Hood or NO Hood for ET

[Mike Gaines]

Although My Hood is fiberglass, it is a hinged hood and is very, very heavy. I have the Harwood Aero scoop on it. It all works fine but.....
When I have exhausted all other avenues for a personal best ET (10.36 right now but I hope to get it into the low 10.20s early this fall when the adjusted altitude is around 500-750') what is the opinions on removing the hood to save about 50lbs off the nose. Will the hood being off cause more wind resistance and negate the weight savings.
Who has had direct experience with this....???

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[Kern Dog]

The weight does mean something but the air drag of an open hood means something the faster that you go. 16 second car? Not much of an effect. 10 second car? I'd rather have the hood on for that ride.

 

[Tex013]

Mike ,
have you thought to block off your grill area ? Perspex or even cardboard in front or behind it . This will help with aero dynamics and reduce the grill cavity acting like a parachute . I am pretty sure Ed Miller did similar on his barracuda/duster.
Turbulent air through engine bay / over carb may hurt power

Tex

 

[68Charger440HP]

Mike,

My car isn't as fast as yours but I have experimented with and without my hood. I have a 68 Charger with a lift off fiberglass 6 pack hood. It doesn't weigh very much though. I'm guessing 15 lbs max. For my car, I didn't see any noticeable difference with or without the hood but my best mph's (117+) have been with no hood although not by much. The lack of a hood does not appear to be detrimental to my cars aerodynamics. I'd say it's worth a try since your hood it a lot heavier than mine.

 

[69 GTX]

Mike do you run a air cleaner? My thoughts are you may loose a little air pressure to the carb.
I guess one way to test it is add 50 lbs to the nose before you remove the hood. See how much it slows down. That in theory should be the amount you gain when you remove the hood if nothing else comes into play.

 

[Fran Blacker]

Some guys I knew raised the back of their hood a couple of inches, claim the car went quicker? Idea was to get the out of engine compartment.

 

[mopar 3 B]

That's why Winston Cup cars used crowl air instead of frontal and blocked the grill front off. Feed the carb less turbulent air with less engine compartment air.

 

[cudatom]

Although My Hood is fiberglass, it is a hinged hood and is very, very heavy. I have the Harwood Aero scoop on it. It all works fine but.....
When I have exhausted all other avenues for a personal best ET (10.36 right now but I hope to get it into the low 10.20s early this fall when the adjusted altitude is around 500-750') what is the opinions on removing the hood to save about 50lbs off the nose. Will the hood being off cause more wind resistance and negate the weight savings.
Who has had direct experience with this....???

View attachment 501740

View attachment 501741

Mike Not sure if your carb is sealed or not. I finally created a pan for mine and picked up .06 in the 1/8th. Checked my log notes and temp, humidity and DA were comp. Temp was 2 deg less but humidity was slightly more. The DA was within 50'.
Every car I ever ran picked up when I sealed off the carb.

 

[Frank Mopar]

Take the hood off and let us know

 

[HEMI-ITIS]

I don't wear a hood,it's the car,not the hood!Either way it's like pushing a brick.Aero,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,