I started out by buying an old hood for $50 because I didn't want to disturb the original hood, then bought a $69 ebay scoop. First step was to cut out all the original bracing. I knew that would make it flimsy, and it did. I also wanted the scoop to sit as flush with the top of the sheet metal as possible and since the scoop was about 1/8" thick, the only way to do this to put a step in the sheet metal. The mounting surface on the scoop was 1 3/4" wide but my tool for this only has a 1/2" reach so I had to cut the opening accordingly and then weld an 1 1/4" strip back on. I also welded the skin to the framework all the way across the front and rear of the opening, then put five 1/2" welds along each side. This helped stiffen it back up. I had plans to build an X brace of some sort but after bonding the scoop on it ended up to be remarkably rigid so it wasn't necessary. I won't bore you with all the details so I'll let the pictures tell the story, but I will add that I didn't want to spend a ton of time finishing off the bottom side so I sprayed the center part with a textured chip guard coating called Gravitex, then painted the whole thing with semi-gloss acrylic enamel. I also had to relocate my gauges because the scoop wasn't going to clear them when it was open. I won't deny that this was quite a bit of work and time consuming but I think the end result was worth it. A few findings now that it is on the car. It worked just liked I'd hoped, the engine heat does escape through the opening at rest and at low speeds. How do I know this? Well, I discovered that driving in town I can no longer have my kick panel vent open. All that heat comes out of the scoop and the air pressure at the bottom of the windshield pushes it right down into the cowl grill and into the passenger compartment. It's fine at highway speeds so apparently fresh air is going into the engine compartment but for the full benefit of getting fresh, cooler air into the air cleaner I'll probably have to build a pan to seal the air cleaner to the hood, but even if I don't, getting rid of a lot of under hood heat has to help a little, especially down here in the summertime.
Man,,,, That thing looks really good,,,, no doubt works well too.... What if you made you a baffle to go over the ww chamber all the way across except for a opening at the ends to allow air tocome in the vents or make a baffle that fits under the rear of the front fenders where the vent openings are,,, that may be possible,,,, I am very well aquainted with ''unintended consequences'' when it comes to mods.... I have just tried to weld a cracked block and it just keeps cracking and cracking,,,, and cracking..... but I aint set up to really do it right.....maby when I get my oven set up.....:Brow: arrrruuuugggghhhhh,,, gonna work on my ammunition reloading for a while.....:laugh::laugh:
Thank you everyone for the compliments :TU: Doc, that's a great idea. I could quickly and easily test it by just covering the center of the cowl grill with some masking tape.
Awesome job!!! I really like the look of the cowl hoods on our Buicks,but be prepared.....The not so in crowd will be tagging it a Chevelle now...I got all kinds of BS when I put the glass front end on my car...Just ignore them.
Very Nice Bill. I think I'll be doing something like that in the future with the Riv. I want to get a center section from one of these guys that are making the glass GS cowl hoods.
