I originally installed some quick latch hood pins when I got my new BMC black mamba hood but after about 2 weeks the paint and fiberglass around them started to crack. I liked them because they were really simple and clean looking but I really really hated how they functioned. They were also very loose in the holes they sat in so the pins could move around a bit which damages the paint under them. The weight of the hood also sits on them which causes stress on the fiber glass or pulls down on the fiber glass depending how the pin heights are adjusted. They were stressing the hood structure either way I adjusted them and started to believe they probably shouldn't be installed on fiberglass panels.
My solution was to install aerocatch pins to replace them as I could reuse the existing holes and they are just designed well. However the body shop refused to install them because they were too scared to touch it. So I had to do it with absolutely no experience. I can turn a wrench all day but body work and cutting more holes into a expensive hood scared the shit out of me. Mainly due to the nature of the aerocatch pins there is almost not margin for error getting them lined up. Another issue I had is that the pins came with no template for how to cut the hole for the latch nor how to line it up with the strike pin which is sorta important. So I made my own with a few improvements in autocad to help make cutting the hole for the latch and lining it up right on the pins easier. It worked extremely well and made lining up the hole onto the strike pin pretty much dead on to where I only had to make small adjustments.
This install really sucked and was stupid stressful but I was really surprised how well it works with the results as both latches close flawlessly and it feels incredibly stable so I figured Id share the results.
freshly painted with the quick latch pins installed
template placed and lined up over the old holes
new pin installed with the template line up over where the pin will fit into the latch
My solution was to install aerocatch pins to replace them as I could reuse the existing holes and they are just designed well. However the body shop refused to install them because they were too scared to touch it. So I had to do it with absolutely no experience. I can turn a wrench all day but body work and cutting more holes into a expensive hood scared the shit out of me. Mainly due to the nature of the aerocatch pins there is almost not margin for error getting them lined up. Another issue I had is that the pins came with no template for how to cut the hole for the latch nor how to line it up with the strike pin which is sorta important. So I made my own with a few improvements in autocad to help make cutting the hole for the latch and lining it up right on the pins easier. It worked extremely well and made lining up the hole onto the strike pin pretty much dead on to where I only had to make small adjustments.
This install really sucked and was stupid stressful but I was really surprised how well it works with the results as both latches close flawlessly and it feels incredibly stable so I figured Id share the results.
template placed and lined up over the old holes
new pin installed with the template line up over where the pin will fit into the latch
