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Just in case anyone wonders, an Avenger hood will fit nicely on a Conquest... with a few mods. Like many others, my Conquest was missing its hood when I bought it. I was at the dealer ready to order a new one when an Avenger hood on a nearby shelf caught my eye. The dimensions are very similar for the front hood areas. It's not an "easy" solution, but definitely updates the front nose of the Conquest.
It's necessary to heat the front lip of the Conquest's body at the front edge of the engine compartment to "lay it down" from its 90 degree upright position. When the Avenger hood is mocked up, two 3/4" triangular gaps result at the front edges that need to be filled by plastic welding. There was one interference issue with the Kawasaki's radiator cap, so it's necessary to heat that area and create a pocket to accomodate it.
It also required CNC'ing some aluminum hinge mounts/risers to correctly mount it using factory hardware. That was actually the most difficult part as the height and depth were tricky to get the front hood's nose flush with the front body's. The CNC'd hinge mount pieces attach just before and on top of the quarter round section at the windshield base.
Once done though, it's very hard to tell from an OEM installation. I almost added the new HDI's scoop, but when playing with some perforated sheet metal, ended up liking the look of just the perforated material. May need to develop a cold air intake to give it a purpose.
So far everything is functional and extremely secure. Nice and quiet too. All that's left is to fabricate a cowl to close the 1" gap at the rear of the hood.
Hood 1.jpgHood 2.jpgHood 3.jpg
It's necessary to heat the front lip of the Conquest's body at the front edge of the engine compartment to "lay it down" from its 90 degree upright position. When the Avenger hood is mocked up, two 3/4" triangular gaps result at the front edges that need to be filled by plastic welding. There was one interference issue with the Kawasaki's radiator cap, so it's necessary to heat that area and create a pocket to accomodate it.
It also required CNC'ing some aluminum hinge mounts/risers to correctly mount it using factory hardware. That was actually the most difficult part as the height and depth were tricky to get the front hood's nose flush with the front body's. The CNC'd hinge mount pieces attach just before and on top of the quarter round section at the windshield base.
Once done though, it's very hard to tell from an OEM installation. I almost added the new HDI's scoop, but when playing with some perforated sheet metal, ended up liking the look of just the perforated material. May need to develop a cold air intake to give it a purpose.
So far everything is functional and extremely secure. Nice and quiet too. All that's left is to fabricate a cowl to close the 1" gap at the rear of the hood.
Hood 1.jpgHood 2.jpgHood 3.jpg
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