Hood Scoop Saga...continued

[shelbytexan]

why put your hood back on before goining back to the dealer.they will take your hood off to change the scoop anyhow.not a bad idea to change hoods when your mood changes.i'm going to change wheels and tires out and keep my old ones because i sometimes like to go back to original look.that's the disadvantage to putting big brake packageon car as i wouldn't be able to go back to original tires and wheels when i want to.i would call dealer and see if i could just bring the hood in.i certainly would get scoop replaced while in warranty. good-luck.

[ChipBeck]

Gentlemen,

 

For those members who only check this thread occasionally for information about potential warantee fixes for the Shelby G. T. hood scoop problem, I reprint below two posts I wrote in a related thread under the heading, "Absolute Hood Scoop Final Fix". My composite aircraft A&P technician, Heath LeHoste, performed a spectacular and most permanent fix after I had two hood scoop failures with the soft plastic units supplied by Shelby. A lot of information is contained in the two posts reproduced below detailing the reasons I believe Shelby used such a soft plastic scoop in the first place, why it's difficult to fix, and how we fixed it. Photos at the end of the post.

 

Gentlemen,

 

As I promised yesterday in the "Hood Scoop Saga Continues" thread, I am posting today photos of the repair I made on my hood scoop. This work was not covered under my factory warranty nor did I ask or expect it to be. Some brief background. I am a Shelby fanatic and I consider the Shelby GT to be the purest Shelby Mustang since the last 1966 GT350 was built. My collector cars are all kept in immaculate condition including a Ford GT, and an aluminum bodied Cobra. I absolutely love my Shelby GT but the soft plastic hood scoop was driving me nuts. The original was horribly warped and the replacement sent to me by Shelby was slightly dished out in the rear before I even tried to put it on the car. I am a former test pilot for a composite propeller manufacturer as well as a composite aircraft builder. I have worked as the Airshow demonstration pilot for the Stoddard-Hamilton Aircraft Company and Phoenix Composites in Mesa, Arizona and consider myself to be very well-versed in composite materials and their suitable uses. In my opinion, there is no way to fix the factory Shelby GT hood scoop without changing the material it is made out of. The scoop, as supplied by Shelby, is injection molded using a plastic that is somewhat softer than a Tupperware bowl. Look at the two enclosed photos. In the first, my technician is holding the factory scoop by the corner and it bends under its own weight! When left in direct sunlight it heats up and gets incredibly soft. In the second photo you can see how much the scoop bends when twisted with a very slight amount of force. The latest Shelby fix is to supply this scoop with a black foam rubber insert that is intended to support the scoop and keep it from collapsing or warping when it gets hot. Attaching such soft plastic with rivets without damaging that soft plastic or the paint applied to it is almost impossible. The soft plastic in that scoop also expands and contracts a great deal with changes in temperature. When it contracts it pulls the vinyl stripes pinched between it and the aluminum hood inward and when it expands it pushes those stripes outward causing them to bunch up around the edges of the scoop. Here in Arizona I have examined over a dozen Shelby GTs and almost all of them have warped scoops, damage to the paint and/or the scoop itself from the riveted installation, and damage to the stripes at the edges of the scoop from expansion and contraction.

 

Using a different scoop or removing it entirely destroys the originality of the car and that is unacceptable to me. So utilizing the expertise I have available I changed the material that my scoop is made out of, and I changed the way it is attached to the hood.

 

Let me make it clear right off the bat that I am not manufacturing duplicate Shelby parts nor do I have any intention of doing so. This is a repair of a defective part on my car. Carroll Shelby has been a good friend to me and the entire Ford GT community and the rights to manufacture and all profits from parts that they design are rightfully the property of Mr. Shelby's company. The scoop I have made differs in materials, construction method, interior and exterior shape, and method of attachment. It is strong enough to stand on in one's bare feet, requires no internal bracing and therefore allows one to make the scoop functional, and it is constructed of aviation grade vinyl-ester impregnated fiberglass. It is attached to the hood using Rivit-Nuts and chrome plated hex head dome top screws which allow the scoop to be removed and reinstalled any time in just a few minutes. These rivet nuts also allow me to screw the scoop down with just enough pressure to hold it securely but not so much pressure as to damage the hood or the scoop. This of course, would not be possible using standard rivets.

 

The original hood scoop is painted silver and the white stripe in the middle is a tape stripe. This allows Shelby to install the scoop on the car and then line up the stripe on top of the scoop with the striping on the car itself. The stripes on the hood of my Shelby GT are not aligned with the center of the hood and are offset about one third of an inch to the right. My replacement hood scoop as you can see from these photos is lined up perfectly in the center of the hood but is not lined up perfectly in the center of the stripes. So I am going to remove the stripes from the hood of my car and reinstall new ones that are lined up properly.

 

That done, I will have the perfect Shelby GT Mustang.

 

The first two photos show how soft and pliable the original hood scoop is. Photo number three shows my original hood scoop on the right and the one I had built out of fiberglass on the left. Photo number four is a close-up of an installed Rivit-Nut and the chrome plated hex head screw that I use to attach my new fiberglass scoop. Photo number five is my hood with all rivet nuts installed in the exact same location as the dummy screws were on the original scoop. Photo number six shows the bottom of my hood with the insulation removed so you can see the rivet nuts protruding slightly through the bottom of the hood. These rivit nuts will be hidden completely when the insulation is reinstalled. Photo number seven shows the unpainted-primered scoop being bolted to the hood so I could take some photos. Photo number eight shows the scoop fully bolted down to my hood. Note how the stripes are not perfectly centered on the hood. I will be removing and replacing my stripes so that they will be properly centered. Photo number nine shows the scoop from the side. No waves, no dips, no imperfections!! This scoop is made out of the exact same material as my aircraft that is sitting in the photos background. Photo number 10 shows my original hood scoop sitting on the hood next to my new fiberglass scoop installed. Photo number 11 shows both scoops from the front.

 

The last photo I am including is a photo of the cowling of my Glasair III aircraft. The engine cylinder heads are less than an inch from the vinylester resin fiberglass underneath the word "Phoenix". That engine cowling is over 10 years old and that fiberglass has been subjected to engine heat in excess of 400 degrees for long periods of time followed by cooling to below freezing during wintertime. As you can see it is still perfect after a decade of extreme heat cycles, 400 mph air speeds, and loads in excess of eight G's.

 

In about a week I will paint the silver and white on my hood scoop and I will post final photos at that time. All the best.

 

Chip Beck

 

Gentlemen,

 

I finally have a bit of time to sit and write, so here goes. Before I get started, a disclaimer. I am not an engineer by education nor do I claim to be the end all authority on all things automotive. I am a long-term Shelby enthusiast, I do have some experience with the materials and construction methods involved in this fix, and I love projects like this. Other than writing these posts, and allowing my Shelby GT and hood scoop to be used as the guinea pig, I will have absolutely no financial involvement in this project nor will I profit in any way if Shelby GT owners choose to go with this fix. Putting this project together has been a blast and its own reward, kind of like building a ship in a bottle. So if somebody doesn't like something I've said, or if you think I've done something improperly, please keep in mind I'm a volunteer. This is my best crack at it.

 

Objectives--- To correct a most annoying cosmetic blemish-the warping and wavy soft plastic hood scoop with a permanent, proven fix while preserving the signature features and appearance of the Shelby GT. To allow an owner to make his hood scoop functional if he chooses to do so, or to block off the opening of the hood scoop with the factory black plastic piece if that is the owner's choice. Secondarily, to provide additional clearance over the Ford racing Whipple supercharger (when the scoop is functional) so that a modified strut tower brace can be used when a Whipple is installed on the car. When complete, to have a car that is visually indistinguishable from one with the original scoop.

 

Problems with the original scoop--- The original factory Shelby GT hood scoop was made with very soft plastic, was attached with eight large bolts in the middle of the scoop as well as two rivets drilled through the hood at the front edges of the scoop. It had a molded in brace about one third of the way back from the front opening running side to side in its construction. The plastic used softened considerably when heated and appears to expand and contract with changes in temperature. The top area of the original scoop between the opening at the front and the molded in brace collapses somewhat after a few heat cycles and created a dip. The back corners close to the windshield would curl up and pull away from the hood leaving a gap, again after a number of heat cycles.

 

The replacement scoop that was provided to me from Shelby was of a completely different design. The large bolts and the cross brace had been eliminated, it was supplied with a black foam rubber filler material intended to support the scoop and keep it from collapsing. It was to be installed using 25 rivets. Several members have had the hoods of their GTs buckled after a dealer install of this replacement hood scoop. This was the result of the rivet pinching the surface of the hood together with the hood bracing underneath. Even when installed properly, expansion and contraction of this new scoop appears to damage the underlying tape stripes causing them to bunch up at the rear edges of the scoop in a most unsightly manner.

 

Why did Shelby use such a soft plastic for the hood scoop?--- I believe they did this because the Mustang hood is made of aluminum and the surface of this aluminum hood is very easily deflected when you attach something to it. Any imperfection in the mating surface of the scoop cannot be corrected by cinching it down to the hood using either screws or rivets as the hood will partially deflect up toward the scoop creating an unsightly wave in the hood most visible from the driver's seat. Yes, I found this out the hard way. The bracing underneath the Mustang hood is also made of aluminum and at sporadic locations there is a dab of soft rubber filler material that remains soft permanently. This filler material is intended to keep the hood from vibrating against the bracing and/or from oil canning. The combination of the hood bracing not being mated to the top surface of the hood combined with that surface being made of thin aluminum makes attaching anything to it (without distorting the hood surface) a tricky proposition. A rigid hood scoop must mate to the curving convex aluminum surface perfectly flat all the way around and be screwed down with sufficient but not excessive force or the hood will distort. The level of precision required is certainly not superhuman but it does require some hand fitting and is apparently beyond the level of effort that would lend itself to mass production. The entire Shelby GT conversion is done in a single day. They certainly wouldn't want to spend a couple hours to precision fit a rigid hood scoop. So they went with a very soft pliable scoop that they believed would conform to the hood when they bolted it down, (now rivet down), without distorting the thin aluminum hood. The soft plastic hood scoop was a success in that it did not distort the hood. But the soft plastic is also its downfall in that it fails to keep its shape with temperature changes and becomes most unsightly in a relatively short period of time.

 

Why should I spend the money to fix it?--- Except for the damn hood scoop, I love everything about my Shelby GT Mustang. A joy to drive, it has been a flawless car without a single warranty repair. There has not been a Shelby Mustang converted in a Shelby facility endorsed by the Ford Motor Company and available for sale to the general public in 40 years. This car is part of my permanent collection which includes a Ford GT and an aluminum bodied Cobra. I never intend to sell it. But every time I drove it, I stared out across the scoop with the back edges curled up and the top caving in and it bugged me. Even though I haven't painted it yet, I enjoy driving the car a lot more when I look out across my perfectly smooth and precisely attached functional hood scoop. My fiancé thinks I'm nuts but my 15-year-old son understands perfectly.

 

Will Shelby Automobiles pay for this?--- No, nor do I expect them to. In time, Shelby may come up with another fix, but having spent days delving into this I don't believe anyone but an owner is going to spend the time and effort required to do what I want done to my car. I believe most owners will wait for a warantee fix but there is a hard-core group who, like me, want this niggling but aggravating problem fixed right and fixed now.

 

What will this cost and what will I get?--- Having discussed this at length with Heath LaHoste he will put these scoops into limited handbuilt and hand fitted (to an actual Mustang hood on a workbench) production and sell the scoops, rivet-nuts and bolts, a template and detailed instructions for $500 plus shipping. At least 25 people would have to purchase one to make setting up the assembly process and getting involved with this worthwhile for Heath. I think we can achieve that number easily. We have taken great pains over several days, making and correcting a number of mistakes, to come up with a consistent, reliable, and repeatable process to make installing one of these hood scoops relatively easy for a competent body man or owner with some expertise in this area. The scoop would be supplied in white primer and would have to be finished (painted) before installation by the purchaser. The location of the bracing underneath the hood in some of the areas where rivet nuts are installed requires that the instructions be read and followed for a good result. Once installed however, the vinyl-ester resin scoop will look perfect forever and will certainly outlast the buyer!

 

Why is it so expensive?--- Unlike an injection molded hard plastic hood scoop that can be punched out of a machine every few minutes, these scoops will be hand laid up by a licensed aviation A&P technician with final fitting done by hand as well. Each one will take over a day to manufacture.

 

How long should it take a body man to install the scoop once it's painted?--- About two hours.

 

Does cutting out the area underneath the hood scoop create any problems?--- No, I've already done it and it looks great.

 

Does “functional hood scoop” mean that air is channeled to the air cleaner?--- No, the hood scoop will work just like the scoop on the 1966 Shelby GT 350 that the Shelby GT is patterned after. The scoop will allow cold air into the engine compartment and will allow heat to escape from the engine compartment. But like the 1966 GT 350, this cold air is not forced in to the air cleaner. On a normally aspirated car, I think the only benefit to the open scoop would be that it looks great, it no longer looks like a phony scoop. There are two benefits to the functional scoop for those owners installing the Ford Racing Whipple supercharger. Superchargers lose efficiency when they get hot and performance degrades measurably. I experience this in my Ford GT on hot summer days. The functional scoop will blow cold air directly over that Whipple supercharger perhaps keeping it a bit cooler and therefore perhaps providing a slight performance benefit. A more tangible benefit for Whipple owners will be the ability to install a modified strut tower brace to replace the one you had to remove when you installed that supercharger thus regaining the chassis rigidity your car originally had.

 

Well, there you have it. This post has been lengthy and still I'm sure I've left many things out. If you have a question, please post it in the "Absolute Hood Scoop Final Fix" thread as someone else may have the same question and I will answer it there.

 

Lastly, who wants one? Send me a PM and I will put you in touch with Heath.

 

I will not post further info about this scoop on this thread as the "Hood Scpoop Saga Continues" thread is concerned mainly with a warranty fix. For further info on Heath's Phoenix Composites fix go to the "Absolute Hood Scoop Final Fix" thread.

 

All the best,

 

Chip

 

[ChipBeck]

4&5

 

[ChipBeck]

6&7

 

[ChipBeck]

8,9,&10

 

[ChipBeck]

11&12

 

[ChipBeck]

Painted, installed, and functional.

 

[shelbytexan]

i wonder how shelby fells about one of there customers being able to build a scoop that's functional and looks better with no dips or warps.they should be embarssed to say the least.i just had my 3rd or 4th scoop installed,i lost count and it is warped already.the drivers side rear corner want lay flat.dealer says he pulled the rivet down as tight as possible without messing up the tape.now when i drive it you can see a big crack under the scoop.it has gone from the dealer to the garage where it will stay until another scoop comes out.this one looks worse than the last one.i don't know if it will have a dip or not because it hasn't been out in the sun.if they don't come up with something much better by july then i believe i will buy me a scoop from chip.shelby knows they have a problem but i'm not sure if they are willing to pay the expense to to do it right.time will tell but untill then i'll just keep my car in hiding.no car shows this summer for me.signed, tired but not giving up. p.s. my wife asked me today if i was glad i bought the shelby and the answer was no only because the scoop has been to much of a hassel.runs good,looks good,handles good but to many trips to the dealer.

[Dig-It]

That looks awesome Chip!

[ilmor]

[wmoore]

Well, this is my story of the ongoing scoop issue. I took my car to the local dealership and they processed the claim. The car was dropped off, at the dealership, on 28 April 08 and they took it across town to their contracted body shop. Knowing the new “thicker” stripes take 3 days to cure, I stopped by the body shop at 5:30pm on Tuesday. Guess what, there sat my Shelby covered in bondo dust with the original scoop and stripes still in place. I asked what the delay was and was told the stripes had not arrived. I opened the car door, grabbed the stripes, and said..they are right here. About that time the manager of the shop walked in so, I asked him what the problem was. This guy told me his stripe guy didn’t show up. I asked if the stripe guy called and at least gave an explanation of why he didn’t show up. He said no. Now, I explained that this was highly unprofessional and told the manager I wasn’t sure I wanted his stripe guy to even touch my car. We then began to chat, a one way conversation mind you, about the hood scoop installation process. The more I talked, the more the manager looked confused. I asked him if he had ever attempted this kind of work before. He said no, they basically took off, replaced and painted parts. Well, that’s when I got in my car and drove back across town to my dealership.

 

Second attempt..my dealership contacted another dealer in Fargo ND, 75 miles one way. They also sell Shelby GT’s, GT 500’ s, Roushes ect.. I was pretty confident that I could not be the only Shelby GT owner in ND that needed a hood scoop repair, boy was I wrong. I actually received a call, from dealer, explaining the Fargo location would replace the hood scoop but, they wanted me present the day they drilled the holes in the hood. It was further explained that once I told them the hood scoop placement looked good, I would assume liability. I hung up the phone and thought about it, HELL NO. I called my dealer back and asked for the name of this individual, at the Fargo location, and drove the 75 miles to meet this guy. Luckily it was just a misunderstanding; they just wanted to give me a chance to be involved in the process. So, I take my Shelby to Fargo on Monday 5 May 08. I received a call from the Fargo location on Wednesday 7 May. The manager explained that he dropped the car off to his “Stripe Guy” on Monday. He further explained the stripe guy hadn’t performed any work on the car. When he asked why, the guy said “I’m nervous because it’s a Shelby”. Well, let’s just say they put a boot up the guys butt and he started work that day.

 

Well, it’s now Sunday 11 May 08 and the car is finally striped and the hood scoop is scheduled to go on tomorrow. But, I not holding my breath

[ilmor]

There's no way I can deal with that kind of time and trouble. No customer should be expected to, either.

 

edit - I love how these guys try to shift responsibility for the fix from the dealer to the customer!!

 

I'm continuing to wait for SAI's professional and formal handling of this issue, and the final fix.

[bruces]

I stopped by another Ford dealer in Milwaukee to check out body shop there is no way that they {Frod dealer body shops} will touch my car shops are DIRTY and I wonder about the techs. I again went to high end body shop spoke with manager who installled my second scoop in MAY of 07!. He told me again that the rivets will only look good until hood expands and rivets pull up he said Shelby is either cheap or dumb thinking that that will work on poor quality scoop material!. I will probaly nuy scoop from someone else or remove scoop get new stripes and forget about it. I am embarassed to drive car with scoop, just picked up my M4 BMW and guess what same price as Shelby and no QUALITY problems. I think SAI is interested in taking money and too hell with costomer after sale, I will probably never buy another Ford or American car after this experience this was my fisrt Ford and my LAST Ford are you listening! you are and will continue to lose sales, I do not care if Shelby put parts on you are in bed with SAI very unhappy with this whole experience to word from SAI after sending Email snail and and letter by FEDEX. what a copany SAAC is right it is all about money with SAI.

[TheKurgan]

I stopped by another Ford dealer in Milwaukee to check out body shop there is no way that they {Frod dealer body shops} will touch my car shops are DIRTY and I wonder about the techs. I again went to high end body shop spoke with manager who installled my second scoop in MAY of 07!. He told me again that the rivets will only look good until hood expands and rivets pull up he said Shelby is either cheap or dumb thinking that that will work on poor quality scoop material!. I will probaly nuy scoop from someone else or remove scoop get new stripes and forget about it. I am embarassed to drive car with scoop, just picked up my M4 BMW and guess what same price as Shelby and no QUALITY problems. I think SAI is interested in taking money and too hell with costomer after sale, I will probably never buy another Ford or American car after this experience this was my fisrt Ford and my LAST Ford are you listening! you are and will continue to lose sales, I do not care if Shelby put parts on you are in bed with SAI very unhappy with this whole experience to word from SAI after sending Email snail and and letter by FEDEX. what a copany SAAC is right it is all about money with SAI.

 

 

I see no reason to blame Ford for anything. Can't say I argue with the rest tho.

[khogle2]

I see no reason to blame Ford for anything. Can't say I argue with the rest tho.

 

 

true. the franchise agreement doesnt offer the manufacturer much control over this type of thing. some of the dealerships run profitable body shop departments, others bail out and contract the work. then the customer is in the middle when something happens.

 

my kid had the same experience with a cadillac dealer in calif with a cts-v. as expensive as a bmw, but poor service. contracted everything out, then wash their hands of it when something goes wrong. customer in ther middle. the manufacturer takes the blame even if they dont agree with the dealership behavior.

 

sounds like the manufacturer needs to police this better or the poor dealerships and oem competition will eat them up.

 

these guys on this forum that arent happy will go elsewhere. live and learn. with all the choices people have in vehicle manufacturers, they may not be back for a lifetime.

[Shelby-Don]

When is this whole scoop issue to much ? With the lack of communication from SAI and the lack of a adequate fix when is it time to look to legal means to correct this issue ? There must be a SGT owner or even a GT500 owner for that matter that is a lawyer, what recoarse do we have in the courts ? We were supposed to have the final fix in April as posted by Amy that has now gone by and I have not seen any other commenst from SAI regarding this issue. I have seen posts from those that have had there scoops replaced with the most recent fix and they say they are still junk. Whats next ?

[wmoore]

Pics of my new scoop. I appologize, I'm not sure how to reduce the size of the pics. It looks great so far.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[RogerS]

I spoke to Amy this evening and belive me she wants this fixed just as much as everyone else does. Being a manufacturer and having to abide by the contracutal agreements set forth by Ford she cannot offer an aftermarket part as a fix. The team has tested many different prototypes and have not found the "perfect fix". If there is an aftermarket fix it would not qualify as a warranty issue through Ford. SAI is not aftermarket. I can assure you she is in the process of getting a solution to this issue quickly. I spoke with her on Chip Beck's thread and will forward in an e-mail to her this evening regarding his findings.

 

Roger

[Robbcwz]

I spoke to Amy this evening and belive me she wants this fixed just as much as everyone else does. Being a manufacturer and having to abide by the contracutal agreements set forth by Ford she cannot offer an aftermarket part as a fix. The team has tested many different prototypes and have not found the "perfect fix". If there is an aftermarket fix it would not qualify as a warranty issue through Ford. SAI is not aftermarket. I can assure you she is in the process of getting a solution to this issue quickly. I spoke with her on Chip Beck's thread and will forward in an e-mail to her this evening regarding his findings.

 

Roger

 

 

Smoke and mirrors!! If they really were serious, SAI would update the situation more often. They know its a war of attrition and we will, in the end, loose.

[avidShelby]

I'm continuing to wait for SAI's professional and formal handling of this issue, and the final fix.

 

[shelbytexan]

the dealers don't want to install these scoops because it only pays warranty rate and they would rather have walk-ins.i think we can all agree that these scoops are junk and made cheap.let's don't give up the ship.i'm a die-hard.my wife thinks i'm picky but when you pay to much for the car to start with then you want it right.hang-on guys .sooner or later they will get it right if we keep there feet to the fire.has anyone gotten a really good scoop yet besides jeff? my latest was warped and the stripe was crooked.

[JeffIsHereToo]

the dealers don't want to install these scoops because it only pays warranty rate and they would rather have walk-ins.i think we can all agree that these scoops are junk and made cheap.let's don't give up the ship.i'm a die-hard.my wife thinks i'm picky but when you pay to much for the car to start with then you want it right.hang-on guys .sooner or later they will get it right if we keep there feet to the fire.has anyone gotten a really good scoop yet besides jeff? my latest was warped and the stripe was crooked.

 

It would be so much easier on my "old eyes" if you could at least place a space between sentences. I can get by without capitalization but with your sentences always running together it's really hard at times to follow without a lot of effort. At least for me!

 

Just some feedback!

 

BTW: The scoop above looks good! Also, just because my scoop looks good today isn't any guarantee it will stay that way. I'm sure the 08's looked great when they left SAI too and we've seen issues there so I guess only time will tell!

[mrhugger]

Mine is scheduled for next week. I will advise results. steve

[blueshawk]

I spoke to Amy this evening and belive me she wants this fixed just as much as everyone else does. Being a manufacturer and having to abide by the contracutal agreements set forth by Ford she cannot offer an aftermarket part as a fix. The team has tested many different prototypes and have not found the "perfect fix". If there is an aftermarket fix it would not qualify as a warranty issue through Ford. SAI is not aftermarket. I can assure you she is in the process of getting a solution to this issue quickly. I spoke with her on Chip Beck's thread and will forward in an e-mail to her this evening regarding his findings.

 

Roger

 

I have the rivet fix with a scoop that has the dip, but I'm going to wait until SAI comes up with something else before I decide to get the next fix. It is clear the SAI doesn't have a handle on this problem yet. The so called mold change really doesn't fix this problem because "Jeffisheretoo" said his dealer had to "squash" the pillow to make the dip go away before he installed the latest scoop. And then there are the rivets. I had a perfect rivet job on my scoop but 3 months later the stripes on both sides of the scoop have started to wrinkle near two rivets. I think the Chip Beck "rivnut" idea is better, but it also needs to be tested. In the end, whatever SAI comes up with will still be very sensitive to the installation skill of the dealer.

 

It's been alot of trouble for a cosmetic part, however it is the most visible cosmetic part on the car! If we were having problems with the side scoops, it wouldn't be as if a deal. Going to a CS6 hood would cost about $2500 (even with the 25% discount) and would also have its issues, so I think it is easier to fix the scoop than do that. Besides, I really like the scoop.

 

The rest of the car is AWESOME! :happy feet:

[Webba]

Roger TY for the update. I think that is the biggest issue most of us have.....no communication. As pissed as we areI would bet no one wants this thing to turn sour. We all love our cars and the man and team responsible for making it happen. Alot of us have loved these cars and Mr. Shelby since we were kids and we dont want that to change.

I personally think Chip's scoop is the best. Obviously it is not as cheap as an injection molded scoop but you get what you pay for. And for the amount of time Chip's freind has in making these I dont think the price is bad at all. If it were done in larger volumes with some cnc machining to profile the bottom perhpas it could be more cost effective for SAI as a fix. But I do hope it is looked at.

On the bright side summer seems to be here slightly in Maine and I am driving my car every dam,n day we dont have rain. I havent even washed her yet because its not that warm yet!LOL And it is still a blast

[JeffIsHereToo]

The so called mold change really doesn't fix this problem because "Jeffisheretoo" said his dealer had to "squash" the pillow to make the dip go away before he installed the latest scoop. And then there are the rivets.

 

Just wanted to make a correction here. The pillow was not "squashed" but pressure applied to the sides of the scoop as if it was riveted to show how when installed the pillow pushes up and eliminates/prevents the dip. I too had the first generation revet scoop and dip. This new scoop has not shown any dip or issues YET. No dips no damage to stripes and I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

[StrayShadow]

If this issue ever gets resolved, will each SGT owner get a new hood scoop? How do I get in line for one?

Sorry if I am repeating!

 

Kevin

07SGT2591

[ilmor]

If this issue ever gets resolved, will each SGT owner get a new hood scoop? How do I get in line for one?

Sorry if I am repeating!

 

Kevin

07SGT2591

 

[JeffIsHereToo]

If this issue ever gets resolved, will each SGT owner get a new hood scoop? How do I get in line for one?

Sorry if I am repeating!

 

Kevin

07SGT2591

 

We have no word on anything as yet.

[ZepDad]

Gentlemen:

As the originator of this thread I'm sadly proud it gets so much attention. I continue to be baffled by Ford/SAI's weak and expensive attempts to band aid this problem. They are certainly spending more combined money on each SGT than would have been spent with a proper fix the first time. I just picked up my car today with HS#3. It involved new stripes, new hood scoop, labor and 7 days of rental car. Easily $1,000 if not more in warranty charge.

 

Oh....and the bad news. The dealer's stripe "expert" totally botched the new stripes. The space between the stripes does not match the factory width. It is properly narrow at the top of the hood, then gets noticeably wider towards the bottom. The dealer has taken responsibility and will replace the stripes (again). Another week without my SGT. More parts, labor and rental charges for the dealer. Of course the new rivets will have to be drilled out, probably wrecking HS#3. I see HS#4 in my immediate future.

 

HS#3 looked pretty good otherwise. That is until I started the car and two back rivets loosened immediately. I have a very nice gap again. I showed this to the dealer and, of course, they said they would repair when I bring the car in for new stripes. The dealer said that SAI has given instructions to make the rivet holes slightly larger in the hood (to avoid tape buckling I suppose). I suspect the larger holes may not completely hold the SAI provided rivets.

 

Yes, my dealer is apparently incompetent. I am calling the GM tomorrow. I am also harboring a glimmer of hope that Amy will announce the final "permanent" fix soon. This can't continue. In fact, I may simply leave HS#3 alone until the final fix is issued. But unless they take great care, like Chip's fix, it may turn out to be another band aid. Yet despite my lack of confidence, I remain cautiously optimistic.