Always wanted to make the stock z28 blister hood functional- make it a heat extracting hood, and I finally went ahead and did it. Used a cutoff wheel to cut the hood and the blisters. Need to use a dremel to finsh the cuts in the blisters and do some more cutting on the hood itself.. Adding galvinized gutter mesh to the holes in the blisters will finish the project..

I think as long as you do it right, it'll look pretty nice and obviously be functional. Make sure to use a very tight mesh screen. Perhaps fiberglass (or aluminum) window screen on top of the gutter mesh. And of course, keep all electrical contacts protected, etc. I like the idea, as long as it doesn't end up causing you too many problems.

kool idea.

I've thought about doing the same thing, and instead of mesh for the grilles, why not just take your blister inserts and drill out each one of the "holes".

Post more pics as you get them. I'm sure there is more people wanting to see how this turns out.

That is a first, nicely done, I hope to see the end result pics.

NICE! Great idea - can't wait to see the finished product!

And how do we plan on keeping the water out?
I like the idea, but all the ones I've seen do it have regretted it.

I've always been a bit hesitant to go through with this because of the idea of rain getting in the engine bay, but then again i live in so cal lol so I would have only have to worry about it a few times a year.

But now that my car is garaged full time, and I never plan to drive it in the rain, I'm not worried about it. If I were ever in a situation where I had no choice but to park it in the rain I would cover the holes with rags or something to keep the water out

its true that it doesnt rain much here in socal, but what about when you wash the car, im sure it will be a pain trying to wash around it. but its a cool idea let us know how the heat decreases

There was a guy running a s/c and did something like that. But he was just opening the area in the front. So he increased airflow around the radiator and the water fell between rad and engine.







This is the route that i wanna go

welcome to the club:

GANGSTA! lol

figure if it rains all the water runs to the side or burns off right?

My car is only a weekend driver and has actually never seen rain. ;-)

did you make new lovers out of metal or is that the plastic ones just cut out?

Looks AWESOME!!!

any plans on smoothing out the bottom of the blister to clean it up? looks sweet btw

I plan to make everything smooth and clean, including all cuts and the bottom of the blisters- that's a good idea.

I just did the same thing last night to my blisters and hood. Looks so good. I'm going to be using the same mesh screen Harwood uses on their hoods. The only problem is, what to do about the rain. I don't drive the car in the rain but I've been caught in it once or twice. My engine is carbed though so not many electrical connections under the open blisters. I'll have pics up in a day or so.

I dig your setup and have actually considered following your example but I have no faith in the plastic. I live in Hell Paso , Texas .. 308 days of sunshine a year, and I know the sun will destroy the already fragile louvers even if they are new. This is not a garage queen unfortunately. Will need some sort of solution that can be used on a daily basis.

I live in Portland, Oregon and we get plenty of rain. I've never had a single problem with my car since I made my louvers functional over 2 years ago.

That looks bad ***.. Your car almost looks the same as our project, 88 Iroc-Z. Beautiful car.

Today I went a step further. Had some free time so I had the hood cut open and the blisters I did myself.
On a short drive I can tell that the temperature comes down really faster after sitting on a stoplight.
Tomorrow I'm gonna smooth the edges on the blisters and install some mesh grilles.
some pics of the work till now:

what the f**k i been wanting to do this! you took my idea right out of my head and made it into a reality, nice job bro. but the only thing that is bad about this is when it rains what are your plans about that man?

thanks. tony

I'm not to scared about some water getting inside the engine compartment. I mean when it rains this area gets water also from the underside while driving.
This is why i didn't open the whole area under the blisters. The water runs down between the engine and the radiator.

Looks really nice.

Why didn't GM think of this?

I did this to my hood a few years ago. Im that happy with the results. However after driving it in the rain the plate on my Hooker super comp 2210's pop off from cool water dripping on the hot headers. Also, prior to having the ceramic coating the water caused the header flanges and bolts to build a decent layer of surface rust. After heavy rain it puddles up on the intake which collects dirt and leaves clean up work to be done.
If I were to do it over again I think I would have just cut the louvers and not the hood. Or at least make a baffle so water can drop to the ground without getting on the engine while still allowing air to escape.

Hey swiss, are those the OEM blisters, or did yo get those from hawks ?

Can you post pictures of your setup as well ?

glad to see some people are as crazy as i am.
i am in the fabrication stage of using firebird vents - front and side - but making them functional. just to get air flowing through the engine compartment. figured not a lot of rain will get in and if it does will not hit the engine. side vents will just let air out as they are angled to the rear.
famous last words.

Here's what I did. Still in it's rough stage but this weekend I'm going to touch up whats left and paint them.

i didnt something like this on my 84 i had fiberglass iroc hood on it with out the louvers or blisters and i cut the part out that was raised going back to the stock hight and what a mistake that was.. it was a carbed motor, and everytime it rained i had to pull over.. man that car was a pos.. everytime it back fired after that it would send flames threw the hood openings that i had cut. hahaha scared a bunch of people tho and looked pretty cool at night..

Definitely consider making a baffle. The last thing you want is awter all over your intake... hydrolocking your motor etc.

These are the OEM.

The first is now nearly finished:



Just need some paint to color the white edges.

Dude that **** looks freaking tight, I been wanting to do that too mine but I'm concern about some H2o getting in there, so yeah.

Tony.

What could be done to make sure water doesn't get into the hood when it's sitting? I very rarely drive my car in the rain due to never ending wheel spin and the lack of heat/defrost in the car. Windows fog up in miliseconds.

I was thinking of just having a plastic sheet over the hood or maybe stuffing something over the holes? I don't have a garage

what kind of paint did u use? was it glossy paint? how many coats? looks great! thanks!

Nice Job!! Now this makes me want to do the same.

For those who are scared about the water raining over the engine. Just cut the area further to the front of the car. see also the pic that I posted from lbsz28 white convertible.
If you remove the hood blisters you'll find that if you cut the holes in the hood as far forward as possible the hot air from the Radiator tends to exit before getting to the intake also a plus is that when you wash the car water doesn't get on the engine it just run down behind the radiator.
On the other hand, while driving in the rain there is also water from underside coming into the engine bay.

@kallark: thats still the original paint. I just need some touch up paint for the egdes

@Demon: Probably the easiest way would be a plastic over the hood. Or if you would fab something up to channel the water under the hood, but I'm not sure if theres room enough.

My hood came with louvers stock, can I put blisters on this hood or were they made differently. It almost looks like they were.

As far as I know the hood is the same. You just can switch over to blisters, bolts right up

took a look at classic industries: # 1668008 / 85-92 Z28 CAMARO HOOD

so it should be the same

Wish I would have thought of that before hacking into my hood

looks good.
lets see them installed

How many times do we wish we would have thought of something before we started a job like this?

Are the thirdgen blisters as coveted as the louvers ? I can imagine they would be since they were only used for a few years. Are their any repro's being made or im I going to get pimped on ebay for a set ?

Looks great!

finished product, looks almost stock...

Looks great!! I'm just wondering how did you attach the mesh to the louvers?

Epoxy

Looks good dude! Mine should be painted soon so once I get the hood done, I'll throw my pics up. I used epoxy/RTV to hold mine.