Has anyone ever modified the flapper unit for a functional power buldge hood to work with an after market carb and air cleaner? I've recently done this and wanted to know if anyone else has done anything like it.

I've had the flapper unit lying around for the last 8 or 9 months and wanted my hood to be functional again. So I finally decided to try and modify it to work with my holley SA carb and K&N x-stream air cleaner. Obviously I don't want it to come down over my carb or air cleaner. So I trimed up the unit so that it would come down next to the air cleaner and the air would flow right down at my air cleaner. I also wanted to do away with the vaccuum switch and all the rest of the wiring since the original solenoid was no good anymore. I mounted a power lock actuator to the unit which is controlled by a switch to open and close the flapper. I'm going to mount it on the car in the morning and post pictures as well.

 

Here's a couple pictures of it. I need to get a few things from radio shack to finish wiring it up.

 

I probably still have at least one stock solenoid/linkage somewhere…

I never understood the point… mine was functional on my ’83 for a long time, but the stock solenoid was so incredibly heavy that it’s own weight bent the retaining bracket and it fell out, pulling apart the wiring. Instead of replacing it I setup the scoop to be open all the time and never saw a performance issue with that even on the coldest days.

 

I'm not so much looking for a performance boost. Just something simle...heat rises...I noticed that when I didn't have a block plate in my hood that it kept the engine cooler, obviously because the hot air was escaping and not just hanging out.

 

I did this to my car a long time ago before I upgraded to the LS1. It worked. at least i thought it did.

I removed the plastic unit on top altogether and fabbed my own sheetmetal base. that way it took the cool air always.

 

That's a good idea. I'm still doing a few modifications to mine to get it all just right. I might try something similar.

 

I've been driving with my working cowl induction for 4 years or so, and the main benefit of it compared to just leaving the cowl open is 2 things;

1. Less noise. When driving normally, cruising, you may use some power without it sounding like a madman is coming through. Good for driving in downtown type areas where sounds travels real good between buildings.

THen again, when you really wanna stomp it, you get the sound to match.


2. When it rains, it's quite evident it sucks in some water. Although the cowl unit has 2 drip/water seperators, I like the fact it's not pouring in by the gallons. Also, rubbish from trees etc wont het drawn in. Makes you able to get the car up to speed, and the rubbish blown off the car before you use the cowl.

I use stock carb. But I guess you only need to adapt the bottom to fit another carb, or if you have a fitting bottom, the top to that.

Btw, I never got ahold of the vacuum induction switch, despite many attempts. So I used a microswitch identical to the one supplied in a standard NOS kit, and adjusted it to engage at about 7/8 throttle. Works great. Cut 2/10'ths of the 1320, tested with a G-tech.

 

I just removed the flapper door on mine all together. I like the sound it makes LOL