60-61 chev and gmc hood owners

[jonzcustomshop]

I noticed on the 60-61 hoods the "pods" ventilate directly into the engine compartment. the rh one right above the battery.

have you experienced any problems with water, dirt, snow getting into the engine compartment while driving, and making a mess of things?

the holes on the 62-66 chev and gmc hoods direct all the airflow to the radiator, and seal off the engine compartment.

[markeb01]

Yes, and absolutely yes. I commuted in my truck 70+ miles a day for several years through North Idaho winters with the original 1960 GMC hood, and the engine compartment was constantly filthy. I even had to replace the open element air cleaner with a metal louvered lid because the front of the paper element was routinely getting packed full of crud. The later Chevy hood solved the problem. I suppose I could have worked on blocking the "screens", but all that splash would have needed to go somewhere, and I figured if the vents were blocked it would just cause the lower lip to rust out faster.

[jbgroby]

It was probaly thought of as helping keeping the engine cool, way back when they designed them?

[jocko]

could you fab up some thin black fuzzy stuff to mount behind the openings (kinda like the fuzzy crud that used to come in the old velocity stacks that served as the air filter)? Seems it would keep at least the small animals out, not look real obvious, and still let air flow into the compartment (not that that's really important, but a thought). Probably wouldn't help much with the splashing stuff though.

Love those hoods though, they just look cool - but sounds like the gaping holes could cause some problems and markeb01 confirmed it with his experience.

[jbgroby]

Although I only drove one for a little while, I would have thought the front upper grill pieces (angled shaped parts that mount to the rad support) would have kept the water or most of the water and such fron getting in the engine compartment?

[markeb01]

I should clarify the original hood on my truck was a GMC hood. Although it shared the same upper surface with the Chevy jet pod hoods, the entire leading edge is wide open. Perhaps the Chevy version wouldn't ingest so much stuff, because the openings are smaller and the turn signal supports probably block a lot more of the debris.

[raycow]

Home improvement stores carry a cut-to-fit foam plastic filter material for furnaces and air conditioners that should catch most of the bad stuff.

Ray

[jonzcustomshop]

this one looks to have something behind the vents...