Technical Louver layouts

Howdy

So I finally decided to do it- get some *****in traditional louvers punched in my hood to help a little with cooling and a lot with heat soak. I have a bigblock in my 54 dodge pickup and this is a functional modification but of course I want it to look good too!

I’m doing the prep work now but first I tried some layouts with a silver sharpie. Takes a while to sand off six paintjobs haha


I know I want three rows of 3” round top louvers. I don’t want any down the middle dumping heat in my fresh air cowl scoop vent. That leaves a pretty specific area where the louvers can go.

The hood center narrows toward the front and I am not sure if the rows should follow the taper or go straight forward and back. If they taper it will probably be noticable that the louvers themselves are not parallel? Also playing with staggering the endings by the cowl, and different length rows.

Its subtle in the pics but the p***enger side layout follows the taper while the driver’s side they are straight fwd/back.


Any opinions are welcome- how you did yours, how they were done back in the day, what do you think looks right?

Now is the time to mess around with ideas- the hood can only get punched once!

Radar

 

I vote follow the taper, I think it will look like a mistake otherwise.

 

Follow the taper. They are too far apart to see if they are parallel side-to-side.

 

^^^^this. Otherwise they dont look right from the front of the truck.

 

Bingo on following the taper . Just looks right. catches your eye better.

 

Another follow the taper.

 

Tapered !

Tom Medley's layout ...

 

^ Oh yeah...I like that!

 

I couldn't decide either!

 

Like it, works for me!

 

Here's what it might look like with ether style ...

 

I actually like the top pic.

 

To me, louvers are like pinstripes, door art, wheels, paint color, etc. The layout, number, and style of louvers are all unique on each and every panel. I believe the uniqueness is what makes them cool and you should decide what you like and do them to your taste. And best of all, you are getting some good feedback with example pics to consider.............

 

The way @moose shows it, parallel looks best Tapered looks unorganized.

 

@themoose ... you're always busy ... but ... what's the scale on those louvers ? Look smaller than @radarsonwheels layout. Or no ?

Also ... while I'm pushing my luck ... ... can you photoshop louvers patterned on the center panel too ? Maybe mirroring your outer less run rows ? W pattern across the entire hood panels. 3 rows center. I'll quietly leave the room now ...

 

OK bigger and more

 

WOW. haha. The man never sleeps. Thank you sir !! @themoose ... a HAMB treasure !

 

Wow thanks for all the replies and especially the photoshop job!

The louvers in my mockup/layout are 3”.

I love the photoshop mockup but I was strongly considering getting round top louvers- those look more like flat top ones like a gym locker? I thought they looked better on flatter hoods. They do look less like a wood rasp when done. Now I have to re-think that!

I really like the more full louvered out look with the center panel done too but I want to keep away from the center so I can still use my cowl scoop vent in the summer.

The photoshop with non parallel tapered layout looks super crazy to me- that’s what I’m trying to avoid. If I go with the layouts parallel to the inside edge I definitely want each side parallel to itself even though the two groups of 3 rows will be tapered toward each other.

I’d love to hear more thoughts about round vs flat top louvers!

Thanks

Radar

 

Probably catch flack ... definitely not HAMB friendly ... but some header wrap, would likely eliminate a metric ton of engine heat.

Just sayin' ...

 

I think the tapered layout looks better on the V-shaped hood and the straight looks better on the rectangular hood...

 

Im never the spelling or grammar police...

Unless it’s accidentally hilarious.
Flugabwehrkanone Flak short for German aircraft cannon fire.

“Flack” would not be so bad to catch as long as its Roberta hahaha

I did consider wrapping but I have these super tight block hugger shorty headers in there and I’d have to take damn near the whole front of the truck apart to pull them off and wrap them. Plus wrap comes with more problems and fatigues the steel etc.

I appreciate the thought though!

I have the hood top down to bare steel and most of the dynamat removed from the inside. Now I gotta unbolt the whole ****erfly, temporarily slice out the inner structure to be welded back in later, get the insides down to shiny steel, and drive the hood sides down to the metal shop.

I’m psyched. It’s a lot of prep work and it’s gonna be a lot of hand sanding razor sharp crannies but it’ll be traditional functional and I think really cool.

 

The layout themoose did looks great, got any more pictures of the truck?

 

Thanks here ya go

Got some more meat on the back wheels since that pic but I got those wheels & tires for cheap off craigslist.

Body work is next- don’t want to be a rat forever but I’m just gonna get it all straight with a nice single stage garage paintjob.

In the meantime it is a reliable daily driver except for getting 6mpg.

 

very nice

 

@radarsonwheels

A good easy thing to do ... is GO BUY SOME YARN. Cut as many 3 inch pieces as you can, & BUY SOME TAPE.

Tape the yarn pieces on your hood. Somewhat in your "to be louvered area" ... but I'd also tape them on the hood center.

Go for a drive, and film or watch what those yarn pieces do ... at speed. Open your cowl vent. Close your cowl vent. Watch the yarn, for that procedure also.

Do the same with your windows up. Also, do the same, with your windows down. Do the same at low speed 20 mph, & also 60 mph.

I think you'll be very surprised with what the wind over your vehicle structure will do. Pay attention to the yarn tufts that stay in straight lines. Some will stick down to the hood, while others will fly away from the hood.

Of course, the straight yarns will likely be in your louver layout areas.

Welcome to high tech wind tunnel testing. Performed in aviation, racing, and car testing ... even today.

In testing English Morgans ... the hood louvers would exhaust thru the front leading louvers, but intake on the trailing edge of the louvers. Morgans have one row of louvers, on each hood top.

Some guys will flip flop their louver direction. Just depends on what the yarn does.

Air flow will be dictated by your vehicle shape first. It's up to you ... to cut holes to accentuate that shapes' air flow characteristics. Would help your thoughts on louver placements for sure.

EDIT : Here it is. >>>

My initial testing in 2002 using short tufts of yarn on the bonnet of a 1963 4/4 (with bonnet-top louvers) revealed that air was being pushed out of the four or five louvers at the front of the bonnet and being forced into the rearmost four or five louvers, with “indifferent” flow around the remaining middle louver row area. As air encountered the grille some of it was displaced upward and as it p***ed the highest point of the cowl it was still traveling upward due to its inertia and it created a low pressure area, drawing air out of the front louvers. The windshield diverted air upward and to the sides. As air slowed down to change direction it created increased air pressure upstream of the windshield over the rear portion of the bonnet, causing air to be forced downward through the louvers since the air pressure inside the engine compartment was lower.

 

Got it all ready to drop off at the puncher’s!

 

That is super cool! Thanks for sharing your results and I can’t forget to compliment the louvers themselves they look awesome.

Luckily my cooling system is adequate. I got the big block running this summer and drove all over in traffic and moving. It never got quite up to 200 but was in the 290s a lot in the heat and waiting in long lines at red lights.

I’m very interested in letting heat rise out once I’m parked, somewhat interested in letting heat out in traffic on hot days, and curious to see if it does anything to the cruising temp.

 

Thanks guys for all the feedback and support.

I still gotta talk to the guy about spacing within each row- I think most folks index the next punch by backing the female die up to the last louver. So the forward and back spacing might change.

I think I want the windshield side to end in a way that follows the rear curve, possibly staggering the louvers so they don’t line up to their neighboring rows? Or maybe that would look too chaotic. But something like this:


Remember- there is a tapered central panel inbetween the hood ****erflies so these 2 hood sides will be a little tapered with a wider center space.

 

That layout looks good.

 

I dropped the metal off with Don at Ol 55 which is the hot rod shop inside East Coast Chevrolet. They do a lot of tri-5 parts and builds and wow there is a lot of money in Doylestown and local. Their large shop was chock full of cars that would be an even swap for a decent house.

Don was tigging up a rad support for an off brand gangster running board era business coupe that was in bare steel with gorgeous fresh metal work everywhere you look. Their fab shop was clean and organized and the louver punch is a beautiful piece of equipment.

He took his time explaining the options and spacing and we came to an understanding about what I am trying to do pretty quickly. I trust his eye and his hand and I can’t wait to see how it comes out! The three rows will end up spaced about 1/4” farther away from each other than I had them, and the outside rows will be a little shorter so they stay off the radiused edge.

He has flat louver dies from 2-7” and said he had a ‘hotrod’ style in 3”. I was picturing a taller dome ))) but the louvers are more similar to the regular flat shape just with a little more radius on the sides than ]]]] more like }}}}} without the cool center peak.

I’ll post pics when I pick em up!