Cavero

Hey all, this summer I installed a Shelby CS6 hood on my GT when I did a big 60K refresh on my car. It's an awesome hood but it flutters at highway speed so I need hood pins. Here's what I'm working with:



I found out the hard way that the CS6 hood is much more domed in the front than it looks.

Stock:


CS6:


What does that matter? Since the hood is taller in the front, not all hood pins will clear through it. For instance, I bought the UPR billet hood pins and took it to a shop to have them install it. They did the measurements a bunch of times and realized they might not be long enough for the thru-pin to clear the top of the hood.

I decided to the double check the measurements the shop did. What bugged me was that they were doing measurements relative to other measurements, which just makes fuzzy math even fuzzier. So I decided to measure all from a common reference point: the ground.

This is my rig:


Its a camera tripod with a metal yardstick and a digital level. Once I set it up, I just set it to a reference point, pan it away so I can open/close the hood, pan it back, and then measure the distance from the reference point. The thing hanging from it is a spark plug socket acting as a plumbob (because I forgot the digital level has a laser pointer, but the plumbob works well enough).

So starting out I pre-installed the UPR pins the way the shop did (ingenious on their part because the package technically hasn't been opened), and adjusting them out all the way they could safely go:



Then I adjusted the rig to use the bottom of the hole for the thru-pin (which obviously has to clear through the hood):



And noted the plumbob:



From there I panned the rig out of the way, removed the pins, closed the hood and moved it back to position:



Then I put everything back to make sure the rig didn't move around in the process (it did very slightly):


So obviously UPR pins won't clear. And that's just as well. Because now that I knew where the hood pins would come through the hood I could mock up where the scuff plates were going to go. And honestly I don't like the look of them:



The problem with UPR's mounting system is you're locked into using the radiator mounts and I think they're too close together for my taste. I think this is ideally more of where I want the hood pins to be:


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So my question is, what hood pins will clear? I was looking at these two:

The Shelby GT/GT-H hood pin (the GT-H uses the CS6 hood so it will fit)


The Shelby/Scott Drake billet hood pins that are very popular:




I definitely like the billet ones better, they look a LOT sharper. But Shelby's site says they won't fit the GT-H which used the same hood as the CS6. On the other hand I could swear I've seen pics of people's CS6 hoods that DO have the billet pins installed, but I can't find any threads where people specifically say they used them. I've been searching all week, which is why I finally decided to post to get an answer once and for all.

I've been posting on my usual base of ops - TheMustangSource.com, but no one there with a CS6 hood is answering any of my posts. That site in general has been going on a slow decline lately so I'm spreading out. I've been a member of this forum for a while but as you can see from my post count I don't spend a lot of time here. Hopefully if you guys can help I'll change that.

Thanks in advance

kput

I'm not too familiar with hood pins, but I've heard some of them out there are adjustable height wise...something about moving the nut on the base (mounted inside the car) up and down to adjust the height..

I agree with you on the UPR's being too close...I have stick-on hood pins (please, laugh.) until I invest in proper ones, and have them mounted near the seams on the hood (bit further out than where you had yours in the second picture...)

I like the shelby pins the best, the scuff plate isn't just a flat piece of metal.

09cs

Try mounting them on the outer corners near the head lights. There is a little hole right behind the bumpstops by the head lights

Cavero

The UPR ones are adjustable but they don't go tall enough. I like how the shelby ones are mounted a couple inches forward and out a little compared to the UPR ones. In the pic below, the UPR pins mount in the location of the hole thats in the middle of the upper radiator mount. The Shelby pins mount in the exposed hole of that bracket


I thought about that, but I'm just not a fan of that location. Don't like the way it looks

jz

The Shelby GT/GT-H hood pins look exactly like the Ford Racing hood pins I purchased from Summit for $20. You may want to look into that before paying top dollar for the Shelby name.

2007CalSpec

I agree. It also looks better further out.

Cavero

I've read that the FRPP parts are poorly made, haven't heard anything about the Shelby ones.

Anyone have the measurements on the Shelby hood pins?

jz

I haven't had any issues witht the FRPP ones I bought. I didn't see anything that would indicate "poorly made". They still look as good today as the day I put them on. I was considering the Shelby ones when i bought my hood pins, but I didn't want to pay the premium of having the "Shelby" name on it.

Cavero

Do you keep your car outside? This what someone said on my thread from The Mustang Source:

loots06

This should give you an idea.