So, to make a long story short, I've got an issue with my '97 TJ. Its more or less a project vehicle that I'm turning into my daily driver... You can find some old posts from me about oil pressure and the like. Well, we've moved past that, and currently have issues with our old hood. TL;DR, previous owner busted it up with a bad crease across where it meets the frame if you were to rest the hood in the 'up' position. This bent the latches out of position, meaning they don't properly lock... We've nearly shredded one latch, and the other is bending awkwardly to even lock in.
Fenders are fine, there's some kind of aftermarket setup installed and they aren't damaged, but the hood latches don't match up with the bottom half on the fenders. Solution? New hood. Problem! My jeep is an early series TJ. The early series (First year run) use a different hood latch than every other TJ. Instead of being a center latch, there is a mechanism in the grille that 'hooks' into the hood, in a slot off-set to the passenger side. This means that, to replace the hood, I need to find a hood made for a '97 TJ Wrangler... ANY hood on a TJ from '98 onwards uses the other mechanism, and is incompatible.
We've tried a few pick-a-part places, local dealers, local salvage, and the like. No dice. Hoods, it seems, are pretty uncommon to find second-hand in really good shape, especially from salvage. I've tried looking at OEM and aftermarket online stores, but every single "'97-2006" TJ hood is either a one-nozzle hood, or a two-nozzle hood for the '98 and onwards TJs.
I'd kill for some advice on how to find a compatible hood without having to jankily dremel out a notch for the latch. I'm not above swapping out my entire grille for a '98 or newer model, but it's a last resort, given that I would then need to find an intact and complete -grille-, on top of the hood.
Fenders are fine, there's some kind of aftermarket setup installed and they aren't damaged, but the hood latches don't match up with the bottom half on the fenders. Solution? New hood. Problem! My jeep is an early series TJ. The early series (First year run) use a different hood latch than every other TJ. Instead of being a center latch, there is a mechanism in the grille that 'hooks' into the hood, in a slot off-set to the passenger side. This means that, to replace the hood, I need to find a hood made for a '97 TJ Wrangler... ANY hood on a TJ from '98 onwards uses the other mechanism, and is incompatible.
We've tried a few pick-a-part places, local dealers, local salvage, and the like. No dice. Hoods, it seems, are pretty uncommon to find second-hand in really good shape, especially from salvage. I've tried looking at OEM and aftermarket online stores, but every single "'97-2006" TJ hood is either a one-nozzle hood, or a two-nozzle hood for the '98 and onwards TJs.
I'd kill for some advice on how to find a compatible hood without having to jankily dremel out a notch for the latch. I'm not above swapping out my entire grille for a '98 or newer model, but it's a last resort, given that I would then need to find an intact and complete -grille-, on top of the hood.