I have been kicking around the idea of adding louvers to my 40 Ford pickup project. I have a really nice stock hood and struggling to make the decision. My body guy is ready to prime it and needs a decision. I know of all the pros and cons but just on the edge of a decision. The truck is being built as a mild custom based around the early 60's. I never have had a car with hood top louvers and need your thoughts or photos. I have a choice of two different styles of louvers and not sure which one would be more correct for that aria if I were to do it.
They will look great and help cool the engine a lot but if you don't like your engine getting wet and dirty along the way don't do it. And that comes directly from the guy who has run 120 of them in his hood for the past 30 years.
Use the 3" round louvers. The square ones look like you went to the appliance maker and made a bad decision. Louvers are *****in' Good Luck, Tim
I think the reason I have cold feet is the quality of this hood and the fact a good pickup hood is hard to find. Here is one punched on my friends 40 coupe in the pattern I have in my first post. He just covers the engine with a plastic sheet when he washes it.
X2 on the rust,dirty and wet. Look GREAT but in the real,humid world parked outside they ****. Great for a trailer queen but on a daily no way.
I'm the complete opposite, i think the square ones look better, especially with the 34 and ealier bodies. The round ones look like they were punched with a sledge hammer and a chisel...JMO Oh ya, punch in a bunch.
Use the big mouth louvers.I will in the future on my forty pickup.Nothing sayes hot rod like louvers.
It will be a daily driver but parked inside when not inuse. The body will be a lite yellow (****ernut) with white firewall, inner fenders and hood bottom.
If you do them, use the round top style louvers. To me, the flat top louvers have always screamed "GYM LOCKER" or "SWAMP COOLER"... The round tops are much more automotive or aronautic in flavor. They will increase your cooling by a bunch too. They do make it quite a bit harder to keep everything clean, polished and tidy under hood. If you are a habitual engine chrome polisher, you will probably go nuts after a short time. If I may make one suggestion though, I sure wouldn't punch a hood with that much taper in a simple straight pattern like that. You'll get as many opinions on this as you will find guys running presses, but I find that "fanning" the rows as they go back to the back edge of the hood looks much better on a forties car with a tapered hood. It makes the pattern look like it belongs there instead of "WOW look at my louvers!!!". The other thing I would suggest if it was in my shop is to make the actual vent lines match the rear edges of the hood... That one is easier explained by a picture. Two of these pictures are actually '48 Plymouth hoods, one is on my personal car, one I did for a client. Both have an extra row per side more than yous would, but you can get the gist of what I'm saying. The other is a '36 hood that I did for a client locally too...
p*** if daily driver-rain, dust, bugs, etc-someone used to sell a set up to divert water away from engine. but, if water went to front fan would blow it onto engine. if to rear end water ended up on GM distributors. buy another hood for louvers and keep one you have as is.
Ya know, my most frequently asked question is: "how often does the ignition get wet when it rains?" The honest answer? After about 250000 miles as a daily driver with my '48 Plymouth... Never! And that includes summers in Washington state for about 6 years where it rains everyday. It just never is a problem for me. Dust and bugs don't seem to be a problem either. Water spotting is a different deal altogether, though. I have always built "easy care, wash and wear" kinda engines that are not too chrome laden. I could easily see where trying to keep up would drive a sane man crazy, and being hot rodders, that would be a shorter drive for most of us. Just thought I would throw my experiences into the mix and maybe head off some old wives tales.
Use the rounder die. See if you can find a pic of one that the louvers are fanned a bit to match the shape of the hood.
This thread has a large mix of round and square, lots of eye candy Official Louver thread. Let's see what you got or like!
Your body and paint guy will not be happy sanding - painting and rubbing around them and you will have to pay. But they look great on 40s and water is a non issue unless youre the totally **** show car type.
My paint guy is the one trying to talk me into them. One of the issues is masking the louvers off so the paint don't go through and fog the underside with the top color. Fortunately the top will be a pale yellow and the under side a creamy white. I'm only half ****, well maybe 75%. I'm using a 401 Nailhead in this one and how can you not make those pretty?
Maybe NeedLouvers will back me, but round louver/round car, flatter louver, MAYBE on later, flatter cars. Me? I'd use the round ones on most anything! Hey Chip, wanna trade that ol' Maverick for a cool dune buggy....you can keep the wheels and tires too!
Here's a louvered hood I had a local guy do. Jeff does great work and he laid them out and punched them. I just provided the hood and held the dumb side for him. Cut out the brace so you can get the rear edges to line up like others have suggested and then weld it back in if your hood has one. It'll make a big difference. Under the hood use some big pieces of magnet sign board when washing or rain and it'll help under the hood. One more great thing about them is you will never need a defroster again. Tim
Do you expect to use the cowl vent for its intended purpose? Based on the amount of warm air that comes from the louvers on my roadster, I think that could be a consideration. I admit that the vented look is very cool.
TERPU's post brings up another consideration. You really do need to pull the hood hinge brace out at the back of a forty hood befor doing the work. Otherwise, the pattern gets concentrated so far forward that it makes the hood look nose heavy. I usually bring the last row of louvers back to within about three inches of the back edge of the hood on most cars... Once again, trying to make it look "organic"...
The cowl vent will be functional. I figued on removing the hood hinge brace and wondered how close to set the first row to the cowl edge. Thanks! Magnetic sign is a good idea.
Here's the hood on my '39 coupe. 160 louvers. Only moisture problem is water spotting my aircleaner after a washing. That whole deal about getting an engine wet doesn't make sense. Lots of guys drive hot rods without hoods everyday. I used to drive this car in rain when I didn't have a hood. No big deal. And someone mentioned heat coming out of the louvers into your cowl vent. Well, I opened my windshield while driving and actually reached out to see how much heat came out. There was none. I believe the louvers were actually letting cool air in rather than the opposite. If you like louvers, go for it.
hotrod mike, your coupe is exactly how I invision my pickup to be. Right down to your wheel choice. Mine will be a ****ernut yellow with white interior with a 40 car dash. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=527407
Obviously a man of sophistication and good taste.... My coupe's for sale if you don't feel like waiting.
I'll admit it....they DO have the KOOL factor... ...no question about that......what I did NOT realize is that the flat-top and round-top thing...dammit...ALL these years droolin' at car shows and never figured that out......I'm a dumb***.... Another thing I did not know..I alway thought the entire panel was louvered...OR...are these louvered "strips" in the above pic's just an "option" to louvering P.I.T.A. panels?....man..do I feel like noob...... Oh wait...I AM when it comes to building the type of rides you guy's are wrenchin' on here... ...thanks for puttin' up with my noobness...is that even a word...?... -
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