Thanks to those who have reccomended our products, I appreciate that and your business! root
We entered the Shaker Hood conversion market because we saw room for an improved quality and OEM detail Shaker Hood Conversion product as compared to what was already on the reproduction market. Because there were already multiple excellent quality reproduction sources for most of the other Shaker componants we chose not reproduce them.
We also realized that most of our customers would of course need the other componants to complete thier setups. What we did to lend a hand was to evaluate all of the known sources for reproductions of these other componants (as compared to originals we have on hand) and came up with a list of reccomended vendors.
Other than quality the biggest variable between them is price. We shopped most vendors and found that by large most of thier prices are pretty similar (on similar quality offerings) but there are some vendors who try a little harder than others, and more importantly, offer quality service as well.
Of all the items the two most visible are the Shaker bubble and grills, if the bubble is low quality it's going to show, and if the fit of the grills into the bubble openings is not excellent, they can really look bad. For this reason I would be VERY particular about who you choose for a source on these two componants. To date the best quality bubbles I have seen are offered by AAR Fiberglass & Gene Gregory (also sold through Six Pack Performance), the best grills I've seen are made by Jerome Verbit, his are available either direct or sold through Six Pack Performance and Year One. The originals were cast metal, and so are Jeromes, but they are expensive to. Another excellent fitting grill are the least expensive as well, the plastic units available from AAR Fiberglass and often seen on ebay, yes, wrong material but they look "real" once installed and fit great at a VERY low price.
The other major componants you'll need are the Base Plate & Adapter Ring, these are only manufactured by two vendors, Shakerhood.com and Gene Gregory (also sold through Six Pack Performance) the quality is pretty similar but if you want the most accurate I'd reccomend Gene's, his welds are more like factory originals among other small details but his also cost a little more. Art Pacheco at Six Pack is a good guy, and even though we are competitors on some products I consider him to be a good parts source who offers friendly service.
I've found that in many cases the majority of the under hood parts are available at the lowest prices on Ebay, especially things like the Air Filter Lid, Filter Hot & Cold Air Doors, Cables, Shaker Feet, Nuts, Bolts, and other misc. hardware.
If you want a really low cost alternative you could use a fiberglass Base Plate & Adapter Ring, and a lower cost bubble and grills, the easiest source is Year One for these parts, but I can put you in touch with the manufacturer as well, just e-mail me. These parts have some drawbacks other than the OEM lack of appearance/detail, as they also lack many provisions for functional H&C Air Doors, cables, etc. but will typically get the job done and locate your bubble through the hole in the hood.
At any rate I'm sure if you guys make a few phone calls you can compare prices for yourself, quality is something that's hard to shop, maybe some of the opinions posted above can guide you in that area. I hope these comments help you a little in your shopping.
*As a convienience to our customers we have started stocking AAR Fiberglass bubbles and sell them at the same price as going direct.
Best regards,
Scott Smith
Harms Inc.
