I have an 85 TA with the non-functional hood vents. Has anyone ever hear of cutting square holes out on the underside of the hood, behind the vents to make them functional? I was thinking about doing this to cut down on the underhood temp. I was going to take a grinder with a cutoff wheel on it and do this. Any suggestions??

85TA new 305, new 700r4, headers, and lots of other stuff!

 

if you do, you should consider doing it in some way the you can put them back in, you know, because if it rains of something things could get read shxxxty depending on what youve done under there.

 

Very good point!

 

I did it on my stock hood before the RA II. I also crafted a "tray" that directed the air from it directly to the K&N air filter. I've got pix on my site, but it's down right now while I swap hosts. In order to make it worth your while you have to cut out a portion of your top radiator support, and remove your shroud - else you're left with a gap of about 1/4".

Just thought I'd let you know,
Steve

 

sorry man, I hate to disagree with you but, I cut one side of my vents out and it made a world of difference in the highway cooling of the car. I can run all day at any speed and the car stays cool as can be, in fact, the cooling fan never comes on and the gauge stays right around 160* or so (yes, I have a 160* thermostat in the car). I have had mine cut out about a year and have never had any problem with rain/snow or anything else (daily driver).

 

no problems? that sounds unreal, i mean, not calling you a liar or stupid but it sounds....just impossible. unless you live in no snow no rain

 

I think there's a little bit of confusion here. The ones saying they had no problems were using it just to help cool the engine bay. Those who listed other issues (scauffiel), plumbed the vent into the intake. That's when you may have to worry about rain and such. I remember looking at the pics of the hood Scauffiel modified. It looked good. Everybody check it out once he gets the site back up.

MikeS

 

Any way to open the vents on an 88 IROC hood? That engine bay could sure use some additional cooling in the summer. I think those "vents" are nothing more than a plastic piece that fits in a depression in the hood sheetmetal. Ideas?

 

I too cut those vents out, keeps the car nice and cool, but i also have overheating problems because of my water pump, but im replacing that this weekend...no problems with rain though...i love those vents...goodluck

 

I appriciate everyones point of view. It had been on my mind for some time, and I think most of the feedback is positive. I found my answer here that I will do it. Thank you again everyone.

 

On a related note....

How do you get the nuts loose to remove the vents? I can only fit a socket into one of the holes. It is too big for the other.

 

tremo, you can go get a REAL IROC hood. They have the vents. it would be a good idea with a carb, but you got to worry about rain.