood, very near the edge. I'm thinking about filling the void in there with silicone to keep it supported, but does anyone have any insight on what the best way to do this is without hacking too much up?

Any pictures of Sparco/Aerocatch pins on a 94-01 Integra would be REALLY helpful!

Thanks guys...

 

I've had both the sparco and aerocatch, aerocatch being my current ones. The sparcos are pretty simple to install, very little drilling, but i've always hated the look of those pins.

The aerocatches do require you to take a pretty big chunk out of the hood, so you better be pretty damn sure you want them because there isn't going to be any turning back. I think I have my pins where you want to install yours. I didn't have to do too much cutting to the underside structure at all. Just a hole to allow the pin to pass through, and some smaller holes around it so i could get access to tighten the allen screws on the top side.

My only gripe about the aerocatches is when i release them and the latch is in its unlocked position, the spring/mechanism that pushes the pin gets sorta out of wack, and can be a pain to get back down. You can kinda see them in the pics.

 

Thanks for the reply man, and nice car!

I think I'd like to get mine more toward the outer edges of hood because I'll be retaining the stock latch, but i really like your idea of only cutting small holes out to access the bolts instead of a big honkin hole like many do. I have considered the PWJDM brackets for the back too, which I wonder If I could squeeze them through the hole on the top and then have some sort of small access hole to hold in in place until it's fastened. I really do love the Aerocatches, but my hood is so dang flexible already that it makes me nervous to cut any out. I already cracked the hood just slightly while pushing down on it to close it .

Maybe I can do the Aerocatch setup and then fill the gap in between the top layer of the hood and the bottom with silicone to stiffen it up a little...what do you think? On the USDM hood you have to go verrry close to the front to stay on the rad support with the pins. I'm hoping others with that hood will chime in as well.

Do you have any (or would you mind taking any) pictures of the bottom of your hood?

 

Any pics or link to the hardware you want to use? You might be able to use some kind of metal/aluminum spacer instead of trying to get some liquid junk to do the job between the hood frame and the hood material itself.

 

Well, I mean around the hole that I would create, rather than in the hole itself. I probably could have said it more clearly...If I cut out a circle, for example, I could shoot some silicone in around the circle, in between the two surfaces just to stiffen it up a little. Honestly, it might be overkill...just a thought.

The Aerocatch design:


And the good old Sparco-Style:


The Aerocatch spreads out the load a lot more, which is nice, but it involves a lot more cutting of the reinforcing structure.

 

Some kind of plate made in the same shape as the outer flange of the Aerocatch pins, with the same 6 holes, threaded, would be ideal I would think. You would make your hole, the plate would go on the bottom of the hood, that pin housing would drop down on top, and the hood gets sandwiched in between the plate and the housing as the screws draw it all together.

 

Sounds like it would work. I dont see why it wouldnt.

 

PWJDM actually sells a plate specifically for that...it would be great if it went on a part of the hood that was not covered by reinforcing structure, but otherwise you have to hack a lot out. Password mounting plates:



This is the cleanest install I've seen so far of these things...I could probably do it this way and it looks like not too much of the structure is cut out (This is on an Lexus IS). This picture best illustrates what I'm talking about with the reinforcing structure in the way. The DC rad support is so far forward that there is no way to install pins without cutting the reinforcement in some way, or making custom brackets. :

 

ah hah! That PWJDM plate is EXACTLY what I was thinking about! And no I had never seen that until just now. If only I had come up with the idea first...

 

Seriously! Haha, you would be making bank...they sell those for $40 a piece, or $35 if you buy the pins with them.

 

You would be one rich fella.

 

here is my aerocatch install with the password plates . I think its perfect had to think of how to mount them cleanly before actually cutting didnt want to ruin my new hood.





this is how it looks under the car just the holes for the pins to go through . sorry i dont have any pics of them being installed didnt think of getting a camera for the process.

 

i guess it really depends on the car and where u choose to mount the locks . i chose the front because i wanted use pre-existing holes in the radiator support. I also mounted the locks sideways because it was the best way to get them to sit as flush as possible because of the curvature at that end of the hood . okay the templates that come with the kit if you buy them from password are awesome and pretty precise . after cutting the big hole and the small holes for the screws u need to lower the plates through the big hole which is actually not that hard and u have to get them to line up with all the holes and hold them up with something . be creative maybe u have small fingers and u can hold up from the bottom with until u can get some of the screws in to hold it in and once u get 2 its pretty much done .

 

Very clean install man, thanks for posting. I wish I had known you could get the plates in from the top, because I ended up ordering the Aerocatch ones, but w/o the plates. I figured I'd have to hack out a big hole in the bottom to get them under, but I guess not. If I remember the camera when I do the install, I'll post some pictures up.

 

Besides the safety from having your hood fly up at high speeds. Is this also used as security to prevent thieves from popping your hood? If you get the ones with the key locks is it possible for a thief to pop your hood or will it just slow them down? thanks.

 

It sure doesn't hurt. I'm sure you could get it open anyway, but MAN would it be difficult. I ordered the locking ones for that reason.

I finally got around to installing mine yesterday and it went pretty well. It took about 6 hours, which sucked, but it was worth having them perfect.

Because the placement on the hood, I ran into two problems: the pin angle and the curve of the hood. For the pin angle, it required some filing of the thickness of the pin, and then of the inside of the receiver in order to accomodate this steep of an angle. It definitely exceeded the max of 5* in the instructions. For the curve, the front is sticking up just slightly, which the directions say is fixable with silicone. I just made sure not too tighten the fronts so much as to change the curve of the hood enough to crack it.

All in all, I'm impressed with the quality of the Aerocatch ones, and I'm glad I got them! The hood lift problem is gone, so no more worries about it flying up.


Laying out the templates:

 

i have a cf hood that the previous owner had a really ghettoed latch on... soo i want to do the aeroatch locking latches but i dont have the money rite now... but i can get regular pins for free from my uncle so would it be possible to put the regular pins on and then once i get the money install the aerocatch ones using the same holes?

 

Probably...Aerocatch has specs on their site as to how big it is, so as long as your hole from the other ones isn't bigger than what you have to cut for them, you should be fine doing that.