I wanted to help keep my engine cool by adding some hood spacers on. Since i'm running a K&N short ram/cold air intake, the hood spacers somewhat act like an induction hood as well.

All that was needed was four 8MM 1.25 x 40mm hex bolt screws and 52 1/4" washers. You could also use a 3 inch long piece of square metal tubing with two holes 2" apart in place of all the washers.

Have a buddy help you remove the stock lag screws, put in the new 8MM screws, add the washers/metal tubing, and keep the stock hook spacers in place. Not hard and i think it looks good.

 

I have to say when I saw the first pic I thought to myself "cheese" no offense!! After looking at the finished product with the hood CLOSED, it's not bad. Later on, you may want to replace the washers with something that looks a little cleaner, but that is just my opinion. If you can live with it, that is all that matters!! How does it work?? Have you noticed a drop in engine temp. or under hood temps?? BTW, wouldn't you want less washers on the front end of the hood hinge since it is angled down towards the front?? Thanks!!

 

I did one with a piece of 1 inch square tube..

It dropped the underhood temps by about 5 degrees on the road. And when I turned on the electric fan while off-road you could watch the waves of hot air roll out from under the hood. It didn't look bad, and I didnt need to move the hood latches at all..

 

Was it hard to line the hood back up?

 

just the thought of the hood being lined up with my head would bother me. wikes.......but then again I dont think it would come through

 

Mine lined right back up without any problems...

I took one side completely out and the other loose. Put one side in and then did the other.

I just didn't tighten them completely, until I had gotten everything in place just right. It only took just a bit of wiggling...

 

My friend did something like that before but he uses steel chrome spacers...
And as far as I know it is still installed in his jeep for months now...

 

yeah it really wasn't hard to do at all, it would have been 100% easier with help but i did it alone and it wasn't too bad. I tried to buy a piece of square tubing instead of the "Cheesy" washers but none of the local hardware stores had it so i settled with the washers. The washers gave me a good gauge of the size that i wanted, so now i will probably go buy a piece of 3/4" square tubing and use that instead of the washers.

 

I've not hit the mud with it yet, but on the road i do notice a drop in temperature...you can physically feel the heat leaving the new space. The only thing i dont like is the now larger space between the front of the hood and the front of my jeep. i might buy some rubber tubing to close the space.

 

Looks good. I have wanted to do this for a while. I was thinking that when I take the TC drop off I might be able to use it with some modification of corse.

 

I would worry about water from rain and water crossings getting to the ignition components.

 

i worried about that too.....literally 2 hours after installation of the spacers today....i had an absolute downpour of rain today as i was driving to the gym....once i got home i puller her in the garage and didn't notice any moisture in the engine compartment...this may be different during the winter months but right now its looking pretty good haha i hope!

 

Umm... water crossings???? You mean the HUGE hole in the bottom of the engine comparment isnt going to let the water in... but a 1 inch gap along the top would??? You by FAR get a larger volume of wet stuff up from the bottom on a water crossing than you ever could from the top... Your alternator is a MUCH bigger target.

I ran my old XJ for two years with a vent like this... I really didn't notice a significant difference in the amount of stuff getting in there..

Even without hood spacers on this Jeep...I find mud splashed all over under the hood... Heck, I just cleaned the corrosion off of the coil terminal, while chasing a bit of a misfire. I had crusted mud along the edge of the boot.

I forgot to mention that with a 1 inch spacer the gap is around 1/2 to 3/4 inch. The foam piece along the cowl expands to take up some of that space normally.

 

Good to know. I was worried that water would get onto the coil and PDC on the passenger side inner fender well. Glad that is not a factor.