1969 Plymouth Fresh Air Hood vs. Standard Hood Question

I am putting a RR / GTX hood on my 1969 Satellite & picked up a very clean hood with no inserts a few years ago. Last year at Carlisle I got a very nice pair of inserts that have the grilles in them, not the block off plates. The Satellite is a small block car & I don't have any plans to swap over to a big block so the fresh air duct system isn't on my shopping list. It's just for appearance since the RR / GTX hood looks much better.

My question is, were the standard hoods & the fresh air hoods exactly the same with only the inserts & duct work being added to make it functional?

All these years have gone by & I just never paid attention at any of the car shows.

Yes. If you're not going with the fresh air package I'd put in the standard inserts.

The OPEM fresh air package on the 1969 Plymouth slowed the cars down in the 1/4 mile, Dave Wren did a A,B,A test at Irwindale drag strip in 1975 during racer track Mopars track rental before the 1975 Winternationals He made several runs with all the fresh air gear hooked up to the SS 426 Street Hemi, he then removed it all and let the carbs suck air under the hood and the car went faster,he put it back and the car slowed down again The fresh air scoops on the Dodge did work, not so with Plymouths design

I ran the screens on one of my non-AG '69 RRs instead of the block-off plates, and it dropped underhood & engine coolant temps a bit. All '69 RR/GTX hoods have cutouts in the "scoop" areas, and holes punched in their framework for mounting the Air Grabber unit. The ductwork probably weighs 15 lbs - never weighed one to be sure - but I never noticed it being all that effective on my Air Grabber car, which was just a 383/727 car I never raced to confirm that.

I think I remember Mopar doing some more study and testing on those hoods later and they found out that the air going across the screens suck air out of the engine compartment above a certian MPH even with all the A.G. gear on them

Thanks for the info.

I had a feeling it was the same hood but wanted to be sure. I'll leave the screens in until I get the solid block off plates later. I seriously doubt I'll spend the money on the air cleaner & the duct work to make it functional since the car will remain a small block.

My original intent was a 440 swap many years ago & have the fresh air hood, but I have since gotten a '70 big block Road Runner with an air grabber & I can live without it on the Satellite.