Well I did this a while back but never posted anything about it. A few people wanted more pictures of it so I thought I'd make a thread about it. I did this last summer to see how it would help heat flow. I noticed a decent change in summer, and in the winter it acts as a slight "defroster" when rolling down the road.

Here are a few pics of the process.

Started taping out where I wanted to cut so I could follow a nice strait edge



Started cutting everything out with a dremel cut-off wheel. You need to cut out part of the cross brace in the hood to let air actually through. I wouldn't recommend sitting on your hood after this







here is the finished/installed pics. Not quite done, I plan on grinding down the edge more to give it a bigger opening.

 

Wow, that looks like it would defrost the windows well, lol!

That's awesome.

 

Cool idea!

 

I like the open part after the cowl! but I'd wanna keep those braces...

 

Doesn't that make the heat/ac/vent air smell?

 

yeah I hear ya, but its still plenty strong. But there was no real way to get good airflow with it still there.

 

nah not at all. Only time I can ever smell anything is when I use my window spray heh.

 

nice i thought about doing something like this to mine

 

I think a stainless mesh thing would look good there!

I couldnt cut my powerdome..

 

once again, Andy leads the way in new and inventive idea's.

 

Cool idea. Looks great!

 

Wow thats an awesome idea! Your prob one of the first that thought of this

 

never heard of anyone actually doing that

 

I like it. I like the function of it too.

 

looks good! i wonder if there is a way to run the air through the cross braces and over to the air box like the cervinis fiberglass hood i had on my superduty does

 

That looks so clean. I want to do that to mine now lol

 

i need to get me a powerdome hood now so i can do this.

 

thanks guys! when you get bored its just fun to find new easy projects

 

Back in the day when I first got the truck, my uncle was talking to me about doing something like this....but drilling a bunch of holes in a nice pattern...modeled after the aftermarket cowl hoods. Nice work Andy!


Now....go take come current pics of the truck and ***** it out!!

 

Looks Good!!!

 

haha I did dude! did you miss them? I mean I can take more and ***** some more I suppose

 

You could always get some thin metal and weld between where you cut out that cross memeber then add a few kickers to reinforce it, but it'd fawk your paint i'm sure.... very cool mod!

 

The powerdome hood is all fiberglass, so no worries about messing up paint. He'd have to be careful to glass in some supports.

 

yeah i can just get out the ole fiberglass welder


Its plenty strong for what it is, I dont need it so I can stand on it or anything. so for now its all good.

 

This just makes me want to swap to a 01-03 front end! Nice work.