Frequently Asked Questions
Find answers to Frequently Asked Questions for First Generation Firebirds that have been asked and answered on FGF. Special thanks needs to be given to all the FGF members who took the time to respond to other member's questions.
Body - Hoods
Short answer: Chromed scoop inserts aren’t factory — someone had the original inserts chrome-plated. They were originally painted body color (some have been painted black, possibly a dealer touch).
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Content last modified: June 13, 2026 at 10:06 am
Short answer: 1967 and 1968–69 hoods differ in the inner structure and the hood latch — not the hinges. All hoods can be made to fit across the years and look the same externally, but you must not mix the wrong latch with the wrong hood catch (that’s how hoods pop open at speed).
Year differences:
- 1967 400 hoods have a unique inner structure (that model/year only), a “flatter” hood-catch hole, and a unique latch with no extra safety ear — the secondary safety catch relies solely on its spring.
- 1968 changed the catch in the hood understructure (it sticks down slightly farther on the driver’s side) to work with a redesigned, more-positive latch that has an extra ear on the passenger side to force the safety catch into place. The lever pull is the same as 1967.
- 1969 kept the 1968 hood and latch but changed the latch pull to a “rod.”
Note: a factory-looking hood-tach hole can be cut in about 30 minutes with a drill, jigsaw, and Dremel.
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Content last modified: June 13, 2026 at 10:06 am
Short answer: 1967 and 1968 each had two hoods (standard flat and scooped “400”); 1969 had four. There was no unique factory “Ram Air” hood for 1967–68 — that conversion was done at the dealer.
| Hood | Part # |
|---|---|
| 1967 Standard (flat) | 9788846 |
| 1967 “400” (scooped) | 9789418 |
| 1968–1969 Standard (flat) | 9793429 |
| 1968–1969 “400” (scooped) | 9793430 |
| 1969 “400” w/ Ram Air | 9797763 |
| 1969 Trans Am | 5460140 |
- Factory 1967–68 “Ram Air” cars used the standard “400” hood, shipped with closed scoop inserts installed and open inserts in the trunk for the dealer to fit (along with the hood baffle, carb shroud, and seals). So a functional Ram Air hood for 1967–68 is just a regular “400” hood with open scoops. The only purist note: installing the Ram Air hood baffle required the dealer to trim part of the hood under-structure along the right-hand scoop.
- 1969 (except Trans Am) used a slightly different hood when Ram Air was ordered, for the new functional, driver-controlled scoops (a different hood baffle plus a cable-and-flap system operated by a knob under the dash). The Trans Am hood differed from the “400” hood but used a similar cable-controlled scoop system.
- One member disputes the 1969 Trans Am driver-controlled scoops, noting the Trans Ams he has seen had no such provision — that feature is more commonly documented on GTOs.
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Content last modified: June 13, 2026 at 10:06 am
Short answer: One member’s take: the hood tach isn’t very accurate, is hard to read, and lacks the dampener circuitry good tachs have — so you can’t reliably tell, say, 5000 from 5200 rpm.
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Content last modified: June 13, 2026 at 10:06 am
Short answer: The hood tach was mostly factory-installed (though dealers and owners fitted them too). The factory used a punch operation in a known location and added rivets plus nuts for security — so for a correct install, get the dimensions from a factory hood that has one. Today’s reproduction tachs work better than originals (circuits, lighting) but have a slightly “fuzzy”-looking plastic face.
History & variations (from PMD parts books, restoration guides, articles, and service bulletins — exceptions always exist):
- First available Feb/Mar 1967 on all Pontiac models. The first “tall” style (taller case) used a single bulb, with face/redline variations by car and engine.
- 1967 (and very early 1968) Firebirds used the tall style — black background with green characters (GTO and full-size were steel-blue with white characters).
- The 2nd “short” style (case ~an inch shorter, two bulbs) went into production April 20, 1967; its face was a circular pattern, changed to an oval pattern June 29, 1967 — steel-blue background, white characters.
- 1969 brought the final major change: black background with white characters. The hood tach lasted through 1972.
- Redlines: 1967 OHC-6 Firebird = 6500 (later 5500); RA II used the OHC-6 5500; all others used 5100. The rarest is the “supposed” RA V hood tach with shift lights built into the face (one found on a 1969 Judge RA V build).
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Content last modified: June 13, 2026 at 10:06 am
Short answer: To place an aftermarket hood tach (all references as if sitting in the driver’s seat — “right” = toward hood center, “front” = toward the bumper):
- Left rear corner of the tach to the left edge of the hood: 4.75″
- Left rear corner of the tach to the rear edge of the hood: 3.75″
- Right rear corner of the tach to the rear edge of the hood: 2 13/16″
Fudge these slightly to get the tach face square to the car’s axis. The required hole in the hood is 3.75″, offset (not centered under the tach) to clear the housing and wires below.
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Content last modified: June 13, 2026 at 10:06 am
Short answer: Yes — the hole size, mounting holes, and location differ between the 1967 (tall-style) tach and the 1968–69 (short-style) tach.
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Content last modified: June 13, 2026 at 10:06 am
Short answer: Two well-regarded hood-tach rebuilders:
- Randy Watson — The Tach Shop, 2201 Surry Rd, Jeffersonville, IN 47130 — 812-284-2555. Rebuilds/restores hood tachs.
- “The Tach Man” (South Carolina) — tachman.com, 800-327-8716. Approx. $175 to rebuild/restore including silk-screening.
Both restore to an original appearance using updated components/circuitry. The current repro tach has been refined but still differs slightly (plastic “fuzzy” face and face trim); its functionality and lighting are superior to an original.
What a restoration involves:
- Case: repair/replace case, face trim, base.
- Face: restore, silk-screen, or replace faded/rusted faces (cheap adhesive repro faces exist but aren’t concours).
- Circuits: repair/replace the printed circuit or its components (parts are cheap at electronics-supply shops).
- Head/movement: where the needle resides — may need repair or recalibration.
- Wiring: the correct rubber bulb sockets were also used on some-year taillights; a correct harness is easy and cheap to duplicate from junkyard sockets/connectors.
If you just want a working tach for under ~$200, the repro (better internals/lighting; “fuzzy” plastic face) may be the better buy; for 100% correct appearance, use a restorer.
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Content last modified: June 13, 2026 at 10:06 am
Short answer: Don’t bother reworking the 3.8 Liter OHC hood emblems — it is not really feasible, and there are still plenty of NOS ones available. (The 4.1 emblems are harder to find.)
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Content last modified: June 13, 2026 at 10:06 am
Short answer: A small break in a printed circuit board can be repaired by soldering a short piece of bare stranded copper wire across the break. Use very thin rosin-core solder and a small tip on a low-wattage iron, and clean and tin both the wire ends and the foil before joining.
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Content last modified: June 13, 2026 at 10:06 am
Short answer: Reproduction 1967–68 Firebird Ram Air hood baffles do exist but are rare. They trace to a Barry Martin (Sonic Motors) project — a Kirksite die that stamped fewer than ~100 pieces, originally around $375–$450 each, later through Performance Years. Quality was good (draw marks duplicated, laser-cut center hole).
- Kirksite dies are softer than production tool steel — good for only about 75 hits before the sharp definition fades — so total production was limited.
- The lower Ram Air carb shroud has been rumored as a repro but rarely seen. Used prices run roughly $400–$500 for the carb shroud and similar or more for the hood baffle.
- Don’t overpay for “Ram Air” scoops: the factory Ram Air scoops were just regular closed scoops milled out and repackaged in a Ram-Air-part-numbered GM box (open vs. closed doesn’t matter unless you collect NOS boxes).
- Application: Hood Baffle — 1967–68 Firebird (and 1969 for non-purists). Carb Shroud — 1967–68 Firebird, 1968 GTO (and 1969 Firebird / 68–69 for non-purists).
Any proposed updates, changes, pictures, and/or corrections, please use our comment section below (may need to click on permalink to access comments feature). Information is subject to change and offered as is without any warranties or guarantees. Please review our Term's Of Use for more information.
Content last modified: June 13, 2026 at 10:06 am
Content last modified: June 9, 2026 at 7:10 am
