My plain pin-on hood was built by (now shut down) AeroGlass Fabrications in Nashville, GA. Wish that place were still around. It weighs 9 pounds. I used 4 hood pins and never had a problem with it trying to come off. I put pins on the core support through the holes were the hood stops were originally if I remember correctly. At the firewall I bolted a couple "L" brackets bolted into the holes that the hood hinges bolted into the firewall. Mounting it like that I never had to drill any holes in the car for the hood. Don't ask me why I did that as there have sure been plenty drilled for other junk.
I could remove/install it by myself with no trouble at all. I'm 5/8" so my arms aren't super long either.
Later I bought a cowl induction bolt-on hood from a member here that he had built by a company in Canada called Show Cars Body Works or something like that. NOT Show Cars that we all know of who sales 409 parts. I'm not sure if they are still in business either. That one weighs around 40 pounds. I could not find my hood hinges and as I didn't want to add any more weight than I had to, I drilled through the hood and mounted it with pins as well. Again, never had a problem (except when some dummy forgot to put the clips in the pins before taking a quick test drive after playing with jets/timing
I could have killed the guy, but I don't believe in Suicide.
) Luckily it only required minor work to fix the hood. I can remove/install this one by myself when I have to, but prefer to have a helper. Especially to put it back on and get the pins aligned with the holes in the hood. The size makes it awkward and the extra little bit of weight works against you when your arms are stretched across the hood and you are bent over the core support.
I also have a pin-on trunk lid made by VFN. It weighs less than 10 pounds. I use dzus quarter turn fasteners on it. Looks much better and is more secure as well. Just more professional looking too. They are a pain in the you know what to install though.
I wrote all that just to give some background on my experience with the FG hoods. If I were starting over I'd get a bolt on and keep my stock hinges and latch. In fact I have been strongly thinking about getting one from VFN in the next few years. Not a cowl, just a stock replacement.
