Just inside of the opening, is there supposed to be something to keep water out?

I found one at the junkyard today for $30 (I think it's on an 87-88). It looks straight, and the plastic part and screen are intact. There just isn't anything to keep water out as far as I can tell. It looks like something could be attached to a few vacant screw holes, but there isn't, and I've never really looked at one before to know or not.

It's also been sanded and primered, but the primer has a cracked sorta look to it, plust there's bare metal amlost in a few spots. It was a work in progress apparently. My car will need a new paint job anyway in the next few years, so I'll just sand and primer the crap out of it until then.

I haven't bought it yet though.

 

The '87-'92 domed hoods were sealed from the factory by a removable plate. The '82-'84 domed Trans Am hoods had a honeycomb mesh plate to let air in the air box. There was a plastic trough bolted under the opening that would collect water and direct it toward the drivers side fender ( it was molded with an incline built in to it.) so it would'nt drip on the engine. I found a hood on an '84 T/A that had the complete cold air set-up still on the hood.It had this trough still there, and its now on my '91 Formula. Chris

 

Well, this one has the honeycomb mesh opening, so it must be the earlier style.

I forgot that it's on a V6 car, so there's no telling just what year it's from. None of the air stuff is there, but at least it would look cool. I suppose it could make a good exit for the hot engine bay air too.

I'll just have to try to find the water routing stuff, or make something myself.

 

i drilled a few holes in my hoods buldge for heat venting then siliconed the lip that was sealed off so it wont leak

 

I just removed the plastic block-off plate from my Formula hood a while back, with plans to repaint it. Decided to just leave it off...looks cool, and might help a tiny bit with cooling the engine by allowing some fresh air into the bay. If a little bit of water drips on the engine, it isn't going to hurt a thing. Considering removing the hood insulation, though...wouldn't want that collecting water and then holding it against the steel so rust can form!