How to Make Your Hood Scoop Actually Work! A How-To!

Okay, saw lots of people say how easy it was, but atypical to the internet, nobody was "showing" how easy it is.

So I just did this over the last couple of hours, including a trip to the Home Despot for the proper size rivets for reassembly... So here-goes...

Here is the hood scoop in stock form. Pretty, but does nothing but catch and hold bugs and dirt. Neat. Yes?


First step is to remove the scoop from the hood. This involves five bolts and a Philips head screw.


This makes the hood of your truck look like this. Sure, it'll flow a lot of air, but it's quite unsightly and I suspect it'll also be really good at capturing birds and small dogs as you drive along.

(note: do not lose the white clip you see here. It goes to the single Philips screw head.)

This is the scoop out of the truck. It comes out by lifting up on the leading edge then sliding it gently towards the front of the truck.



This is the back side. Fairly unimpressive.


The plastic "bowl" is used to sandwich the metal mesh between it and the painted cowling. Three black aluminum rivets hold the whole assembly together.


To separate everything, start by drilling out the three aluminum rivets. Be very careful to not let the chuck of your drill snag on the delicate painted lip of the cowling. This will ruin it and make your truck look nappy.


Once all three rivets are drilled out, the internal black bits come out by sliding forward out of the scoop.


I suppose you could stop here and simply re-insert the cowling and again, have massive air-flow with a slightly better look, but I wanted to maintain the OEM look and discourage the capture of too much water and rubbish. So I moved forth.


I used a small screwdriver to carefully open the two-clips, then genltly wiggled the steel mesh away from the plastic backing.


Where once there was one, there is now two! So exciting. I know!


There are lots of ways to proceed at this point. Cut of the entire back of the plastic, lots of tiny little holes, laser etching of micky mouse, Red LED Cylon Eye with sound effects... I chose the simpler "big-hole" idea.

I measured as close as I could to the center of each "cell" in the plastic bowl and used a sharp awl to mark the center. Then I used the largest drill bit that would work for all "cells" and, by hand, cut the holes into the plastic.

Why didn't I use a drill? you ask. Well, thats a very good question. This type of soft plastic can catch and tear, like the grain in wood, causing the hole to creep or tear into an oval. The plastic is super-soft, so cutting it by hand allowed me to be more precise.

I had planned to stop here, but I threw caution to the wind and ended up cutting two more holes before reassembly.


I also took a nice file and cleaned up the holes a little bit, just for good measure.


The whole assembly just snaps back together.


The dogs, Sprocket and Jake, watched on in eager anticipation... Oh, the excitement of it all!


I ran to the Home Depot because I didn't have the correct size rivets (5mm/7mm), but I couldn't stand the thought of silver colored rivets, so I sprayed them black.


Then I re-riveted the three rivets using a small washer under the head of the rivet for extra measure and strength


If you look closely, despite all my efforts, the hole on the far left did creep a bit and is slightly lower than the rest. I hope I can live with the asymmetry...


Time for reassembly; This plastic bit sits on top of this. It's keyed so it really only fits one way.


Like this


There is also a small rubber bushing that sits top-center on the metal hood. Don't loose or forget this either.


Now for the hardest part.... Putting it back together. Close the hood, but not all the way, then slide the hood scoop back into place. If you push down on the leading edge, it'll snap into place nicely, but DON'T DO THIS!!! Just set the scoop in place.

Open the hood again, and carefully put the phylips screw into place and just get it started, don't tighten it. Close the hood again. Now, you can snap the scoop back into place.

Open the hood again and tighten all the fasteners, careful not to over-tighten anything since the entire assembly is just plastic.

In case you forgot, these are where all the nuts and screw goes.


Ta Da! All back together and it looks --- well, just like it did before we started.... *sigh*


With this mod you can expect a cooler running engine, better acceleration, a crisper throttle response and a slight increase in torque and towing capacity. You can expect all of these things plus much more... However, none of them will actually come true, despite your greatest expectations.

But now, when your friends ask "Does that hood-scoop do anything?" You can stand up tall, puff your chest out and say with pride - "Yes! It does now!"

Also, I did some calculations and to the best that I can figure, allowing air to flow through the hood scoop should save 0.3848 gallons of fuel over the life of the truck. Take that Priius!

dp

 

Can't tell...if...joking......

 

cant you drill the holes without removing the block from the mesh?

 

thanks

 

If you have nothing to do this is a great mod to perform cause its better than doin nothin'

 

could you not remove the plastic piece all together since the holes that the rivets go through are in the metal also?

 

couldnt you just plasti dip your mesh and make it work?

 

From someone who has done this, it just makes your engine dirtier.

 

Yes, joking a lot actually. You could remove all the guts and have lots of air come in. But lots of other things would come in too, I suspect.

I figure the blunt nose of the Toyota would make it so air is only really going to go through the scoop at relatively slow speeds. And I figure I can always block them off at a later date. No big deal.

dp

 

Why?! Looks like a waste of time

 

only if you have something else to do! If not, its a perfect waste of time

 

Puff your chest out and be proud. I too have the scoop and face the know it alls that ask if it's functional. And now yours is!

 

Why is this in the for sale section?

 

Maybe he'll do your scoop for a small fee?

 

Still not functional

 

"With this mod you can expect a cooler running engine, better acceleration, a crisper throttle response and a slight increase in torque and towing capacity. You can expect all of these things plus much more... However, none of them will actually come true, despite your greatest expectations.

But now, when your friends ask "Does that hood-scoop do anything?" You can stand up tall, puff your chest out and say with pride - "Yes! It does now!"

Also, I did some calculations and to the best that I can figure, allowing air to flow through the hood scoop should save 0.3848 gallons of fuel over the life of the truck. Take that Priius!"

THIS IS JUST TOO RICH! LOL

Thanks for the good laugh... and at least you hood scoop isn't fake!

Now, do you have a mod to make it disappear so you can have more visibility?

 

Needs knight-rider lights.

 

Maybe if I still had a taco with a scoop