My opinion on the AMD charger hoods

[Ryan]

So I have been working on my AMD hood, getting it ready for paint and all and all its a nice part Its not perfect but its nice. There are waves here and there, but high build primer takes care or most of them. The only part of the hood that I personaly think could be a little better is the part near the cowel and windshield allthough I must say the original hood was way worse in this area. I am going to have to glaze that half of the hood with a very thin coat of filler. Then the hood should be awsome!

I will say that the under side of the hood looks amazing, very hard to tell from original.

[restoman]

I'd have to agree.
We got one in for a member's car, and while we haven't installed it yet, it looks very nice.

Now, if they'd just get the quarters out in production.

[bull]

Here's a nice hood for $85.

http://portland.craigslist.org/clc/pts/779838865.html

[1969chargerrtse]

Call me silly, but wouldn't it of been great if the top side of the hood looked amazing instead of the underside?

[bakerhillpins]

Call me silly, but wouldn't it of been great if the top side of the hood looked amazing instead of the underside?

I suspect that folks are going to be a LOT more critical of the outside of the hood than the inside when it comes to "waves" and the like. As long as the inside has the bends, welds, and holes the correct places folks are going to be ecstatic, but they are going to expect a mirror perfect finish to the outside.

YMMV - 

[dkn1997]

Call me silly, but wouldn't it of been great if the top side of the hood looked amazing instead of the underside?

I suspect that folks are going to be a LOT more critical of the outside of the hood than the inside when it comes to "waves" and the like. As long as the inside has the bends, welds, and holes the correct places folks are going to be ecstatic, but they are going to expect a mirror perfect finish to the outside.

YMMV - 

I guess people think that the laws of physics have changed in the last 40 years in how a metal panel is stamped and assembled.  I would bet cash money that if you took a charger and put it in a time capsule in 68 and took it out today that the hood would not be perfect.  it would have waves and other imperfections in it.  all new sheetmetal looks to me like it needs something to be perfect.  doesn't have to be mopar either...anyone watch muscle car when they built the crate camaro?  every panel on that thing needed filler to be "perfect"

I read an artilce about paint in body work in hotrod many years ago. it was about a guy named Junior who would get a brand new Ferarri and tear it down and rework every panel on it because even real expensive stuff isn't perfect as delivered. 

[AKcharger]

I read an artilce about paint in body work in hotrod many years ago. it was about a guy named Junior who would get a brand new Ferarri and tear it down and rework every panel on it because even real expensive stuff isn't perfect as delivered. 

Sounds like 'ol Junior was an idiot to spend $100K plus on something he knew he wouldn't be happy. Rework a Yugo, sounds reasonable...rework a ferarri just sounds like he's trying to make some kind of name for himself.

"Oh look at me I rework Ferarris becuse my standards are SOOOOO much better than theirs."

[hemi-hampton]

All the brand new cars are wavy. When I worked at Masco-Tech we did brand new cars for the Detroit autoshow. Even though they were new (so new just a shell with a Vin hanging on metal wire) they still had to be bondo'd end to end, top to bottom & blocked & primed & blocked & primed to get straight. If you were to look at these Mopars at a 80's car show they were nothing more then a nice paint job on a wavy car. Now fast forward 20- years & everybody wants, expects laser straight perfection, wet sanded & rubbed to perfection. They get down on all 4 & look around the car for hours at all different angles of light retention/reflection & nit pit at any micro flaw. Thats all fine with me if you paid $100,000+ for a resto on a solid car but dont expect this after you paid $10,000 on a Rust Bucket basket case. Problem is every body's expectatations have been raised to a higher quality then 20 years ago which in return demands more time, labor, expense, these last 3 some dont understand. No insult intended. Relax. LEON.

[Charger-Bodie]

All the brand new cars are wavy. When I worked at Masco-Tech we did brand new cars for the Detroit autoshow. Even though they were new (so new just a shell with a Vin hanging on metal wire) they still had to be bondo'd end to end, top to bottom & blocked & primed & blocked & primed to get straight. If you were to look at these Mopars at a 80's car show they were nothing more then a nice paint job on a wavy car. Now fast forward 20- years & everybody wants, expects laser straight perfection, wet sanded & rubbed to perfection. They get down on all 4 & look around the car for hours at all different angles of light retention/reflection & nit pit at any micro flaw. Thats all fine with me if you paid $100,000+ for a resto on a solid car but dont expect this after you paid $10,000 on a Rust Bucket basket case. Problem is every body's expectatations have been raised to a higher quality then 20 years ago which in return demands more time, labor, expense, these last 3 some dont understand. No insult intended. Relax. LEON.

I agree 100 % 

[Ryan]

I think that the most important thing is that the hood fits, and that it is solid. The top is not flimsy like alot of originals are, makes it much easier to get them straight with some blocking and filling

[dkn1997]

I read an artilce about paint in body work in hotrod many years ago. it was about a guy named Junior who would get a brand new Ferarri and tear it down and rework every panel on it because even real expensive stuff isn't perfect as delivered. 

Sounds like 'ol Junior was an idiot to spend $100K plus on something he knew he wouldn't be happy. Rework a Yugo, sounds reasonable...rework a ferarri just sounds like he's trying to make some kind of name for himself.

"Oh look at me I rework Ferarris becuse my standards are SOOOOO much better than theirs."

ummm...junior was just the body guy who the ferarri owner would take the car too.. he's the smart one to be paid for what he's good at.

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

All the brand new cars are wavy. When I worked at Masco-Tech we did brand new cars for the Detroit autoshow. Even though they were new (so new just a shell with a Vin hanging on metal wire) they still had to be bondo'd end to end, top to bottom & blocked & primed & blocked & primed to get straight. If you were to look at these Mopars at a 80's car show they were nothing more then a nice paint job on a wavy car. Now fast forward 20- years & everybody wants, expects laser straight perfection, wet sanded & rubbed to perfection. They get down on all 4 & look around the car for hours at all different angles of light retention/reflection & nit pit at any micro flaw. Thats all fine with me if you paid $100,000+ for a resto on a solid car but dont expect this after you paid $10,000 on a Rust Bucket basket case. Problem is every body's expectatations have been raised to a higher quality then 20 years ago which in return demands more time, labor, expense, these last 3 some dont understand. No insult intended. Relax. LEON.

I agree 100 % 

As well do I.....the fit/finish on my '08 is horrible.....even the paint is thin on some spots.  Mopar still cant get it right

[tan top]

All the brand new cars are wavy. When I worked at Masco-Tech we did brand new cars for the Detroit autoshow. Even though they were new (so new just a shell with a Vin hanging on metal wire) they still had to be bondo'd end to end, top to bottom & blocked & primed & blocked & primed to get straight. If you were to look at these Mopars at a 80's car show they were nothing more then a nice paint job on a wavy car. Now fast forward 20- years & everybody wants, expects laser straight perfection, wet sanded & rubbed to perfection. They get down on all 4 & look around the car for hours at all different angles of light retention/reflection & nit pit at any micro flaw. Thats all fine with me if you paid $100,000+ for a resto on a solid car but dont expect this after you paid $10,000 on a Rust Bucket basket case. Problem is every body's expectatations have been raised to a higher quality then 20 years ago which in return demands more time, labor, expense, these last 3 some dont understand. No insult intended. Relax. LEON.

I agree 100 % 

yep that is soo true 

[TUFCAT]

All the brand new cars are wavy. When I worked at Masco-Tech we did brand new cars for the Detroit autoshow. Even though they were new (so new just a shell with a Vin hanging on metal wire) they still had to be bondo'd end to end, top to bottom & blocked & primed & blocked & primed to get straight. If you were to look at these Mopars at a 80's car show they were nothing more then a nice paint job on a wavy car. Now fast forward 20- years & everybody wants, expects laser straight perfection, wet sanded & rubbed to perfection. They get down on all 4 & look around the car for hours at all different angles of light retention/reflection & nit pit at any micro flaw. Thats all fine with me if you paid $100,000+ for a resto on a solid car but dont expect this after you paid $10,000 on a Rust Bucket basket case. Problem is every body's expectatations have been raised to a higher quality then 20 years ago which in return demands more time, labor, expense, these last 3 some dont understand. No insult intended. Relax. LEON.

I also totally agree....and I've talked to Leon at length about this subject 

[AKcharger]

ummm...junior was just the body guy who the ferarri owner would take the car too.. he's the smart one to be paid for what he's good at.

Oh...Ok, forget that then...junior is OK 

[ChargersETC..ETC..]

Here's a nice hood for $85.

http://portland.craigslist.org/clc/pts/779838865.html

That  hood looks good to me !           

[Ryan]

so I think my opinion on this hood may have just changed. I was putting the hood on the car today and while installing a bolt the welded nutsert broke and now I have a stock loose bolt    not cool AMD..... not cool I just had this thing painted and now I probably am going to have to cutting and welding.

[hemi-hampton]

BUMMER

[Charger-Bodie]

so I think my opinion on this hood may have just changed. I was putting the hood on the car today and while installing a bolt the welded nutsert broke and now I have a stock loose bolt    not cool AMD..... not cool I just had this thing painted and now I probably am going to have to cutting and welding.

Just so you know Ive seen that happen to OEM hoods too. 

[Ryan]

so I think my opinion on this hood may have just changed. I was putting the hood on the car today and while installing a bolt the welded nutsert broke and now I have a stock loose bolt    not cool AMD..... not cool I just had this thing painted and now I probably am going to have to cutting and welding.

Just so you know Ive seen that happen to OEM hoods too. 

40 year old hoods breaking welds is one thing, but a new hood? Any ideas as to what to do?

[Charger-Bodie]

so I think my opinion on this hood may have just changed. I was putting the hood on the car today and while installing a bolt the welded nutsert broke and now I have a stock loose bolt    not cool AMD..... not cool I just had this thing painted and now I probably am going to have to cutting and welding.

Just so you know Ive seen that happen to OEM hoods too. 

40 year old hoods breaking welds is one thing, but a new hood? Any ideas as to what to do?

You could take a hole saw on the bottom side of the hinge rail of the hood , get the old bolt and nut off,  then put a nut on a new bolt . after that you will need to either weld it back shut and repaint....... or you can make a hole on each side and put a body plug the right size in the hole untill a later date when you may need to do some other paint work on the hood.

[Badbob]

then chase the threads to get the paint out.

[Ryan]

well I suppose I am going to drill a hole to access the nutsert and weld it back in. Then AMD said they would pay to re paint the hood, I think thats pretty cool of them.

[IowaCharger69]

so I think my opinion on this hood may have just changed. I was putting the hood on the car today and while installing a bolt the welded nutsert broke and now I have a stock loose bolt    not cool AMD..... not cool I just had this thing painted and now I probably am going to have to cutting and welding.

YES, the same thing happened to mine. AND mine arrived with a outward dent on the top of the hood. Somehow before the top and bottom were attached something hit it hard enough to push the metal outward.

All in all for me a bad experience.

I was extremely happy with it when I first looked at it. Then a lot of things started to pop out at me and then that fixed nut busted off.

If I do another Charger I will be saving an original hood. Regardless of how little work woudl be in an AMD hood to make it work I just cant do it on principle. I, you, no one shoudl have to spend a hundred dollars at a body shop fixing their brand new out of the box hood.

[Mike DC]

   
I think they deserve to be cut a little slack here. 


They're not a Detroit automaker corporation.  They're a relatively small outfit trying to sell us workable replacement parts to support our 40yo cars. 

None of the problems I've heard so far are out of the range of normal startup issues for an operation like this.  And they seem to be trying to make amends for complaints as soon as they hear of them. 




I'm not gonna jump on AMD's backs unless they let a bunch of well-known problems slide and start pissing off customers without making amends. 

(Legendary, are those buttons on the '69 Charger seatcovers ever gonna begin staying on?  I first experienced that problem from you guys 11 years ago, and you told me at the time it was a "temporary" thing that you'd just become aware of.  Has 11 years been enough time?) 

[Blown70]

Having worked in a body shop in my younger years, 14-18,  Let me tell you of the "new" parts that came in even from the manufaturer were NOT always that great.  many a time we had to fix some small issues before paint.   

Sorry to hear your issues here.   But I for one am happy we can even get a hood.  Again they are making right with you what happend, a lot of compaines would not.

[Ryan]

Im not trying to bad mouth them at all. They are a great company and are taking care of me very well. They even offered to send me another new hood for free and keep my other that is completly repairable.

[JimShine]

   


(Legendary, are those buttons on the '69 Charger seatcovers ever gonna begin staying on?  I first experienced that problem from you guys 11 years ago, and you told me at the time it was a "temporary" thing that you'd just become aware of.  Has 11 years been enough time?) 

Funny stuff! I have a full set of tan 1969 Charger seats recovered in 1989 by Legendary. The buttons are the same ones you get today. The only ones intact are on the rear seat, which was never used.

[69*F5*SE]

At least it's not a total "You get what you pay for" scenerio where the parts are inferior too the point of complete waste. They're going to make things right it sounds like and that's a major plus from a parts manufacturer. 

[charger_fan_4ever]

My buddy has ran a bodyshop for 24 years, and about 3 years ago put 8 hours into a NOS 70 duster fender to make it truely straight. The fender wasn't banged up from storage. Just crinkles around the marker light and waves. That being said the charger repro sheetmetal will help a lot of us restore cars that were considered junk 5 years ago due to rust free 1/4's, fenders, doors ect not ready available and NOS parts not affordable.

nmy .02

[moparstuart]

 I have sold aftermarket body parts for 20 years now , we quote everything with at least an hour general clean up . nature of the beast but better than nothing . New OEM metal can need clean up also , they make alot of OEM sheet metal in the same factories in tiawan just on a different line ! 

[Mike DC]

Yeah, this is what I was getting at. 
We deserve quality parts, but sometimes our expectations can also be unrealistic.


It seems like too many people expect a repro sheemetal company to be able to make parts with the quality they (think) they remember the OEM stuff had, stamp them in America, and also sell them for 1976 junkyard prices. 

It's not gonna happen. 



Nobody could do this now.  Not even Detroit itself. 

There's no more 1960s labor prices in America.  And there aren't 200,000 buyers to pay full new-car prices for all these parts, before the cars eventually get sold (at a HUGE loss from the car's original purchase price) to the scrapyard 10 years later.
 
 

[hemi-hampton]

Maybe the problem is this nut only has 2 spot welds holding it down when it really needs 4. Somebody should check into the reason for the continued failure & correct LEON.

[moparstuart]

 That is a common problem with aftermarket hoods .  We have had several of all makes get returned with the same problem . Or the treads are bad or wrong / different threads from one nut to the next in the same hood . E-coat inpacted in the nut needs to be cleans out so on ans so on . You can complain but really you just have to deal with it and go on . You get what you pay for in this case ! But they are better then nothing !