Hood vents on a stock 93-97 hood

I did some reading on opening up the fake vents on our stock hoods. A lot of peope are of the opinion that opening them causes a high pressure zone under the back of the hood, and does not allow enough air to pass through the radiator. This theory would make a cowl hood a bad idea.
Anyway, I took off the covers and cut out the opening. My car is definitely running cooler. On a hot 90 degree Michigan day, my stock gauge sits dead in the middle on my 1993. I think 94 and later temp gauges have a different range. Well now it runs one notch cooler on the gauge, which might be 10 degrees I guess.
A mod that seemed worthwhile to do for my car anyway.

The down side, water will enter and possible damage electrical......:) Been discussed before and consensus was it wasnt worth it...

I am sure that some water will get on the engine. But probably no more than with a cowl induction hood. I also don't drive my car in snow, and the only rain it sees is if I get caught in a downpour.
I think the underhood electrical components are designed to handle a certain amount of water. Hell, I wash my engine with water. I just keep it away from the Optispark. The amount of water taken in might be similar to driving in the rain with your windows cracked. Sure a little drizzle gets in. In my opinion it is nothing to worry about.
If I wreck something I will be sure to post that as a warning too!

I did some reading on opening up the fake vents on our stock hoods. A lot of peope are of the opinion that opening them causes a high pressure zone under the back of the hood, and does not allow enough air to pass through the radiator. This theory would make a cowl hood a bad idea.


Opening the vents up does not cause the high pressure zone at the back of the hood. The reason a cowl hood works is because there is normally a high pressure area at the base of the windshield. But in that case, the high pressure helps push air into the ducting or airbox that connects the cowl to the carb or throttle body. Whether that pressure would somehow affect the radiator, when the vents are opened up would seem to be debatable.

I took the rubber hood seal off the cowl and it helped cool the engine compartment down quite a bit. But it also allowed water to drip in, and some of it was falling right on the PCM. I put the seal back on.

Maybe leave the hood seal on just over the PCM?

or fab up a little cover

I made them funtional and i notice a temp lowering, on trafic was noticeable. rain season is on here, and water was comming hitting right over my headers wich kinda sucks. the solution was to fabricate some water holders to move water to the side... still the diference on trafic letting hot air come ouside and no water over anything. i made them from aluminum and screwing them to the 4 bolts on the louver. nice no water lowering temps