Project: Ram air hood build....an experiment with spare parts....

[BLE 'BURBAN]

Ok first and foremost....this is going to take a while for me to do. No garage, no shed = as funds, time and weather permits, I'll do as much on it as I can until it's done.......or pitched.

I've had out behind the house tucked up under the porch the remains of an original '72 olds 442 OPEN AIR INTAKE (OAI) fiberglass hood for almost 20 years. I've finally gotten around to getting an extra hood for my Suburban and am going to TRY to join them together.....Myself. With no previous experiance other than building up my overhead console to house my stereo a couple years ago.

I'll post pics tomorrow after I get them uploaded of my progress so far.

[silvereagle07]

Cool idea! This should be interesting.

[BLE 'BURBAN]

So here's what I've done so far...

1. Set the hood on the truck and marked the hood where the air cleaner stud is (center of air cleaner)


2. Drilled a hole thru the hood and made a card board template of the intake hole on the bottom section of the 442 hood. Then transfered that to the steel hood and took my cordless sheet metal nibbler to the hood and cut out a 17" diameter hole in the top skin of the hood. Then flipped it over and trimmed out the support frame under the hole.


3. Then I layed the lower section of the scoop on the hood and traced it out on the hood. Started to cut it out when the nibblers battery died.




4. So I decided to lay the ram air hood on the steel to see how much I'm going to have to trim off of it to get it to fit.



My step daughter Lela hamming it up for the camera. Don't let'er fool ya any, she's a 6'3" amazon. Her older sisters sitting on the tailgate listening to the radio.

[butch86]

i hope it turns out as cool as i think its gonna be. if yours turns out well i have an old shacker hood from a mid 70s camaro i may intagrate in my 85 one day. gonna keep my eye on this one.

ps i bet ya have to chase the boys off. cute step daughter

[BLE 'BURBAN]

Originally Posted by butch86

i hope it turns out as cool as i think its gonna be. if yours turns out well i have an old shacker hood from a mid 70s camaro i may intagrate in my 85 one day. gonna keep my eye on this one. I hope so too.

ps i bet ya have to chase the boys off. cute step daughter

Nahh she seems to have found a pretty decent guy. They've been together a couple years now.

[wyattglock]

I'm subscribed!! This is very similar to what I am thinking of doing for my truck. Except I am going to try and fab it out of a stock steel hood and then figure out the airbox when I get the hood done. Hope it turns out for you, should be very cool!

[mud.man.rj]

Like how you think, interesting combo of both, should turn out pretty good, at least in my head it does so far.

[Cherub]

So im guessing your going to glass them together? should be interesting ive always liked that cutlass hood.

[rs72z]

Just a thought that you may have already planned for. When you cut out all of the braces on the bottom of the hood it's going to be flimsy as he11. Be sure you take the springs off the hinges or it might look like a taco after you shut it one time.
I hope i am wrong because it's going to be cool when done.

[BLE 'BURBAN]

Originally Posted by Cherub

So im guessing your going to glass them together? should be interesting ive always liked that cutlass hood.

Everyone I've talked to up here including a fiberglass supply shop have all said that getting fiberglass to adhere to metal for any extended length of time is next to near impossible. So I'm going to bond them together with some high strength body panel adhesive the the body shop at work uses. Just gotta break out the D.A. sander this week end to clean up the olds hood and get it ready for some trimming and 'glass repair.

[mud.man.rj]

Got my fingers crossed for you, hope it works cause it like the project, should look wicked.

[joe231]

Cool project Dave!!

It's gonna look awesome!!
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[BLE 'BURBAN]

Got some more of the sheet metal trimmed out so the lower portion will dop down to the frame. Still gotta cut the frame though. leaving enough for the outer lip of the lower portion to rest onto.
I think I'm gonna need another support stand though.....

[lilpoindexter]

This is cool.

[Cherub]

Originally Posted by BLE 'BURBAN

Everyone I've talked to up here including a fiberglass supply shop have all said that getting fiberglass to adhere to metal for any extended length of time is next to near impossible. So I'm going to bond them together with some high strength body panel adhesive the the body shop at work uses. Just gotta break out the D.A. sander this week end to clean up the olds hood and get it ready for some trimming and 'glass repair.

gotcha thats good to know. im looking forward to seeing it.

[wyattglock]

Any updates on this before the snow hits?

[Beat68CST]

Originally Posted by BLE 'BURBAN

My step daughter Lela hamming it up for the camera. Don't let'er fool ya any, she's a 6'3" amazon.

LMAO! Best comment I've seen on here in ages!

You seem to be pretty crafty with them sheers.

[JRANGER]

this could be awesome

[Devillusion]

Wanna see where this goes...............interesting.

[SS Delux]

There was a guy around here that did the same hood on his truck. It was on kijiji but its long gone by now, at least I save some pics.

[Kaysen]

Did you ever finish this? I love the olds ram air hood on my rallye 350, it's be neat to see one on an 81-87

[BLE 'BURBAN]

No sadly we had a major wind storm come up during the night that picked up the fiberglass hood section and slammed it into a tree which gave me many more pieces than I cared to deal with.
Real fun working on projects with no garage or shed or carport and being at the mercy of that old bat called mother nature.

[Kaysen]

Hey I feel your pain there. I'm in the same boat, and working on a gravel driveway sucks!