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Hood Vents VS. Hood spacers? What are you running?

P

Plays For Jeeps

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Allentown PA
I went to the Hardware store and after $2.35 in bolts and stainless spacers I had a 1/5 inch cowl hood that closes properly.

I actually used to sit alittle above 210 at highway speeds and now the needle visably sits a hair below it :)

I just couldnt bring myself to cut the hood and not worry about water damage.

What are you using for engine bay cooling?
 
My friends Cherokee has two electric fans built right into the hood.. and with a flick of a switch on the dash, he can turn them off and on. They are hidden under a custom dual cowl and you would never know they were there otherwise.

I am thinking of doing the same eventually when I get a little bit better with my fabrication skills.. its always nice to have additional cooling when you get stuck or start to overheat for no apparent reason. I am also planning replacing all my stock coolant lines, rad, thermostat, and heatercore. I have over 200,000kms on the clock, and I am putting in a new 4.6L stroker.. I don't wanna hook it up to some old rusted out cooling components.
 
I put Lebaron vents in. Took me a few hours and I'm very happy with the results(not so much cooling), but looks really good.
 
I did the hood spacer mod last summer , felt hot air coming out but didnt feel any cooling improvement, I removed them later cause thought they were unsafe in case of an accident ( the hood was pointing straight at my NECK :) )
 
karim_gabra said:
I did the hood spacer mod last summer , felt hot air coming out but didnt feel any cooling improvement, I removed them later cause thought they were unsafe in case of an accident ( the hood was pointing straight at my NECK :) )
Click to expand...
Hmm, never thought of that, but good point. When I had spacers on my hood I never really noticed any significant reducing in coolant temp, but one thing I did notice is that my floor board would would get much warmer on long trips. So much so that I started waring sandals when I went on long trips 'cause my feet would get so hot. I pulled my spacers for the winter last fall, and I don't think I'm going to bother reinstalling them this time. I've got a fan override idea cooked up that I'm going to try. The plan is to make it run for a while after the key is off with manual control when the key is on.
 
I've thought about just putting a home depot soffet vent,one on each side, maybe 2"x6" and mounting them on the bottom side. To keep water out I was considering using a couple of strips of magnetic sign material, 4" x 12". I actually have the material already in my business name 'RJPSYSTEMS" and put two of them on the hood to see if they would come off while doing 75+ on the turnpike and RT80, nope, they stayed right on...
I would like to have some sheetmetal to play with, making up a vent with slats in it on the top, an offset for the middle and open on the third or bottom piece so I could just slide the middle piece open and closed as needed. The center piece would only have to move maybe an inch or so to open and close. I've seen those kind of vents before on military stuff, used mostly in extreme environments where you leave them open for summer and closed for winter.
 
scoobyxj said:
Hmm, never thought of that, but good point. When I had spacers on my hood I never really noticed any significant reducing in coolant temp, but one thing I did notice is that my floor board would would get much warmer on long trips. So much so that I started waring sandals when I went on long trips 'cause my feet would get so hot. I pulled my spacers for the winter last fall, and I don't think I'm going to bother reinstalling them this time. I've got a fan override idea cooked up that I'm going to try. The plan is to make it run for a while after the key is off with manual control when the key is on.
Click to expand...


same as a turbo timer, but i dont think it would be good idea cause its very likely to drain your battery and it wont help cooling since coolant isnt flowing (exept the coolant inside the radiator)
 
karim_gabra said:
same as a turbo timer, but i dont think it would be good idea cause its very likely to drain your battery and it wont help cooling since coolant isnt flowing (exept the coolant inside the radiator)
Click to expand...
The extended run time isn't meant to cool the coolant, but to help reduce heat soak on hot startup. Which was why I was running hood spacers. I have a 2000.
 
Plays For Jeeps said:
I went to the Hardware store and after $2.35 in bolts and stainless spacers I had a 1/5 inch cowl hood that closes properly.

I actually used to sit alittle above 210 at highway speeds and now the needle visably sits a hair below it :)

I just couldnt bring myself to cut the hood and not worry about water damage.

What are you using for engine bay cooling?
Click to expand...


How exactly do you measure 1/5 of an inch? :confused1
 
scoobyxj said:
I've got a fan override idea cooked up that I'm going to try. The plan is to make it run for a while after the key is off with manual control when the key is on.
Click to expand...
I got a fan override switch with relay from xj-armor.com for my 2000 . Cost me about 40 bucks if I remember right. Works gut.
 
i have both did change my temp too much but it looks cool when i go through the pit and steam rolls through them. as for cooling i went with a 180 stat bored stat houseing and some water wetter... works great run about 190 on the trails 195 in heavy traffic and 180 on the HWY
 
Lebaron vents. Not so much for coolant temps but for underhood temps. They made a huge difference in underhood temp.
 
scoobyxj said:
The extended run time isn't meant to cool the coolant, but to help reduce heat soak on hot startup. Which was why I was running hood spacers. I have a 2000.
Click to expand...
newer VW's do that, runs for about 2 minutes after you turn it off.
 
I have had tons of weird cooling problems.

From too hot to too cold. Then had one where the temp jumped all over the place. Thought it was the gauge till I hooked up an external one and it read the same.

I have 3 row radiator CSF from dpgoffroad
180 degree t-stat
99 electric fan on a manual switch.

And the biggie...Ceramic coated APN header. I think the header did the trick.
Cost me $100 for the 2000 degree coating. Another $65 for the down pipe custom made to go past the t-case skid plate. So most all the heat is pushed to the rear of the jeep.

Now I can't get it above 180 degrees with a 4.7 stroker. So far so good. But summer is coming. So we shall see.
 
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