(Mods...I posted this here on the Bench to get more eyes on it. Feel free to move to the Race section if you think it's necessary.) When I bought my drag car from Rick M. it had a 4" cowl induction pin on hood. It looked great and it worked great. Then I decided to buy a work of art billet intake from Precision Billet (RobsBuick on here). The intake is absolutely gorgeous!! It would probably be more at home on a dragster than a door car. Or maybe something with the engine more exposed instead of hiding it under a hood. It was an impulse buy; I didn't even consider fitting it under the hood or what I would do to make it look right. The first step was to cut a hole in the hood. No problem, right? Wrong! You can't just have a carb sticking out of a hood and meet NHRA and IHRA regs. There has to be a filter or a cover or a guard at the back of the carb. Thank you Bruce BQUICK for a stainless carb cover with a mesh lid! Starting at the Buick Bash and all of last year I just ran the car with no hood. It worked ok, but it just seemed pretty raw and unfinished. I tried bolting on a Stage 2 scoop but it was just wrong. The wrong angle, the wrong proportions and the wrong look. So...what do I do?? I thought about just cutting a wedge out of the side of the cowl portion of the hood and raising it up. Basically making it a 6 1/2" or 7" cowl hood. Then glass it all in and be done. I also thought about buying a new hood but that's just not in the budget right now. I already have a Pro-Stock style hood scoop, I think it's a Harwood. But I've never been a big fan of grafting a scoop of any kind onto a cowl hood. In my mind you either have a cowl hood, or you have a hood with a forward facing scoop. I never really liked both at the same time. I just got a flyer pack from Maryland International Raceway showing all of the upcoming races for 2020 and there are at least 5 cars shown in these race flyers with a scoop mounted on a cowl type hood. See Pics Another idea I had was to build some type of air pan or air box to mount the pro-stock scoop to. Then cut a larger hole in the cowl section of my existing hood that would allow the scoop to protrude out of. Kindof like a Shaker hood, sort of....Maybe finish the edges with some sort of rubber or weatherstripping that would allow the scoop to seal to the cowl hood. Shaker style. So what does everyone think? Got any ideas or opinions or solutions or suggestions?? I'm going to add a bunch of pics to try to give you a better idea of what I'm working with. Thanks for your time and your opinions, I do appreciate it!
I would buy a flat glass pin on hood for your regal, and then paint it to match, and then build scoop base on the engine, that the scoop itself actually attaches to. Then you cut a U shaped slot in the hood, and attach the hood to the fenders with quick fasteners. Usually also good to put a few around the "u" where it intersects the scoop. I did exactly this when I build George Sweesy's GS, and I really liked it... the flat hood without any scoop, and a big U cut in it, is really light and easy to take off by yourself. It allows access to the engine for inspection and servicing. They sell dragster Air pans that you an use to attach the scoop to the carb. I fabricated all the stuff that held the air pan and base onto the car, that the scoop fastened to, but I bet someone sells a kit for it. My previous Regal had a flat hood, with molded in hood scoop.. it was fairly light, but a but clumsy to take off and put on by yourself. I took the two piece scoop/hood idea from Pro Stockers of the time (early 2000's) that is exactly how they were set up. JW
Thanks JW. I was thinking about trying a stock steel hood and maybe removing some or all of the underside bracing. Found one at a local parts yard but they wanted $200. Figured I might as well put that towards a VFN flat hood. To think that I threw away a steel GN hood. It had a crease at the front. Got tired of tripping over so away it went. Got any pics of Sweesy's car, or your previous car?
