Thank you guys for the pictures. They are going to help quite a bit. I am still undecided as to whether I want to put on a hood pad or not. I will be painting my hood pan black, but the underside of my hood is the same color of the car (Carousel Red) so the contrast with the pan might look a little off. Both of you had black on black under the hood which made the pan look like a part of the hood. If I go with the pad, that will cover most of the orange, but I will have a black hood pan with orange showing through the center hole. That might actually be an okay look instead of a large piece of black metal bolted on to an orange hood which will look like an obvious "add-on".
Anyway, I appreciate the photos and will definately be using them for reference. I am going to try installing it without cutting the hood as well. Since you were successful in doing it, Im sure it will work without any problems.
In regards to the vent tube for the breather.. I have aftermarket valve covers and the vent holes are not centered like the stock ones were. So even if I was able to find the vent tube, it would not work without changing my valve covers (which Im not against, but more $$$). I looked in my Ames catalog and do not see the vent tube listed, but might just stick with the plug in breathers I am running right now anyway to save a little money. That is always something I can change out later.
