Show me your hood vents

Oman Jeep said:
AEV Hood with 2014 Mustang GT vents added on the side. In my defence I did this when the hood wasn't unobtainium! Still happy with the look.

Placed them with 3D scanning to make sure I was happy with it. We actually re-shaped the hood to recess the metal where the vents sit so the end result is they're flush.

Definitely glad I went body colour with them.

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Did you lower the grill as well? The lines aren’t adding up to the TJ lines for me😂
 
OlivierJeepDad said:
Did you lower the grill as well? The lines aren’t adding up to the TJ lines for me😂
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Sharp eye - that's the AEV Highline Fender kit, looks like the grill is lowered but in reality the fenders are raised. The kit had the new hood with shallower sides, and the taller front wings and flares. It allowed you to run significantly bigger tires with less lift. Sadly it's been discontinued for a long time now and very very rare to find them second hand. Getting to the stage now where the best way to find them is already on a vehicle for sale.

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The kit raises the fenders up to follow the windshield to cowl line rather than the indentation between the doors and the fenders - which for a cleaner look I filled in.

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It is a nice hood to look over, mine is steel but you can get the same style hood now from Genright or Varozza 4x4 - https://www.instagram.com/varozza4x4outfitters/ in fiberglass or carbon fibre, for tubular high fenders or standard fenders. Nobody makes the OE style high fender anymore.

Previous version I had for the regular fenders looks like this:

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Will tease the next project - how's this for a hood vent:

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A friend wanted to have the classic style AEV Heat Reduction hood which he couldn't find, but did get his hands on a highline hood. So he cut the middle section out to weld it into a stock hood. He did a good job of it but I couldn't let what's left of the Highline hood go in the scrap heap. So I picked it up.

I'm planning to repair it using a factory hood so it will be a Highline hood without the vents, and then add my Mustang vents on the side again and a solar panel in the middle from https://www.cascadia4x4.com/collect...tj-lj-2003-2006-only-80-watt-hood-solar-panel

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Quick Photoshop mock up of what that should be like - if only doing it for real was as quick and easy :)

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Tripp said:
That’s interesting and seems like rain and water would be no issue either. Where can I find it? Does it still do a good job of letting the heat come up and out? My only issue is slow off-road trail rides.
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The prior owner had the scoop installed and I did a quick search online to see if I could find something close in width, length & height but couldn't find an identical match. Btw, I've never had an issue with water in the engine bay. I can take some measurements and post them up if needed (it's roughly 13" x 20" X 1.5"). Regarding letting heat out. I honestly can't say if it makes a difference on letting heat come up/out. I've been meaning to compare the heat at a couple points on the hood with an infrared thermometer since I have a 97 with no scoop and this 04 with a scoop.
 
LarryTJ said:
The prior owner had the scoop installed and I did a quick search online to see if I could find something close in width, length & height but couldn't find an identical match. Btw, I've never had an issue with water in the engine bay. I can take some measurements and post them up if needed (it's roughly 13" x 20" X 1.5"). Regarding letting heat out. I honestly can't say if it makes a difference on letting heat come up/out. I've been meaning to compare the heat at a couple points on the hood with an infrared thermometer since I have a 97 with no scoop and this 04 with a scoop.
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I'd say it has to do some good with all those holes. It's hard to see for sure but I assume the scoop itself is open and the heat is unrestricted to rise up through the holes and out. I am new to Jeeps so I thought mine just needed a tune up but it didnt make sense it only started running rough after a while on the trails, now that I know it's heat soak I'd like to fix it.

If you have a chance to measure I'd be interested not a huge deal though. Thank you.
 
My hood scoop is kinda similar but facing the other way, but in the morning condensation disappears faster on the scoop radiating out from where the hole is underneath.

Making me think heat is escaping there at a decent rate.
 
MikenMel said:
We have the Rugged Ridge hood louvers.

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What do you think of those? Do you have a pic of the underside? Those were the ones I was looking at until I saw the hood scoop so now it's between the Rugged Ridge and possibly a hood scoop but I do like the price of the rugged ridge.

Some reviews say they don't sit flat on the corners because of the location of the screws, did that happen with yours? How long have you had them? I'm wondering how well they hold up.
 
For those asking about getting water on the engine when sitting in a parking lot…

We get some pretty heavy thunderstorms and remnants of hurricanes in the southeast. I’ve had mine sit at work and get down poured on for several hours. This is with a Poison Spyder vent with the full holes cut out for it. The only thing I’ve noticed happening is the serpentine belt will chirp for just a second on initial startup and it will fling some water out of the front of the vents, also on initial start up.

Hasn’t happened on light to moderate rain showers.
 
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MountaineerTom said:
For those asking about getting water on the engine when sitting in a parking lot…

We get some pretty heavy thunderstorms and remnants of hurricanes in the southeast. I’ve had mine sit at work and get down poured on for several hours. This is with a Poison Spyder vent with the full holes cut out for it. The only thing I’ve noticed happening is the serpentine belt will chirp for just a second on initial startup and it will fling some water out of the front of the vents, also on initial start up.

Hasn’t happened on light to moderate rain showers.
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Thank you, that was one of my concerns.
 
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Oman Jeep said:
Will tease the next project - how's this for a hood vent:

View attachment 284804


A friend wanted to have the classic style AEV Heat Reduction hood which he couldn't find, but did get his hands on a highline hood. So he cut the middle section out to weld it into a stock hood. He did a good job of it but I couldn't let what's left of the Highline hood go in the scrap heap. So I picked it up.

I'm planning to repair it using a factory hood so it will be a Highline hood without the vents, and then add my Mustang vents on the side again and a solar panel in the middle from https://www.cascadia4x4.com/collect...tj-lj-2003-2006-only-80-watt-hood-solar-panel

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Quick Photoshop mock up of what that should be like - if only doing it for real was as quick and easy :)

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Those solar panels are pricy for the size … update us on how well it preforms and if it’s worth it please
 
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Tripp said:
What do you think of those? Do you have a pic of the underside? Those were the ones I was looking at until I saw the hood scoop so now it's between the Rugged Ridge and possibly a hood scoop but I do like the price of the rugged ridge.

Some reviews say they don't sit flat on the corners because of the location of the screws, did that happen with yours? How long have you had them? I'm wondering how well they hold up.
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I don't have a pic but it's just an open hole covered by the vent. The vents are perforated so don't allow as much water to go through as an open louver. That said, I can definitely feel heat escaping through them.

The fit is very good, and after about 4 years it still looks great, though the Jeep is garaged when not being used. I did make sure to measure twice,.... then measure twice more before cutting.

OlivierJeepDad said:
Nice Jeep, now please remove that thing over your headlights…this is for your own good.
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Thank you. Each to their own. I like it the way it is, so no apologies. ;-) .
 
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DWR said:
Those solar panels are pricy for the size … update us on how well it preforms and if it’s worth it please
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Will do - it will go on to the Brute and the Brute's hood will go on the 2006 TJ - as the Brute's being set up as the overnighter rig where there will be the most power draw on the fridge etc.

It'll be a while before I can give it some real world testing though, that bodywork needs to happen along with a bunch of other tasks on the Brute, and to be honest I'm prioritising getting the 2006 built up for this winter season but the Brute should be happening in parallel, it's just much more ambitious now! If the Brute takes too long maybe the Solar hood will go on the 2006 temporarily.

Reviews for their other models look promising though and I would caution that if you're thinking about getting one, I'd get the order in with them sooner rather than later as they mentioned they may discontinue the TJ one if there's not enough interest. I pointed out they need to promote it more because I'd been following their Instagram for ages and wasn't even aware they had a TJ model yet.


When the funds are a little better, I might grab one or two more to hoard for future builds as I love the idea and it might not be available forever. For me the value is in knowing you'll have enough power to start in the morning by the time you're ready to make a move, and being able to keep the fridge running if you're parked on the beach etc. while not having another thing to set up and pack away. Also interesting to think that if your alternator packed up, the solar setup charging the vehicle battery could be something you could limp home on, or at least limping to somewhere easy to get towed from. Sure there will be cheaper ways to get 80 watts, but to me the value here is in not forgetting it at home, and not having to deploy it when setting up camp or lunch spot break.


There's a couple good videos that had me convinced. For now I just went with the Cascadia charge controller for convenience but later may change that to the Victron one mentioned in the video with the JK.


 
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