Well I've seen this done on a smooth 4th Gen hood and one or two WS6 style hoods but the magazine articles I've seen have only covered the flat style.

Now I know why

I will let the pics do most of the talking on this one, suffice it to say that if you do decide to do this mod plan on it taking about 6 hours, make sure you have plenty of light and a pal for this one. I was able to do it myself but another set of hands will make a world of difference.

First off, it will fit! Secondly, I "cheated" and used a $40 one from eBay. Why? Because at close to $400 a pop, the real ones ain't cheap and if you mess up you're out of luck. Also, the one that I got was "seamed" in the middle (aka, in two parts) which actually makes it a lot easier to install on a WS6 hood.

Well, only slightly since you then have the added trouble of matching the seams.

OK, a few things you will need.

Soapy water solution or decal setting gel.
A new Exacto knife or similar razor blade. Fine points make things easier, don't use the utility style one.
Masking tape
Soft cloths or sponges
Rubber spreaders or a credit card

Start by cleaning your hood and I do mean clean it. Use a good wax stripper or do what I did and take the opportunity to polish the hood with something like Mequire's Ultimate compound. Obviously make sure you rinse it thoroughly when done.



Liberally apply the soap solution to the hood and lay that bird down!

Get it centered and start smoothing it out. Go slowly and work from the inside out.

As you get to the outside edge of the scoop fllow the curve down but don't worry about the outer edges.

You will need to do some careful trimming and slicing to get it to line up properly. Take your time and keep things wet until you get it where you want it. Patience is key, remember this will take you a solid 4-6 hours to complete! Don't be in a hurry!











Once you get one side done, carefully press out any bubbles near the edges. When you find them in the middle of a section, whip out that Exacto knife and prick the bubble then gently press the area until you get it flat. Come back tomorrow and followup as there will likely be a few "late bloomers" to tend to.

Assuming you take your time you can get some pretty good results. Your back will hurt and you will be bleary eyed but once you step back it'll all be worth it!

Especially once you realize how much money you just saved on shop labor by switching to Geico...... Oh, sorry. You get the drift.

Did you check Phoenix Graphix? Although I know it's been 10 years now, I didn't pay anywhere near $400 for the set I got for Gray Ghost. I don't think I paid $200. The benefit was being able to choose from several color schemes.

But you are spot on by doing half at a time. Mine is a one-piece bird and the 2nd Gen hood is a flat canvas, but I applied it half at a time. I kept the proctective backing on the passenger side as I afixed the driver's side and then just rolled the second half into place.

I have laid a fair number of hood birds down myself, but always on a flat Trans Am hood.
Never on a Ram Air hood.
I like the finish product on the car, it looks good!
I had no problems with an original GM hood bird, but had problems with the Phoenix Graphix one.
Part of the backing stuck to the decal, and the colors were wrong.
Pontiac used gold, not silver on their blue birds.
Plus, I don't see why they couldn't give you 6.6 liter hood scoop decals, since most the cars came with that engine.
To me, they are helping confuse people with giving the wrong hood scoop callouts.

George

Well, I ordered the regular T/A set for my '78 and it ran $425 for the whole set. Most of that is bird obviously. Again, this was really just to see how it would work with a "real" one and to see if I liked the style or not.

So far I'm very pleased with the look but I did learn a few things for next time. I'm also drawing a bird specifically for the RamAir hoods. I'll need to find someone to print it for me when I'm done though...