Your Mustang's stock hood isn't anything to write home about. It's there. It usually keeps birds from nesting in your engine bay and generally stays on when you're moving. That's great for the average Joe, but anyone wanting aggressive good looks and some extra performance is going to have to hit up our excellent selection of aftermarket Mustang hoods from powerhouse hood designers like TruFiber and TruCarbon, Cervini's, and several other premium Mustang performance parts manufacturers. Our hoods come in a wide range of designs from mean, drag racing style cowl hoods to hoods that contain functional heat extractors and full ram air systems. Stage 3 has plenty of Fox Body Mustang hoods, 1994 to 1998 Mustang hoods, 1999 to 2004 New Edge Mustang hoods, a bunch of 2005 to 2009 Mustang hoods, 2007 to 2012 Shelby GT500 hoods, and 2010 to 2012 Mustang hoods just waiting to land on your doorstep.

So, which Mustang hood is right for your model year and application? Like just about everything else in this business, the answer just ''depends.'' Our most popular hoods across every generation of Mustang are cowl hoods. Mustang cowl hoods offer the most utility out of just about any hood design out there by looking mean, extracting heat, and giving you more room in your engine bay. Mustang cowl hoods feature a raised section in the center of the hood that can be as high as four inches, but generally stay in the two and a half to three inch range. A cowl hood extracts heat through the use of basic physics. Hot engine compartment air rises up into the cowl and then flows out into your Mustang's slipstream through a set of rear-facing vents. Less heat means a cooler engine, which mean better and more reliable performance. One of the reasons cowl hoods are so popular in the drag racing community is the boatload of extra space they give your Mustang's engine bay. Those extra inches of hood clearance let you use massive superchargers, big-block engine swaps, customized turbo systems, and whatever else you couldn't get under your factory hood.

If cowl hoods aren't your thing and you don't need insanely massive engine modifications or brute power, there's still a bunch of excellent ram air and/or heat extraction hoods for you. Ram air hoods, like the TruFiber GTR Concept hood feature scoops that bring in cool ambient air and route it to your stock air box location. Ram air hoods can get you a few extra horsepower and greatly reduce the temperatures of your Mustang's charge air. Then there are heat extractor hoods like our personal favorite TruFiber Mach 1 hood whose frontal scoops help propel hot engine air back to a set of rear-facing vents that dump it into your slipstream, keeping your engine cooler and extending its life and performance. Ram air systems and heat extraction techniques are both excellent, so why not get both with ONE hood? Your friends over at TruFiber have you covered with their Venom hoods for the 2010 to 2012 Mustangs and 2005 to 2009 Mustangs. The TruFiber Venom Mustang hoods employ a functional ram air system in the form of forward-facing scoops AND a heat extraction system that uses two aggressively-styled, top mounted vents to dump excess engine heat into the atmosphere. TruFiber has also recently released their new carbon fiber RTF Hood that has both a ram air and heat extraction system, if the Venom series just isn't for you.

All of Cervini's hoods that are designed with ''functional'' hood scoops actually require additional hardware in order to become a full-fledged ram air system. Each hood with pre-cut ducting and scoops will requires a Cervini's ram air kit that corresponds to that particular hood model in order to have an actual working ram air system. For example, the 2005 to 2009 Cervini's Concept Hood features functional scoops, but will need the Cervini's Concept Ram Air kit in order to actually be used as a ram air system. Cervini's hoods are still excellent and provide great fitment, looks, and performance, just keep in mind that additional parts are needed to get the full bang for your buck.

So in case you were wondering, Stage 3 has Mustang hoods. Lots of them in a ton of different styles, designs, functions and forms. If you're feeling the need to splurge a little, you can even get yourself a lean, mean carbon fiber hood that will give your Mustang an amazingly high-tech and modern appearance. As far as choosing which hood is right for you, we're a bit torn. We have a bunch of hoods and almost all of them are awesome in one way or another. The best advice that we here at Stage 3 can give you is find one that suits your sense of style and application. If you're building a Mustang for the drag strip and want to put on massive engine upgrades, then a cowl hood is probably for you. If you're just driving around town or are into lighter-duty track applications, then just about any other of our hood inventory should have you covered, though can squeeze some extra engine performance out of a ram air and/or heat extraction hood. Whatever hood you happen to choose, aftermarket Mustang hoods are always a good investment that add tons of style and character onto your Mustang.

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