Yupp...another project from TACOMA haha. Over the next few weeks i'll be working on a custom hood for the truck. To keep the underhood temps lower for my buick3800...ill be taking a 2.5 or 3 inch cowl induction peice and molding it into a stock hood. My questions are these...
1) use a 2.5 inch or a 3 inch cowl induction?
2) Whats the best method of molding the piece into the stock hood?
want it to be seamless, and after i paint it it should look stock. m thinking about riviting the cow eice to the hood to keep it secure than using bondo to mold it in. Advice,tips and wrte ups or more than welcome!

 

Seems like I should use fiberglass resin first, and sand all that down. Than go over everything with bondo to give me a fresh, smooth paintable surface.

 

Here's the steps I took, bare metal, fiberglass resin, rivets, fiber glass mat and resin, bondo, prime and paint. Didn't take any process pics but here it is before paint. Your also gonna want to open up the hood under the cowl to release heat and help prevent cracking. I also put a vented dam at the back of the cowl to let the heat out and keep debris out.



The finished cowl is a bit more smoother transition. This was attempt # 2, the final was #6.

 

Could you PLEASE post more pictures of that? From differant anlges and such. Also, where did you get the cowl induction piece? thats exactly what i want

 

Before you go to all that trouble, if its just for cooling anyway, try driving with the hood off and see if it runs cooler. Mine didn't.

 

I'll dig up some more pics tomorrow, The cowl was actually from my damaged 70 Chevelle fiber glass hood. Shortened and made to look more like the 69 Camaro cowl. There was a place on the net that sold fiber glass cowls and scoops, i'll see if I can find that too. Heres one place http://www.up22.com/scoopw1.htm

 

mt_goat, your right it doesn't do anything for cooling at all. It all depends on your definition of Cool Some hate it, I like it, see quite a few in the UK.

 

Oh that's cool, I do like the looks of them.

 

I want it for a few reasons..A) it will look basass on my truck. B) I like projects C) it will help with under hood temps. I know you said it wont..but i beg to differ. Maybe not at highway speeds, but in bumper-bumper traffic, or those real slow passed trails...it gives the hot air a place to escape. It should be a fun project for me. Your first go at it isnt exactly what I want. I want mine to blend into to front "buldge" of the hood...making one curve. If that makes sence? Ive found a few differant scoops. IM just waiting to get some measurments. BTW whats the going rate for a good used hood? A buddy has a spare and he said "offer me what you think is fair" whats fair?

 

I think what mt_goat meant was engine temp, under hood temps generally don't effect the engine operating temp. The under hood temps will effect air intake temps in the start, stop, standing traffic that you seem to have. As far as a used hood price, a supply and demand sort of thing. Mine was from an 89 Toyota pickup for 20 bucks at the yard. I know what you mean about starting at the front and that should be doable. It would be a bit wider and look more like those on the 70 Cuda Hemi's, I just used what I had laying around.

 

Yes that's right. I didn't think to monitor intake temps during my "no hood" test drive. Maybe I was just too mesmerised by how much the engine bounces and moves around while driving down the road. My intake breathes entirely from inside the fender well though so it probably wouldn't have made a difference anyway.

 

OO sorry GOAT I miss understoof you! What do you guys think of just riviting the cowl on, and not molding it? After the whole thing is painted flat black, you wouldnt realy see the rivits. I dunno. I would hate to put all that time into fiberglass/bondo to bash it up on the trails. Thoughts?

 

Seems like that would be a great way to get a few extra inches of height for a 3rz or 5vz swap.

 

yea it is actually lol

 

I THINK im gonna buy a cowl and just rivit it to the hood. If I dont like it, i can bond it in

 

I'm not sure of the just riveting idea, it's a bit of a 70's gearhead look. But what do you have to lose, like you said there's always do it later. I suppose if you riveted at an even spacing it would give it a heavy metal military look. Give it a shot and post them pics.

 

yea i woudlnt just throw rivets here and there..Ide have them spaced out equally. Plus the whole hood would get flat blacked, so the rivets would blend in after painted. We will see...

 

Well I am no expert when it comes to attaching stuff like that to a vehicle but if I did it I would probably rivet it and smooth the seams over with fiberglass bondo. That stuff is great, it doesn't swell up and get jacked up like normal bondo when it sees a little moisture etc. It also doesn't get brittle as easy as the traditional stuff.

 

its a LOT more involved that just "smoothnig the seems over"

 

Well I threw that out in lamens terms. I know that you would have to be relatively artistic/talented to do it that way and make it look really good. I know there would be a ton of sanding involved as well. I guess I was giving an idea that I personally would do. I would goop the crap out of it, and sand the whole thing smooth so it looked like it was part of the hood and covered the rivets. It may not look like a body shop did it, and certainly wouldn't look factory, but I would make it look good as possible with the knowledge and experience I have. I wasn't really implying purposely that it would be as easy as "just smoothing it over", I was just using that as a phrase to describe a lot of PITA body work to make two things look like they have always been one.

P.S. I'm talking about what Dublin was saying, minus the matting. His option is definitely a better idea, especially for something that will really last, but my idea would work fine if someone took their time and worked carefully.