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Hood Louver

dmock

dmock

Jeep junkie...CJ8, JK
Lifetime Member
City
Gun Barrel City
State
TX
Thinking of ways to dissipate heat in the engine compartment at highway speeds. It seems like from about 60 miles an hour plus, my 360 starts building heat. Winch or no winch. 3core radiator with a taurus two speed fan. I hate to cut a hole in my hood, but this looks like it may help. (Found it on fleabay)

My 8 is not a true restoration, more of a Resto mod. Any thoughts or other ideas appreciated.

image.jpg
 
I'm pretty sure that type stuff is just for show.

When you say "building heat" are you saying that your temp gage is moving towards hot, or do you have some evidence that your actual engine compartment is getting hotter? An overheating engine can be caused by a lot things - incorrect timing, non functioning water pump, non-functioning oil pump, etc.
 
when i first installed my lt1 i thought i needed them also and cut in stainless steel boat louvers on the hood. cost me 20 bucks . on the last rebuild i changed the hood and never cut them in again,, with a electric fan and 3 core copper brass radiator i never over heated so im sure the louvers helped on taking the hot air out but i havn't over heated since the last 3 years. but they also did look cool..
 
I have the raceace versions on my 304 in the CJ5, you can visually see the heat pour out of there in the summer time.

IMG_4931-1.jpg


cb
 
DirtyB said:
I'm pretty sure that type stuff is just for show.
Click to expand...

Not true. I have these... They are off of a boat. Got them on ebay. The amount of heat that comes out of them is ridiculous!



and yes... She needs a paint job... :banghead:
 
Louvers, etc. should be used for dissipating heat on the trail... not the road. If your engine's running hot at 40+ mph, you've got "internal" (timing, radiator, flow) issues. I had a 360 that would run at 190 on the trail all day long. But it'd shoot up to 220 on the highway (2,400 RPM). Turned out to be a timing issue.

I also had a 360 that was the opposite - ran hot on the trail, but at 190 or so on the road. Okay, maybe it was the old radiator (from the 258), or the fact that it was bored .60 over...

I considered the louvers, but went another direction. I bought a small electric fan from a junkyard (from a Honda Civic) wired it to a toggle switch. I cut a 9" hole in the hood and covered that with a homemade scoop. On the road, the fan would freewheel and let air into the engine bay. On the trail, the fan would pull so much air out, it'd part your hair if you stood at the bumper. The temp gauge would actually drop 5 degrees just flipping the switch.

 
Manhattan said:
Louvers, etc. should be used for dissipating heat on the trail... not the road.
Click to expand...

BINGO!!!!! Assuming that the engine compartment isn't clogged up and not allowing the entering air to escape past the motor. In Jeeps that's generally not the case....
 
Bad Karma said:
Not true. I have these... They are off of a boat. Got them on ebay. The amount of heat that comes out of them is ridiculous!



and yes... She needs a paint job... :banghead:
Click to expand...

Those are the exact same ones I had on my hood.. :thumbup:

Sent from my SPH-L900
 
I think it is a combination of a lot of things on my rig

1) Winch is in the way a bit of the radiator
2) Radiator is old... original, it doesn't do the greatest job anymore.
3) 304 takes up a lot of room in the engine bay compared to the 258
4) It has always run hot, since the day I got it, both before and after the engine rebuild.

I would think that if I just went with an aluminum radiator 10 years ago during the rebuild, like I have on the 360 CJ7, it would have solved a lot of the heat issues, but alas, it is what it is.

I also like the way they look, nice standout against the orange.

cb
 
Bad Karma said:
Not true. I have these... They are off of a boat. Got them on ebay. The amount of heat that comes out of them is ridiculous!



and yes... She needs a paint job... :banghead:
Click to expand...

I think it looks pretty awesome just like that. Paint smaint...a little patina goes a long way.
 
"The temp gauge would actually drop 5 degrees just flipping the switch."

I never would have guessed that this actually did anything to cool the engine. Just some bling. Learn something new everyday.
 
hefavitzen said:
I think it looks pretty awesome just like that. Paint smaint...a little patina goes a long way.
Click to expand...

unfortunately its not patina... PO sanded the original paint in order to get it ready for a paint job that never happened. :banghead: You can see the swirls. :(
 
Manhattan said:
Louvers, etc. should be used for dissipating heat on the trail... not the road. If your engine's running hot at 40+ mph, you've got "internal" (timing, radiator, flow) issues.
Click to expand...

Very true...

One thing that has not been mentioned... Louvers add at least 10 HP. ;)
 
I run a mildly built sb 350 chevy. Something simple you may want to try before cutting up your hood that pushes air through and up out the engine bay both with a fan and at road speed. Works better than you would 1st imagine.

z2w Build 1-250 152 50x50.jpg

I think the look is a lot less of and eye sore than a cut up hood or fenders ... (for me)

z2w Build 1-250 131 50x50.jpg
 
Last edited:
oh, I decided to go with 26 inch tires instead.

Sent from my bla bla phone zero2wow ;-)
 
DirtyB said:
"The temp gauge would actually drop 5 degrees just flipping the switch."

I never would have guessed that this actually did anything to cool the engine. Just some bling. Learn something new everyday.
Click to expand...

I think the fan just help the current airflow along the natural path. Since the fan was pulling air out, it created negative pressure (as much as is possible in such an open space) under the hood, making for less resistance for the radiator fan... just a nice cycle of cool air.
 
DirtyB said:
I'm pretty sure that type stuff is just for show.

When you say "building heat" are you saying that your temp gage is moving towards hot, or do you have some evidence that your actual engine compartment is getting hotter? An overheating engine can be caused by a lot things - incorrect timing, non functioning water pump, non-functioning oil pump, etc.
Click to expand...

Yes the temp climbs over 60 mph. I have max timing at 32 degrees at 2500 rpm (open to suggestions on timing) new flowcooler pump, 40-60 psi oil pressure. I was thinking now enough air flow because the 360 fill engine bay.

Certifiable those look good! Nice jeep!
"I have the raceace versions on my 304 in the CJ5, you can visually see the heat pour out of there in the summer time."

Thanks to all for the replies. Still open to all feedback!
 
zero2wow said:
I run a mildly built sb 350 chevy. Something simple you may want to try before cutting up your hood that pushes air through and up out the engine bay both with a fan and at road speed. Works better than you would 1st imagine.

View attachment 39150

I think the look is a lot less of and eye sore than a cut up hood or fenders ... (for me)

View attachment 39149
Click to expand...

I actually thought about trying this first too!
 
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