3rd Gen Hood Louvers

watch it...

OP you have some balls. How many miles do you have? If I ever see you around Maryland, Im going to ask you some questions

 

You'll be too busy trying to not look at his massive balls that you won't even hear his answers.

 

About 30K.

 

I’ve seen some ugly ass mods on this forum. But I was taught if you can’t say something good, don’t say anything at all. I like your mod. It’s very unique and glad you took a chance on something a little different. For the people who don’t like te look, simply don’t do it to your truck.

 

I agree- especially for a universal fitment item it came out damn good. Often times "one size fits all" parts end up looking a bit hacked in and bizarre.

You could probably make one-off application specific units that looked a little bit better and tried to flow in with the rest of the 3rd gen design asthetic- you'll notice most all of the edges on the 3rd gen design are smooth-beveled instead of 90 degrees... but god damn am I delving into serious nit picking territory at that point.

 

Great job

 

that looks awesome!!!

 

I could never do that to mine, it might reduce the skewp horsepower boost.

 

I'm also curious about the rain situation... But wow OP, good job sticking to what you like and going for it!! UGE balls

 

I put these on a car back in the day, looked pretty good and reduced engine compartment temps.

https://www.westmarine.com/buy/sea-...ess-steel-louvered-vent--10729523?recordNum=9

 

I'm back with a long term update, but to cut to the chase these things WORK! I started testing a few months ago, but needed the recent cooler weather to finish. Today, I also played around with the angle of the louvers and think it's dialed in. So here's what I did:

Temperature Testing - I used a standard wireless weather station duct taped in the engine bay to analyse temperature. Late-summer was the first stage and I saw the most dramatic delta in warmer weather, particularly idling. With ambient temperatures above 80 F I saw 10-15 F variance at driving speed and as much as 30 F decrease idling. Ambient temperatures below 40 F I didn't notice hardly any change at driving speed, but still saw 15 F decrease idling. To make the comparison with vents open or closed I just used a piece of cardboard taped under the roof to cover the vents and establish a baseline.

Air Flow - I just reviewed my video (below) and realized the viewing angle was not good, but I think it still illustrates they work. When at a stoplight there is a visible mirage coming from each vent, so no doubt some air moving through. I expected this, but I wasn't sure what was going to happen at driving speed. To be honest, I was surprised. It's difficult to see in the video, since it is looking perpendicular to the vent, but from the drivers seat I had more of a profile view and the two front indicators would lift off at about 45 mph and stand at a 45 degree angle at or above 70 mph. Oddly the front of the vents were extracting air, the center seemed to be somewhat neutral, and the back actually sucked in air.



Weathering - After several months and no washes the inside of the engine bay is pretty dirty. Ironically the areas where the vents are look cleaner than anywhere else (I'm sure due to rain), and I do not see any signs of oxidation or rust. A super long term follow-up may be needed.

Summary - The louvers definitely decrease the engine bay temps, particularly at higher ambient temps and while idling. They also extract air from the engine bay at driving speed, but only towards the front half of the vents. Would I do it again? Yea I think so, but we’ll see if there are any long term problems.

 

Hey! Thanks for the update.

 

Pretty cool

 

Any year later updates on this?

 

Nothing really which I would consider a success. No rust of any kind anywhere around the openings. Truck has been flawless other than my front actuator going bad which is unrelated, and I get compliments every once in a while. If you like the look I wouldn't discourage this mod, just take the same care I did coating the exposed metal edges and you'll be good to go.

 

If only I had the know-how to do this, and the balls to too boot

Love it, keep us updated!

 

Sometimes you just have to go for it. I had zero experience with body work of any kind, took my time, made a few mistakes along the way, but in the end it all worked out. The only mistake I made with consequences was not protecting my windshield while grinding out the openings. I had the hood fully covered, but I didn't think the sparks would do anything to the glass that far away. I was wrong. Luckily I only made this mistake on the passenger side, because there is a section with pit marks now. When I did the driver side I put a piece of paper covering the windshield and had no problems. It bothers me none, but the passenger has a slightly shittier view now.

Worst case scenario you really screw it up and buy a throwaway hood from some other OR owner who swapped for a scoop version. Plenty of them out there.

 

Or I vould buy the spare hood and use that one.

Seeing this makes me wanna give it a shot, thanks!

 

Damn I cant see OP's pics! Grrrrrr

 

i want to hate on them.. but... i kind of like them.... well done op