Hot Rods keeping everything dry

Louvers look great on hot rods and some customs but I have always wondered if you get caught in a storm or even washing your car what prevents the engine from getting wet?

You guys that have louvered hoods & truck lids what provisions have you made the keep water off the engine and keep your trunk dry? HRP

 

It's a topless roadster, water thru the louvers....pphhhuttt....no problem

 

I highly doubt anyone that has spent any time in a topless roadster hasn't looked like a drowned rat at one time or another.

Having driven almost 300 miles one one trip in my roadster with no top I know what being wet feels like every thing gets soaked but fortunately everything in the trunk stayed dry and the engine never skipped a beat but I didn't have louvers in the hood top or trunk. HRP

 

I've had two friends who have lived to regret louvered hoods after monsoon rains. Took quite a while to get them started. Rodders do a lot of things for style... that aren't so smart for the street. Many of those "trends" were liberated from race cars.

 

My buddy's dad left him a cobra when he passed. He didn't like anyone driving the car but him. The day of his funeral my buddy drove the car, right in front of the hearse. The day opened up into a torrential downpour on the way to the graveyard and my buddy told me "that was my dad pissing on me for driving his car." lol, and boy did he! He and his nephew were drenched, head to toe. Looked like they jumped off a dock...

 

Yeah, it's not just the roadster guys that have to deal with getting caught in a frog strangler with louvers on the top of the hood. HRP

 

Use the exact same techniques that you would use to keep your motorcycle dry.

 

Leave it the garage when it rains?

 

Then take it out when it snows...

 

Pullover at an underpass.

 

I have a 1941 Ford convertible which has a louvered hood that I've owned since 1962 and have had very little trouble with driving the car in bad weather. I've had two flatheads, a Y Block, a Cleveland and now an Olds engine. The only one to give me trouble was the Y Block because the distributor , which was a Mallory Double Life was on an angle and rain water would seep in. Other than that, no problems.

 

I run mine without a hood and got caught in the rain did'nt have a problem.

 

Not had a problem. No louvers but no inner fenders.

 

My coupe is channeled, no louvers but that’s because there’s no hood. I’ve been caught in some real frog stranglers yet never had an issue with the engine getting wet.

 

I drove my 1950 F1 without a hood for 9 years running a 302 engine. The reason for no hood is because it's done up like Tow Mater from CARS movie. And in those nine years it was not garaged either and driven almost daily. To mimic Tow Mater, I run a very large cake pan for my air filter cover which covers the distributor. Never missed a lick in the rain, in fact, on one trip it was raining so hard I had to pull over because I couldn't see. I occasionally would set a hood on it if there was a chance of snow when I wasn't driving it.

For a louvered hood, you could put a piece of sheet magnet like that used for stick on advertising signs on the underside of the hood. That's what I used when I wasn't racing my OT Maverick (mid 70s). I had a hole under the scoop above the carb and would slide the square piece of magnet in the scoop to cover the hole. For racing I had an open top filter base with foam to seal against the hood. Normal driving I had a regular type aftermarket air filter assembly. More than once I forgot to take out the magnet, and they don't run well without air. Lol. Ron

 

I think Myth Busters did a show about rather you get wetter walking or running to get out of a rain storm. I’m sure the answer must be to drive faster. Your mileage may vary!

 

It Is Worth The Trouble And Throw A Piece Of Plastic Over The Engine While Washing And Drive Fast In The Rain.....Simple...

 

There's actually some wisdom to the 'go faster', depending how hard it's raining. I've been in that same cobra in a medium rain and while we were moving at a good pace, no rain was felt.

 

From experience, In a deluge if you slow down, especially in a hiboy roadster the rooster tail of water covers you and the inside of the windshield, just keep the hammer down. HRP

 

My deck lid was from Brookville. They sent it in two pieces, inner and outer.
I louvered the outer skin, then glued on strips of thin aluminum sheet with Goodyear Pliobond cement. Sent back to Brookville and they assembled. Never leaked a drop in 30 years.
I also found some weatherstrip from Steele that went on the body side around the trunk opening. At the bottom I made a pan that went underneath the inner lower panel. It caught any water that ran down the side channel and had two rubber tubing drains that went through the rear subframe and out. Stayed perfectly dry inside.

 

I have a aluminum rain shield attached to the radiator support rods that sheds off anything coming through the louvers over the carb and dist. on my delivery.

 

I had 310 louvers on the hood of my 64 Nova. I split the inner skin from the outer, had it louvered all the way to the edges of the hood then put a piece of 1/8 " plexiglass between the two before I welded it back together

 

My coupe has a louvered hood with lots of rain miles. Some water does get in at low speeds. No big deal. I also try to park up hill. Snowman

 

Perhaps it needs to be said, but the louvers in race cars are there primarily to let high pressure air out of the car, either the air trapped in the front fenders /engine bay or at the back of the car. A car without hood sides does not need louvers in the top of the hood at all, obviously. If you don't run air cleaners, you are asking for a motor full of water after a big rain. Likewise, if the back of the car, roof or trunk lid is louvered, it helps relieve the high pressure that builds up inside the body. These are especially good ideas when the car has a belly pan or is otherwise sealed up well and streamlined for places like Bonneville. If you put them in and don't really need them, or put them in and then block them from behind to prevent water from getting in the car, then you are just doing it because folks will think it is cool.

 

I don't run a hood on my roadster, so I don't need to worry about louvers. I find if you go fast enough you hardly get wet!

 

I went to the grocery store last night and got my ass soaked on the way home, the car never died but it sure sputtered and coughed on the way home.

 

For me, that would be don't own anything without a top or with holes in the top of the hood!

 

I recall on old magazine article, I believe it was Pete, Jake and Jim Ewing heading to the nats. They had to rig clotheslines from open trunklids because everything in the louvered trunks got soaked. Pretty sure that's traditional.

 

I've put a lot of miles on cars that have the engine (or at least the carbs) sticking through the hood. I don't know what problems you might have with the engine getting wet, but I've never had them.

except for one time....hauling the car on a trailer through a few days of rain, without covering the carbs with plastic...the engine got water in it, but I realized it happened before I tried to start the engine, so I pulled the plugs out and cranked it over to push the water out. After drying the distributor inside, it was fine.

so...if you're driving your car, the water won't be a problem. If you're not driving it, then think about the water, and make sure it's out before you start the engine.

 

I drove an overly louvred A coupe in Redding calif for about 6 months to a year. The hood, the roof, the decklid. It rains in Redding (a lot) and while it was pretty damp it did not seem to be as wet as my bike.