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I'm looking at my 89 GTA's hood and I'm thinking about the 4 vents Pontiac has placed on it. I like the "What If 's" when it comes to a car. What if they could be made functional? I think about venting hot air out the engine compartment and the Ram Air feature on other models. But it most be done without loosing the OEM appearance. Adapting the rear side louvers to ventilate hot air out may not be to difficult. I do think turning the 2 forward louvers into a type of Ram Air is a different story. I have some thoughts on how to accomplish this. I could use some feed back, any ideas?
I know people with IROCs have done this with their hood louvers. I'm not very familiar with the GTA's hoods, but I'd assume it would be the same idea.
I bought an IROC hood and some louvers and made them functional on mine:
I have a TBI setup as well, which can be a little sketchy when it comes to rain, but I haven't had any problems. If it rains while the engine is on, there are 0 issues. It's rained VERY hard here while I've been driving/idling as well. If it rains and the car has been sitting, I like to try and take a rag or something and wipe the water off the top of the air cleaner.
You will not realize any RAM AIR effect from the front scoops due to their being mounted on the surface of the hood and not outside of the barrier layer. Even the late 60's early 70's Firebird & GTO hoods were ineffective in contributing a RAM effect although they did allow the engines to draw in cooler, denser, outside air as compared to the warmer underhood air. The scoops that came the closest to working were the 70-75 Formula scoops but the path the air had to travel within the hood was so convoluted it negated that.
I like your thinking bluiroc. I've looked at them too, and thought the same thing.
Personally, I don't see the value of the leading edge vents on the hood. If you are still using your factory air cleaner, you are already pulling in cold air from outside the engine compartment. I think this will be a LOT of work for no gain.
The vents at the back of the hood? Realistically, probably too small to remove a measurable amount of heat. But every little bit helps...there might be some convection when parked...and I have had similar thoughts about making them more functional. I'm not worried about water intrusion, as the car hardly ever sees rain (been caught out once in 3 years). I am a little worried about weakening the inner structure of the hood to cut the openings to make them functional...right in an area where the stresses of pulling the hood down to close it have to be pretty high.
I thought about the fender vents too, when I was replacing power antennae. But the screen is so small, and would move so little air, it again seems very questionable as to what the benefit would be.
I'm afraid all 6 of these "vents" were done strictly for style, and are not easily converted to function in a meaningful way.
I cut out the holes for the front vents on my T/A hood and I think it helped quite a bit with ventilation. In the summer, the hottest my car got was 180 degrees, it was usually between 160-170 degrees. I certainly didn't notice any increase in horsepower though.
There are a few downsides to this approach.
First, if your hood shocks are strong and you don't reinforce the area at all, you'll probably warp the hood slightly like mine did, I can take a picture if you want.
Secondly, unless you add baffles or something, you will take in a small amount of water if it's pouring rain on the highway. I usually don't drive my car in the rain, but I got stuck in a really heavy storm and took in some water. The car only misfires 2 or 3 times, but still something to be aware of.
The last is that you'll be destroying a perfectly good Trans Am hood. They're cheap and plentiful now, but they won't always be. I'm switching to fiberglass eventually anyway, so I don't care, but I certainly wouldn't do this if you care about your resale value.
I had an 89 IROC and like air intake far better than my current GTA. I have not taken into a count hood weight. That is a good point, fiberglass if i can get a stock looking hood. I do plan on structure integrity. I should post my design thoughts.
11-24-2016, 07:04 AM
