Home made hood vent

[MrJCRod]

thanks for the idea of these. i made a set for my mj tonight except i used 3m double sided tape to hold the grill on instead of silicone.

Nice job... Looks good...

 

[MrJCRod]

MrJCRod - Looks like it has been some time now... how are the vents doing? Any weather damage showing? I am very interested in this vent, and looking to do something similar.

No problems at all... Holding tight and working great... I also did the by pass switch for my electric fan... With both those mods I believe I got rid of my heat soak problem that I used to have... No more cyl 3 misfire... The electric fan blows on the side of the fuel rail and the vents let a ton of heat out. In stop and go or around town driving, I leave the fan on and only turn it off on longer highway runs...

 

[Harlee&Tahoe]

Good looking vents, creative.

Not sure how your HOs are constructed but this is what I did for the venerable TPS.
Before I installed my LeBaron vents.
I had an ongoing issue with water in my TPS for RENIX EFI.
I removed sensor, let sit in front of heater for 1/2 day and some heat with wife's blow dryer. Once satisfied that insides were dry.
I removed swing arm and removed seal, lubed with a little Dielectric grease, reassembled.
I have now run with the vents for some time now.
Rain, Snow, Sub-zero temps, no problems.
Lot of heat escaping through vents especially when I turn on fan.
(looks like burger joint exhaust minus smoke and smell)
Just be sure to use Dielectric grease in ALL connections
(should make habit of that anyway)

Morale: Put down your purse, hike up your skirt and grab a cutting tool.
Side note: Measure 3 times before cutting.

 

[austinaubinoe]

No problems at all... Holding tight and working great... I also did the by pass switch for my electric fan... With both those mods I believe I got rid of my heat soak problem that I used to have... No more cyl 3 misfire... The electric fan blows on the side of the fuel rail and the vents let a ton of heat out. In stop and go or around town driving, I leave the fan on and only turn it off on longer highway runs...

This right up really inspired me to do DIY vents.are you running any sort of drain pan? I feel like that really would do much, water gets everywhere anyways when you go offroad. Think im going to just use dielectric grease.

 

[gird123]

I'm doing it. Bought the stuff. If any one has done this with different shape cutouts would they post pics?

Any water/weather issues?

Thank you,

Nate

 

[crash02]

I keept the same shape but rounded all the corners and made them smaller to lessen the how much of the elements get in.no issues yet and I can still always go bigger if I need /want too.

 

[gird123]

I saw those. They look very nice. I think I will do 8"X12" so that if they don't work great i can then cut them out for the Lebaron vents.

 

[gird123]

They turned out ok. The door trim stuff does not stay in the corners(I think i will try and glue it to the hood). I wish i would have rounded them a little. And as the engine heats up the door trim stuff gets soft and moves around. I used the black rtv with a max temp rating of 500F and hot glue on the corners to hold it in place while the rtv cured.

 

[Ogrebonz]

Got my vents in a week ago. As you can see, I used ten SS bolts in each one. Living in Michigan means I'll get a lot of snow, so I actually bought a used hood and cut that up. This fall I'll switch back.

 

[Bryan C.]

Wow, talk about being late to the party. I haven't seen this thread before. Nice work on finding a good looking and cheap grill material. Never did like the LeBaron hood vents which is why I haven't done hood vents yet. Looks like I got another project to do before I get back on the road...

I really like the SS button head bolts holding them up on the last pics and good advice on making the corners of the cut-outs rounded to hold the door edge guard better.

 

[GrimmJeeper]

...good advice on making the corners of the cut-outs rounded to hold the door edge guard better.

this will also make the sheet metal less likely to crack from vibration over time.


looks good :thumbup:

 

[Ogrebonz]

Yeah, you need to radius the corners to keep the edge molding in place. Since I don't own any radius gauges, I used the bottom of a spray can as a template. Maybe all molding comes with it, but the stuff I bought has adhesive inside it. The cap screws pinch the underside edge of the molding too.

The grills came from a kitchen store, $10 each. They come in stainless too, but my Limited grill is all the bling I can stand.

 

[conejocherokee]

I've had similar, but not nearly as pretty, vents for a couple years now. I don't daily drive it, but it sits outside in so cal year round. No drip pans and no problems to report from the mild elements we have here. They definitely work, the heat is very visible on a good slow trail or when i stop after a nice hard run up a wash. I only run 210 with the AC on.

The only issue I have had is when wheeling in warm weather. It seems the intake for the vent is about center in the cowl, so when I run my vent it blows hot air.

As far as a temporary weather fix, any good sign shop will have material for magnetic door signs, or just swipe them off your realtors car.

 

[travisk]

The previous owner made these giant cutouts in the hood and left them open. I filled them in with expanded metal, mostly to keep my friends from throwing trash in there. They're just attached with black RTV. It might hold.