To louver or not to louver. That is the question.

Normally I have no problem making up my own mind about my cars. However I am going back and forth on wether I want to put louvers in the hood of my truck. the body work is going to be done soon and it will be time for paint. I'm having a hard time seeing the louvers in my minds eye.
It's going to be kind of a hot rod driver. The back will come down a few inches and I'll be running Cragar SS's It will be a simular red that it is now.
It will pretty much be a daily driver so I will have to do something about rain in the engine bay. I do have an Idea though.

Any way, Your opinions are apreciated.

Oh and the second pic is of my work crew. He tends to slow me down more than he helps. But I wouldn't have it any other way.

 

Louvers are cool............i have over 500 punched in my track roadster and my coupe hood is also louvered..........

guess i love louvers

but its a personal choice, that hood with the panels would lend itself well to some louvers i think.

 

Pros: The rounded louvers look cool. Vents engine bay.
Cons: Cost to punch,prep, and paint. More labor. Need pan under for weather issues. The truck is cool without them.
I think that your co worker/helper is goin' to dig the truck either way. Save the time and money to spend it with your helper.
Smokey

 

Punch it.

 

IMO that truck will look good with or without the louvers.

 

Simple answer to your question. The only time you don't louver is on the exterior of a submarine. Any other time, the more the merrier.

Frank

 

my sentiments exactly !

 

"On the outside looking in"

I prefer the hood of that particular truck WITHOUT louvers....
Smmmooooth.

 

as you did say you were going to do something about them in the rain if you punched them..That is my only pet peve about louvers is it contributes to a dirty engine compartment, letting water in ..dirt in etc..I love a clean engine compartment , but I like the looks of louvers..is there a way to have both? is there a way to have both and be able to benifit from the use of louvers too?

 

Ya either like louvers or ya don't. I have a press and have had a lot of cars with louvers. Have good boots on both ends of the plug wires and seal the air cleaner bolt from letting water run down into the carb(s) and you're good to go. Trays, etc. to keep the engine clean just defeat the benefits of louvers and look stupid. If cleaning your engine from time to time is too much work for you, don't go with louvers...they'll just make you into a whiner.

Charlie

 

looks good like it is , but it would look better punched..

 

Charlie, WELL SAID!!!!!!.............OLDBEET

 

Louvers Rules the World!!

Will get the hood on my 41 punched as soon as it hits Swedish grounds....

 

Punch it,,,if I like the looks of yours I might just do my 65 truck also,, HRP

 

Thanks for the input guys. I just thought of something. I actually have a spare hood for this truck. I could louver one and paint them both. Then I can swap them out from time to time just for the hell of it.

I think that might be the way to go.

Thanks,
MIke

 

I would put my money elsewhere. Course, Im not a louver fan except on Verticle Surfaces. Horizontal Surfaces need a catch pan underneath the louvers if you plan to keep it outside. An occasional rain wouldnt be a big deal on a car that sits inside most its life, but..... is that truck really a inside type of truck?

 

find a spare hood in case you don't want the louver's later. if it's wet where you live they ****! personel choice.

 

I like the idea of having two hoods. If you don't like the louvers, you can always sell it to someone who must have them.

I was at enjenjo's a while back and there is a car he's working on and it has a ton of louvered panels. I didn't care too much for them because they went with the whole '80s look of the car. After he cleaned up the '80s the louvers looked great and he pointed out that they are not a fad, they transcend fads.

As for a clean engine bay, you never gonna drive the thing, or what? If I recall, those don't have belly pans on them and rain CAN get through the grill and radiator and underneath. Louver it!

 

I have louvers in the hood of my 41, wouldn't have it any other way. Louvers say HOT ROD. For the whiners who say that it lets the engine compartment get dirty, WASH it. I've never seen an engine compartment yet that didn't get dirty IF the car is driven at all.

 

Yeah it's a daily driver. I'm trying to get a 60's hot rod feel but I still want it to be drivable. I've decided to do the louvers. I don't mind spending a few hours a month cleaning it top to bottom.

When the body work is done I'm going to be working on getting a mild built 460 with a TKO 500 and 3.73 posi 9" rear in it. May not be traditional, but it will run like a ****d ape and still get 16 mpg (better than the 10 MPG FE in it now). I want to be able to drive this thing almost every day.

Thanks for all the input,
MIke

 

Louver it !!!

 

My son and I bought a 65 F100 short bed last summer. Everything else we have is louvered so I was looking at the hood on this one. I'm not sure louvers would look right with those two recesses in the hood. Were you thinking about having them clustered inside those recesses or covering more of the hood? I would be interested in your layout.

 

Louvers look great. I have them on my street rod, about 200 of them. Painting and color sanding them was an absolute pain. Once I was caught in a down poor at the fair grounds ans was parked slightly down hill...absolutely drwoned my engine and took a while to get things dried out so it would start. Also my finned air cleaner and valve covers are always a pain to keep from water spotting on a regular wash job. Like I said I love the look of louvers but I'll noit do it again especially if it were a daily driver. Just my thoughts.....