hood vent ideas?

[hollywood68]

With temps getting close to 100 its getting pretty warm under the hood, wondering if anyone has done custom hood vents or added some from another vehicle, not louvers - not a fan. I've seen various vents added to the hood of some 4x4's, primarily from old Lebaron's, and they can look good. Probably wont look good on our trucks but just wondering what others have done or seen.

Doubt I will actually cut my pretty patina hood but it does have me thinking. BTW the trucks cooling system works well but it just seems really warm under there on hot days after extended slow speed jaunts.

so lets see em'

[ChevLoRay]

I remember the big Ford trucks, back in the '60's, had what looked like a hood scoop facing backwards, on the left side of the hood. It looked quite a bit like the 55-57 T-Bird hood scoop, but turned 180-degrees.

There's NACA-type scoops/vents that I remember seeing on early '70's Mustang hoods.

Camaro's had vents in the hoods of the '69's, whether or not they were functional....I don't remember. Never had an occasion to ask, nor do I remember if I read that they were.

There are a variety of fake and functional vents at the Stylin' Trucks on-line catalog that may be of interest.

[hollywood68]

thanks for the reply and site. My thought would be to adapt another older vehicles vents to the 68'.

I recall on my old 73 Bronco there was two areas at the rear of the hood that were designed as air vents (different app as they actually connected to the cowl under the hood for in-cab ventilation) and you could get two "bubble" shaped scoops that would aid in ventilation. Something similar to this is my thought.

I think a "flat" vent wouldn't look as gawdy but just curious what others have seen, and it doesnt matter if its on a 67-72

[Shane]

old fashion louvers are hard to beat ...

[Dingfodgy]

I hark back to me vee-dub days when elevated engine compartment temps would fry the little air-cooled engines. What we did in the summer months was;
a. Run 'em without a decklid (hood), which was fine if you had a purty little stroker mill back there, but kinda jankity if you had a crusty grease-ball stocker.
b. There were these nifty aluminum decklid hinge standoffs that would prop the front of the lid open about 3" and let a bunch of fresh air in there to cool things down. The hood still closed and latched as normal....it just had this gap in the front, right below the rear window. I've often thought about crafting a similar gimmick for a conventional hood....the theory being that the air flow up and over the windshield would create an area of low pressure and as we learned in physics class- air is constantly moving from areas of high pressure to low pressure in an effort to attain equilibrium. Basically it should pull air out from under the hood- thus pulling more air through the radiator. I just don't know if it would look totally f-tarded or not.

[gn4u2c2]

87-92 GTA pontiac's or Z34 lumina vents work great.

[Zeus]

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I like the cowl induction. One on each side lengthwise. Close to the sides. When its cold, they can be made to close off and keep everything warm. When its hot, let'em breathe. The other two I like also and would place them lengthwise but closer to the center of the hood. If it is raining hard they would let rain into the engine bay. Shouldn't be a problem unless the distributor is in the line of fire. Hope these help and good luck.

[d10s69c10]

well ikinda liked my stock hood. and i was having overheating problems i went with a griffin 4 core aluminum radiator and 2 12" electric cooling fans and leave them running whenever the truck is on havent had a problem since.

that Project copperhead truck had a 2 inch cowl it looked pretty good.

[special-K]

Cowl induction.It let`s heat escape very well if it`s not sealed to the air cleaner.Your truck will be fine in 100 deg. heat as long as everything is in proper working order.You could always install coolers w/fans,though.

[hollywood68]

the more I think about it the less I want to cut the hood, but if I find something that looks right I'll do it. Thanks for the ideas, I kind of like the Chevelle "hood flapper" idea...

It has been close to 100 here again for the past week, the truck has a new aluminum radiator so cooling isnt the issue, trucks not overheating or anything. I have been told, not sure Im following them, that it can be too hot under the hood causing a vapor lock situation in the intake manifold.

The truck doesnt idle well when it is really hot out, and did die on me once. I am contributing this to a form of vapor lock as the headers are REALLY close to the fuel line at the framerail. I should start with some heat wrap on the fuel line, check the timing, and then go from there. Touching things like the throttle linkage and having it feel way to hot, got me thinking about lowering underhood temps...

I cant get the classic bronco hood bubbles out of my head, kind of like two very small cowls at the rear corners of the hood. I cant find a good picture of them or I would post it here.

thanks again for the ideas and advice, the search continues...

[Prerunner1982]

Underhood temps are a problem with Jeep XJs too.. a trick that is often used is to put a 1" spacer between the hood and hinge.. Hood vents are often used as well. Here are some pics... I realize they are XJs and you are asking about a 67-72 chevy truck but perhaps it will give you some ideas.

1996 Grand am


Lebaron



Z34

[PanelDeland]

A cowl induction hood will not vent through the opening in the rear of the hood.They are designed to take advantage of the high pressure area there to push air in that vent.This would still aid cooling since more air would be flowing through the vents and down the engine compartment and out under the truck.I would think blocking up the rear of the hood would do the same.
Pusher fans in front of the rad might flow more air thru the engine bay also.Taking heat from the engine is the big deal to keeping the underhood temps down,so if the engine runs cooler then the temp should go down.I don't see a problem as long as the engine isn't overheating,but an oil cooler may help.

[hollywood68]

I'm familiar with the XJ's, my other hobby is offroad Jeeps. That is actually what made me mention the Lebaron vents, they are a common swap on the XJ's if I am correct. My biggest issue is disgracing the patina hood on my 68'. If I can add some vents and not hurt the look I'm for it.

[special-K]

In reality the area at the base of a truck windshield is a vacuum in aero dynamics and air bounces off the front end over the hood to the tip of the roof.Also,any body type would not have that intake dynamic at low speeds and the cowl hood would act as a heat escape.Once moving along it may act to interfere with the air flow design meant for air to pass over the engine and down across it.When moving along at hiway speed air flow gives adequate cooling making venting not an issue.Airflow is your friend and it`s at low speed that it needs help to escape.
You see ambulances with louvers and cops sit with their hoods popped when idling in high heat.That when venting is a benefit.Otherwise they just look cool.