BUILD-OFF CHALLENGE: Tygaboy's '75 LS3, It seemed a good idea at the time... Options

[tygaboy]

Aaaaaaaaand, there's the horribly rough cut hole. Let me remind you that this hood was tweaked and had a ton of bondo on it already.

DISCLAIMER: No nice hood was harmed in the making of this proof of concept. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/happy11.gif)

Back to the serious stuff: It looks like the resulting airway may actually work.

[tygaboy]

Next, I cut the hole on the other side. New in this pic is that after reviewing Tony's design, I noticed I'd not accounted for the .375-ish reveal at the back of the headlight and up the edge of the hood. Here's the comparison.
I'm with Tony and will be adding the reveal, as pictured on the passenger side.

This is also a benefit in that it moves that side of the opening in .375 and gives me a bit more flexibility in terms of what I can do to remove parts of the support structure to gain more vent opening area.

Then it was "tape up the center vent" in preparation for road testing to see if this design flows adequately.

I need to point out that up to this point, my cooling system has over performed. The car struggles to get to temp. So much so that my next step is to remove the thermostat and run the electric water pump with the ECU. I'll spin it not at all (or very slowly) at start up, and ramp it up as the temp climbs. The ECU does this via PWM (pulse width modulation) signal and can run the radiator fans the same way. I can program the pump and the fans to do exactly what's needed. It's just a matter of understanding what that is... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

[ri914]

Very Nice, I am going to be cutting my hood soon for an exhaust for the fans. I like seeing new ideas. Not sure what I am going to do. I did learn that when cutting a hood you quickly see what existing bracing was working and what is not. Took me an entire day to fix a 10 minute sawzall blast.

I was thinking about making 1 vent at the top near the windshield but I like the 2 side vent idea you created. I dont have much landscape with my new fenders though.

My radiator has a temp guage in it which kicks on my fans and the engine temp decides how fast to fun the electric pump. If you have any questions I can ask my friend that programmed it for me, he is very good with the GM engines and ecu stuff. how close is your water pump plate to your firewall?

[tygaboy]

Here's Tony's original design sketch, just so you don't have to go looking.

[dan10101]

@markhoward has agreed to take my car for a test drive (hopefully tomorrow!) and report back if the pedal feel meets his high standards. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)
Thanks Mark!

Why didn't you say something. i would be glad to help out! Oh wait, you wanted high standards... nevermind.

[tygaboy]

@markhoward has agreed to take my car for a test drive (hopefully tomorrow!) and report back if the pedal feel meets his high standards. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)
Thanks Mark!

Why didn't you say something. i would be glad to help out! Oh wait, you wanted high standards... nevermind.

@Dan10101 - If only it had been ready for that when you were here... Your experience with LS power would have been great to have. You could always come back down!

[ri914]

Here's Tony's original design sketch, just so you don't have to go looking.

What is the rectangular mark on the passenger fender? matching air ducts for brakes?

very nice...

[tygaboy]

And as always, I'll do the full transparency thing. Here's my initial effort at a vent design.
I'm trying to reuse my center vent "bendy vent panel" design and adapt it to this new shape. Obviously quite a way to go and there are a couple challenging areas so final outcome is TBD, but you get an idea of how my pointed little head approaches this sort of part. At least so far.

[djway]

BigKat once told me that the air inlet to his radiator was the size of the 6 cylinder oil cooler opening. LS motors just seem to run cooler. Hot air is approximately 1.7 times the cool volume so math at your most restrictive point.
Looking at the rest of the car I have no doubt it will look cool.
Love it.

[Cairo94507]

Chris- I really like the new design. I just could not warm up to the center vent. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[Andyrew]

I like it!

I think if you ran JUST this it would be fine. If you ran both this and the fender vents it would be double fine (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[tygaboy]

I worked up version 1 of the vent design. As usual, I'll need to see these on the car and adjust from there, as needed.
Yes, I know I can't tip all the vents into position, given the current opening but this will give me the physical model I need to noodle through exactly what I need to do to make this work.
I'll cut one side, tweak until I'm happy, then apply the final (ha!) changes to the other side.
Ultimately, I'll use a fiberglass or carbon hood where it's far easier to cut/change the support structure to resolve any clearance challenges.
Another BIG thanks again to Tony @RetroRacer for suggesting this design.

Pics of one of these in metal this afternoon, if all goes to plan.

[tygaboy]

Chris- I really like the new design. I just could not warm up to the center vent. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

@Cairo94507 Michael - Yep, me neither. But building all those center vents was a great experience and skill builder for me. Chalk it up to "more learning". Fingers crossed that the "TonyVents" are to my liking. So far, the design feels like a winner.

[tygaboy]

What is the rectangular mark on the passenger fender? matching air ducts for brakes?
very nice...

That was me trying to thinking about trying to channel @OptimusGlen and copy his wonderful fender vent design, pic attached. If I end up with the TonyVents (tm!) on the hood, I'm not sure Glen's design are complimentary, uber cool though they may be.

Lots still up in the air, pending if I can pull off any of this.

[tygaboy]

Version 1 of the vent panels. As usual, seeing it "in the metal" and on the car lets me start to understand what I like, what I don't, what may change, etc., etc...

[tygaboy]

And here's the actual first one I cut. I measured one angle incorrectly and realized another needed to be changed. But that didn't prevent me from bending the vents into position to get a bit better feel for the look.

My first reaction was that it looks maybe a little "heavy" and that perhaps resizing the height of the vents (using more of them in the same space) would be worth a go. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/idea.gif)

As always, it's a work in progress that will likely see a few more versions, up to and including a completely different approach. Yep, same ol', same ol' from me.

[Andyrew]

And here's the actual first one I cut. I measured one angle incorrectly and realized another needed to be changed. But that didn't prevent me from bending the vents into position to get a bit better feel for the look.

My first reaction was that it looks maybe a little "heavy" and that perhaps resizing the height of the vents (using more of them in the same space) would be worth a go. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/idea.gif)

As always, it's a work in progress that will likely see a few more versions, up to and including a completely different approach. Yep, same ol', same ol' from me.

They do look a bit thick. Maybe another 30% thinner?

[Cairo94507]

I agree with Andrew on that. The vents need to be scaled down in size and maybe add a couple more to make them fit the space? But I like where this is headed for sure.

[AZBanks]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif)

A little thinner on the individual vents but other than that, you nailed it.

[tygaboy]

@Andyrew @AZBanks @Cairo94507
Yep, I've got a newer, slimmer, improved version partly done. And I'm thinking maybe narrow up the frame. It's 1" as is, maybe take it down to .75?
Make everything a bit less "tough" looking?

The other thing I messed with that I like is the scree/mesh look. Clearly, the shape of the opening would need to be other than what's shown here, more like the sharpied size but with the same corner detail as the vents?

I will say that to me, this look is more elegant, more sophisticated than the vents. I could use the same material on the hood, front bumper opening and GT lid to drive some continuity.

The cool thing is "it's just a hood". I could make a couple different ones, just like the fire wall access panel, and swap looks as I wanted to.

Just more to consider. Ain't custom fab stuff a gas? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sawzall-smiley.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smash.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/welder.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/stirthepot.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/shades.gif)