Hot Rods FULL HOODS and how much FASTER they make cars go.

Just something to think about, and maybe someone has some with and without speed info. I believe all cars look best with full hoods, and post 1948 cars just look odd with them open at shows. So lets say you are at Bonneville you want to run your 1932 Ford with NO hood, how much slower will it be than the same car WITH a full hood? Same question with a Willys G***er at the drags? Bob

 

No hood would have to slow the car down a lot. HRP

 

Bob we had a mutual friend [Rich Paris] that hated going to a show and seeing a line of cars with the hoods up, he said it looked like feeding time at the reptile swamp.

 

Bob, Get some rest! Read my signature below!

 

Think safety, not speed. Ever see a fuel fire at 100+MPH ???

 

Actually, SCTA rules required hood tops;

"All cars must be equipped with metal engine hoods extending from the firewall to a radiator shell and across the top to the beginning of the vertical hood sides. Vertical hood side panels may be omitted. All hoods must be securely fastened in place." - SCTA Technical Regulation 6 - 1947.

 

Hard to put the fire out with the hood closed
It's getting late

 

Hoods? Everyone knows the fastest cars are black!

 

You put a pile of money into making that engine go fast & look purdy, and you're gonna go & hide it under sheet metal ? I'll take looks over a couple MPH any day.

 

a hood is good;

 

I don't know how much faster, but I have heard a car runs much cooler with a hood than without one,
(due to pulling more air through the radiator).

 

The compromise:




Or am I just sitting on the fence, and thus likely to get splinters?

 

Ryan!...Bob's makin fun of guys running no hoods again!

 

should have a hood AND fenders

 

Hey Enzo, aerodynamics help people who know how to build engines, GO even faster.

A 32 that say, ran 125 mph without a hood might gain 10 more. I would think a full hood would certainly make a big difference on a roadster. How many times have we seen cars with the grille opening blocked off to help with areo.

 

Yes.

I know it's there.

 

Some cars need a part hood

Some cars need a full

This picture gained 15mph on the picture alone.
The S&G inspired roadster picks up even more [emoji6]

It's what you are after @ct32ford looks better with out [emoji111]️

It's a safety requirement when racing at the lakes, so if you go for lake style build, you can't run with out.

 

Huh...i figured a hoodless Bonneville car would be slower due to aerodynamics but never thought about how out of control a fire would be with the high speed wind feeding it...
Something common sense should have told me! Lol
Learn something new every day!


As for hiding whats under the hood....sometimes it's kinda cool to keep the goods under wraps
Tony

 

This is sort of off topic but does relate to the part aerodynamics play in automobile performance.
I worked for a Mercedes-Benz dealership for many years and was always reading the newsletters they would put out about goings-on at the factory. One of the stories was related to a compe***ion that the students at an M-B technical school would hold every year.This consisted solely of building a vehicle that would obtain the maximum number of miles per gallon.There were many rules but essentially the cars were all single cylinder diesel engines that were installed in a vehicle of a specified minimum weight.They were given a measured amount of fuel(1 liter I believe)and run on a course.The usual procedure was to run them up to a speed of 18 mph,shut off the engine and coast to a minimum of 3 mph where they were re-started and the cycle repeated until they ran out of fuel.The results were then extrapolated to give the total miles per gallon achieved.
One year the winning vehicle achieved a record of slightly over three THOUSAND miles per gallon! A remarkable feat!
The car then had the body removed and run over the same course to see if aerodynamics would affect the outcome as it was widely believed at the time that it played no real factor in performance at speeds below 60 mph. Imagine the surprise when the vehicle recorded less than half of the original mileage figure even though the weight was considerably less.
So as to the original question as to whether a full hood would make a car go faster;based upon this fact I would have to answer a resounding YES!

 

Well... You're forgetting that those '30s cars are about as aerodynamic as a barn to begin with. If you make even a small change to a "race" car designed for minimal aerodynamic drag that might make a big diffrence, but making a change on something that is rather awful to begin with can give you just about any result. You need actual testing (or at least simulation) to know if removing the hood increases, reduces or doesn't change the aerodynamic drag.

You're probably better off with the hood in place, but there's nothing simple about aerodynamics of complex shapes - you just can't know without testing.

 

On a race car, form and function go hand in hand, but on a hot rod, sometimes function needs to give way to form, just because it looks cool.
I think if speed is the goal, then a hood is a must have.
My Hudson is as aerodynamic as a brick, so I don't run a hood, and if I put one on, it would look stupid.

 

Funnily enough my flathead 32 runs better and quicker with out a hood as it runs much cooler !

 

So based on this threat, faster with, cooler without. Safer with. [emoji41]

 

I agree, kind of like walking around with your girl and her showing off the kitty.
Hey that's my motor, quit showing everybody!

 

That's funny right there! Now I'll go and clean up my coffe.

 

Here kitty kitty.

 

If its for sale show it, if not keep it under wraps.

A long time ago at the HAMB drags it was suggested that maybe I should tech the Pusher not because it wouldn't tech but because it would. This was back when things were still a little lax and if you hadn't teched early you could tech in the staging lanes and a lot of fellas slipped by. Anyway I in the lanes and the tech guy is walking by so I said lets tech my truck then slid across and fell out the p***enger door. The hood goes up and the guy looks in and jumps on his radio and says to the guy in the tower, "hey did you ever look under the hood of the '******s piece of **** truck???" Then he looks as me and said you surprised me I didn't even know the hood would open. That's pretty much always been my at***ude the hood opens.

As for actual numbers I am sure that one uses less torque to go the same fast with a hood as without. I have no real world numbers to back up my beliefs but there are probably some wind tunnel guys on here that could give real world answers to that question.

 

In the two-wheel world, I found that a fully faired re***bent bike held ~ 33% advantage over a conventional upright bike, at 45 MPH.

 

Hmmmn I never thought of it in numbers. I just know that stream lining is stream lining. They do say that you are not as tired after a long trip on a faired bike as you are on a bar hopper.

 

If your girl friend shows me her kitty. I will probably be faster and hotter. The safer part would probably depend on how big you are. .