Posted By: nz383man
Opening up dummy Cuda hood scoops - 04/01/10 10:07 AM
Has anyone opened up the dummy hood scoops on a E body Cuda? I'm wanting to get some cold air in. Pics would be great, Cheers
Opening up dummy Cuda hood scoops
Posted By: nz383man
Re: Opening up dummy Cuda hood scoops - 04/01/10 08:53 PM
Just got a spare one of these hoods yesterday,
I was surprised to see how they are put together, I'm keen to cut the back out of the alloy mouth parts & cut matching holes in the sheet metal to get cold air in for drag racing. I'm not sure what I'll do about rain yet but that's why I'm asking here & I'm not bothered if I only have them open for racing & blank them off for street driving where there is a chance of rain, birds, small children etc getting in.
I was surprised to see how they are put together, I'm keen to cut the back out of the alloy mouth parts & cut matching holes in the sheet metal to get cold air in for drag racing. I'm not sure what I'll do about rain yet but that's why I'm asking here & I'm not bothered if I only have them open for racing & blank them off for street driving where there is a chance of rain, birds, small children etc getting in.
Posted By: moper
Re: Opening up dummy Cuda hood scoops - 04/01/10 11:07 PM
You're better off removing the front hood seal and the cowl seal than opening the hood. Then there's more cooler air over the engine (as opposed to thru the radiator...) and no water getting in.
Posted By: IMGTX
Re: Opening up dummy Cuda hood scoops - 04/01/10 11:45 PM
There was a guy who did this on here.
He placed a large aluminum plate on the underside of the hood that he sealed to the hood and the top of the aircleaner.
Rain won't be a problem if you give it a place to run off. T/A's AAR's etc had provisions for water run off.
Put drains in the rear corners and a lip around inside edge of the Air Cleaner seal. The lip must be high enough to prevent the water from draining into the Air Filter and force it to the drains.
I do not think they could flow that much air anyway because at speeds they would be under the boundary layer caused by the air forced over the grill.
He placed a large aluminum plate on the underside of the hood that he sealed to the hood and the top of the aircleaner.
Rain won't be a problem if you give it a place to run off. T/A's AAR's etc had provisions for water run off.
Put drains in the rear corners and a lip around inside edge of the Air Cleaner seal. The lip must be high enough to prevent the water from draining into the Air Filter and force it to the drains.
I do not think they could flow that much air anyway because at speeds they would be under the boundary layer caused by the air forced over the grill.
Posted By: RodStRace
Re: Opening up dummy Cuda hood scoops - 04/02/10 01:10 AM
I seen at least a dozen hacked up this way back in the seventies and eighties.
I would strongly suggest that you use a 'glass hood for this type of thing. Before that, I'd suggest doing a bit of air flow measuring and see that you will not get much air in, but will ruin some hard to find parts.
Here's an article
http://autospeed.com/cms/title_Ultimate-...10/article.html
I realise your stated goal is a little cold air, but as mentioned, removing the seal at the front of the hood will also allow cold air in.
I would strongly suggest that you use a 'glass hood for this type of thing. Before that, I'd suggest doing a bit of air flow measuring and see that you will not get much air in, but will ruin some hard to find parts.
Here's an article
http://autospeed.com/cms/title_Ultimate-...10/article.html
I realise your stated goal is a little cold air, but as mentioned, removing the seal at the front of the hood will also allow cold air in.
Posted By: Alaskan_TA
Re: Opening up dummy Cuda hood scoops - 04/02/10 01:17 AM
It can be done & tastefully.
There is no real ram air effect, but if you seal the scoops to the air cleaner the engine will DRAW cold air through the scoops. You could hear the air being sucked into these like a large vaccuum cleaner;
There is no real ram air effect, but if you seal the scoops to the air cleaner the engine will DRAW cold air through the scoops. You could hear the air being sucked into these like a large vaccuum cleaner;
Posted By: Alaskan_TA
Re: Opening up dummy Cuda hood scoops - 04/02/10 01:18 AM
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Posted By: Alaskan_TA
Re: Opening up dummy Cuda hood scoops - 04/02/10 01:18 AM
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Posted By: Alaskan_TA
Re: Opening up dummy Cuda hood scoops - 04/02/10 01:19 AM
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Posted By: nz383man
Re: Opening up dummy Cuda hood scoops - 04/02/10 07:41 AM
Cheers Guys, that's a good cross section of replys.
I'll do a lot of research, measuring, mock ups etc before I even think about cutting.
As for hacking, I think it is down to everyones own personal opinion, I don't think Sick Fish or Super Cuda are hack jobs but I totally understand that some people might.
I'm not a professional bodyman but I did scratch build this 5ft long FAB1 for my daughter
It' all hand crafted from steel (by myself) including the Flying Lady, so I don't think I'll do a hack job of the hood if I do decide to cut it.
I have taken all of your input on board though & have removed the front hood seal strip as suggested & will try it at the drags tomorrow (if it dosn't rain!) If I get a couple of consistant runs in I'll fit the seal back on & see if there is any difference.
Posted By: MasterDeBaTeR !
Re: Opening up dummy Cuda hood scoops - 04/02/10 07:56 AM
Quote:
I seen at least a dozen hacked up this way back in the seventies and eighties.
I would strongly suggest that you use a 'glass hood for this type of thing. Before that, I'd suggest doing a bit of air flow measuring and see that you will not get much air in, but will ruin some hard to find parts.
Here's an article
http://autospeed.com/cms/title_Ultimate-...10/article.html
I realise your stated goal is a little cold air, but as mentioned, removing the seal at the front of the hood will also allow cold air in.
... x 100 In my many years in the fiberglass race car parts biz .. I have seen several instances where "trying to get fresh air" this type-of-way can actually HURT the performace of a car.
There could be a VACUUM at the location of this scoop opening. And it COULD actually siphon out fuel from the carb.
CHECK the pressure(if there is some) with a inches-of-water gauge, I used to have a link to show how to MAKE ONE ...I will see if I can find it.
Posted By: da50r
Re: Opening up dummy Cuda hood scoops - 04/02/10 08:15 AM
A long long time ago, a guy did a really neat job with one . I remember it was a blue hood....
Posted By: nz383man
Re: Opening up dummy Cuda hood scoops - 04/02/10 10:36 AM
Quote:
In my many years in the fiberglass race car parts biz .. I have seen several instances where "trying to get fresh air" this type-of-way can actually HURT the performace of a car.
There could be a VACUUM at the location of this scoop opening. And it COULD actually siphon out fuel from the carb.
CHECK the pressure(if there is some) with a inches-of-water gauge, I used to have a link to show how to MAKE ONE ...I will see if I can find it.
Good point, I do have the equipment to check the pressure/vacuum at the mouth of the scoops & will do this before I decide to cut or not.
I have done quite a bit of pressure drop testing on Mopar air filter elements & housings and some testing for high & low pressure zones around the hood so I'll keep at it & see what the results are before I do anything major to my spare hood.
There are no glass hoods made in my part of the world (New Zealand) & buying/freighting one out from the US would not be viable at all due to the costs involved.
I know enough about how little pressure is actually available at 100 mph or less that I'm not even going to bother with it. All I want is cooler air that is no lower than the atmospheric pressure available when the car is stopped.
As there could easily be 4 times more gain in power from dropping the intake temp by 50*F than gained by ram air pressure I'm looking at the easy options first.
Without any scoop to give cooler air or positive pressure at say 100mph there would be a very small positive pressure under the hood but the loss of air density due to the increase in temperature caused by the radiator would totally outweigh any positive pressure gain.
Posted By: RodStRace
Re: Opening up dummy Cuda hood scoops - 04/02/10 04:32 PM
Good, intelligent replies!
Hope to hear your results, since you have shown that you are NOT a hack it up and give it a try guy!
Hope to hear your results, since you have shown that you are NOT a hack it up and give it a try guy!
Posted By: Grizzly
Re: Opening up dummy Cuda hood scoops - 04/03/10 04:20 AM
Quote:
Cheers Guys, that's a good cross section of replys.
I'll do a lot of research, measuring, mock ups etc before I even think about cutting.
As for hacking, I think it is down to everyones own personal opinion, I don't think Sick Fish or Super Cuda are hack jobs but I totally understand that some people might.
I'm not a professional bodyman but I did scratch build this 5ft long FAB1 for my daughter
It' all hand crafted from steel (by myself) including the Flying Lady, so I don't think I'll do a hack job of the hood if I do decide to cut it.
I have taken all of your input on board though & have removed the front hood seal strip as suggested & will try it at the drags tomorrow (if it dosn't rain!) If I get a couple of consistant runs in I'll fit the seal back on & see if there is any difference.
Very, VERY, nice work! You have my vote.
Posted By: Stewpar
Re: Opening up dummy Cuda hood scoops - 04/03/10 01:54 PM
Have you ever looked at ram air boxes? http://www.ramairbox.com/models.html they have many different models, and you can keep the itegrity of the hood! I think I have an extra laying around somewhere that I never used if you are interested! 
Posted By: nz383man
Re: Opening up dummy Cuda hood scoops - 04/03/10 09:42 PM
Quote:
Have you ever looked at ram air boxes? http://www.ramairbox.com/models.html they have many different models, and you can keep the itegrity of the hood! I think I have an extra laying around somewhere that I never used if you are interested!
I have looked at these but where do you get the air from? I have seen a Challenger here in New Zealand with this set up but there was more 4" hose under the hood than engine! the guy tried to keep it stock by feeding the hoses to a scoop under the radiator like Buicks have, it was neatly done but not my thing, I think he also went to the trouble of fitting an aircleaner that had a factory pie plate, I thought that was a step in the right direction
I said I would keep you posted on the results of removing the front hood seal. . . . it rained, I only got 2 runs & as the track was going off I wasn't consistant enough to try a before & after comparison. We are heading into winter(NZ) so it may have to wait for 6 months now
Thanks for the good feedback & keep it up
Posted By: dnd0001
Re: Opening up dummy Cuda hood scoops - 04/21/10 12:37 PM
There is a guy who did this and he has pictures. You can find this information at www.jonsteiger.com. Go to the Personal information and interests/1970 Plymouth Barracuda/Rallye Hood Cutouts 
Posted By: Triggerfish
Re: Opening up dummy Cuda hood scoops - 04/21/10 02:06 PM
Back in 70, I cut the back of the scoops out on my new 383 4spd Cuda & had to also remove the dummy trim on top of the hood, that really defines the scoops overhang & look. They're a 2 part "scoop" & when you remove the outside 'bezels', they loose their beauty, IMO. I glued black mesh behind the opening. Don't think I realized any gains at all, since they weren't sealed.
Posted By: nz383man
Re: Opening up dummy Cuda hood scoops - 04/22/10 08:57 AM
Quote:
There is a guy who did this and he has pictures. You can find this information at www.jonsteiger.com. Go to the Personal information and interests/1970 Plymouth Barracuda/Rallye Hood Cutouts
Cheers for that, it's exactly the kind of info I was looking for.
