HEADLIGHT
"SCOOP" INFO (New/Used)
Originally
all roadsters but the 67 and 68 2000's came with scoops
that had a typical shiny chrome finish. The 67 and 68
2000 came with scoops that had a "satin" finish inside
the scoop. (Some people call these the "dull"ones). You
can of course use either type.
The
current right front "shiny" scoops are the typical Nissan
parts that were manufactured in the 80s. We just pulled
them from storage (4/12). They are as nice, chrome wise,
as any of the OEM parts were. They are not
"show-chromed", they too will have visible lines in the
chrome, but these are OEM Nissan parts, we're not talking
Rolls Royce here folks. The early parts from the 60s and
70s were the best; for many parts the chrome or the prep
work got worse over time; at least with these scoops. As
with most of the later parts they vary in size (see next
paragraph). These are not the early production OR the
late production that were way off; they seem about
1/8"-3/16" bigger in diameter; no where near how bad the
latest ones were.
There
was also a lack of consistency in how the parts were
formed over the years. The fenders varied as well. Some
of the scoops will not go on comfortably in as a
"relaxed" state as others, you have to install the screw
on the outer rim of the scoop, then push the scoop in
place, flexing it a little and install the "in-the-scoop"
screw. You may have to reposition the hole for it as
well. Typically you fit the scoop to the top and outer
edge of the fender first as those areas will be more
noticeable if there is a poor fit. If your fender has
been reworked and the shop didn't constantly check the
scoop fit you may find that no scoop fits. Making any of
them fit perfectly is much easier if you're at the body
work stage, but they all seem to require at least some
work when originally installing them. We sometimes refer
to the used parts as "Early Production" and "Late
Production". It depends on how the part is located on the
fender but in general the older the part the
better.
2015
UPDATE: Although the later ones can look terrible on a
new fender; even though the "new" fenders are also 40
years old there was a lot of work that has to be done to
a fender to finish making the multiple panels that make
up the front area look good. I took a new rim over to 3
stripped-of-chrome cars and some of the rims looked OK.
The newest rims of course suffer from Nissan's supplier
not bothering to do basic polish work before plating the
parts. Why they wouldn't polish out the tooling lines
that happened when the part was formed is beyond my
imagination.
On
the USED scoops "To be refinished" can be dull chrome,
very tiny specs or lots of work; see pics and info pages.
(click on part number) Any pitting mentioned is in the
surface and is not rusted through. As with all used parts
and especially those where appearance matters; we try to
ENHANCE pictures of defects; not lessen them. Many can be
used as is and look like what many cars have on them. You
can always replate them at a later time as budget allows.
Chrome is difficult to present accurately; as some of the
defects you wouldn't really notice unless you were
sitting on the ground in front of your headlight with
your face six inches away from the scoop. Even just NEW
chrome isn't what people really want; it is what is
called SHOW CHROME which is incredibly expensive and
wonderful to look at...