Replacing the hood

[P@ulW]

Can anyone tell me what, if any differences there are between the hood and seals for an SE and an S2? The hood on my S2 has seen better days, although most of the seals aren't too bad, and I have the offer of a sound hood from an SE. (This might be an S2 hood, so how do they look different?) The garage suggests fitting the whole frame assembly and hood from the donor car. Would this work or, if it is an original SE hood, would I end up with a cosmetically improved but leakier car?

Thanks in advance.

[theelanman]

the S2 has a longer header rail......it was to provide more of an overhang to the side window...

the visible difference between the SE and S2 hood is the lip or lack of the lip where the hood sits to the rear of the side/door windows....
if you look at the location of say the door lock.....the gutter/water channel on the SE finishes about 2" above the door trim line
where as if you look at the same location on an S2.........the gutter/water channel returns along the rear deck for about 2" (more of an 'L' shape to it)



thats the simple version......

the S2 seals had the door glass sitting further under it where as the SE sort of just lent on it from the outside....
if you think of 2 vertical surfaces butting up to each other...that was the SE....the S2 had an overhanging lip over it...
hope that makes sense.....

[P@ulW]

Thanks for that - really helpful as I should now be able to tell which hood is for sale. Am I right in thinking that the SE hood isn't as watertight as the S2? And would I be able to fit my S2 header rail (albeit broken at the driver's side) into the SE frame?

Thanks again

[theelanman]

yes the hood are a direct swap without needing to change anything....just a bit of a bugger to get lined up to get a good seal to front back and sides........
in theory the s2 hood is better but only as good as its seals....like any hood really.....
the material didnt change so would be the same on SE as s2