xj_fire_rescue

hey guys im new to the off-road life, and i just got my 96 xj and im still doing some stuff to it but i was wondering about my engine heating up and was thinking about putting hood louvers on. the question i have is what about the water? is it going to hurt my engine ? do i need to put something on it to stop the water or what? also i have 33's on my xj and was wondering if i needed to change my gear ratio? also im putting some pictures up if you guys can take a look and let me know what you think, and or if you see anything that i should change let me know like i said I'm new to this and i need some help! thanks guys

kansas_jeeping

not much advice on the water, but looks like a really nice jeep

Volcomroofus

nice lookin jeep man, Did you buy it with all that stuff put on there? For the heating thing.. Check your fan clutch and see if its running at full speed. I just replaced mine and that's what solved my problem. It just took me going through a cap, thermostat, water pump, and new hoses to figure it out. The hood vents dont really do much in my experiences. Air gets sucked in through the radiator but exhausted out the bottom.. The vents are so passive sitting on top of the hood it's not really worth the time, effort, money, and dumb look it gives you. I don't mean to burst your bubble but you can do what you want ya know. Do you have links to bigger pictures? What kind of roof rack is that?

Oh and the water... The way the hood vents are angled it shouldn't let any water in while you're driving and when it's at a stop not enough water will get in to do anything.. Just make sure all your electrical stuff is out of the way.

xj_fire_rescue

yeah there are bigger pictures on my photos and as far as all the parts and stuff i bought two jeeps and turned them into one. i bought the drag link, tie rods and the rest of the front i got from a local place (WEST WATEREE OFF ROAD) thanks for all your in put

SeriousOffroad

Next time it rains where you live drive around the block a few times. Pull over and pop the hood. I'll bet dollars to dougnuts that everything under the hood is wet.

CrawlnCoupe

i would not use hood vents as a fix on a cooling system that isnt working properly. when does the truck get too hot? how hot is too hot? does it change any if you go from driving city to driving highway?

muddeprived

210 is normal operating temp. Just so you know. Water will not harm the motor. I've been running hood vents for a while now and been through a number of super-storms where it poured so hard I had to pull over cuz I couldn't see. Motor gets wet a little but it does no harm. Water would evaporate quickly anyways. This is not a way to reduce your temps. You may drop it 1 or 2 degrees with vents but that's about it. If you find yourself running hot then there's something not functioning properly in your cooling system.

Yes you should regear but it's not required. If you feel power is enough then leave it. If you want stock like power, regear.

xj_fire_rescue

no my jeep runs at about 200 to 215 and 220 being the hots its every run so i dont think i have a cooling problem. but dont know at what point it is over heating. a buddy of mine was telling me about the hood louvers ,or vents and said that they help out alot in cooling down the temp. my buddy is also full of it too so. thats way im asking. and as i said in the first im new to the whole off road thing. as far as the power i dont really noice a difference in power from stock til now. i also was wondering on the drive shaft , im running the same set up as the wrecked jeep (the one i pulled the suspension off of ) had on it which is just a 1.5 inch trans drop kit, is this ok to use? some said i have to get an sye. iknow that at some point i will get one but they make it seem like i have it have one now. and again thanks for all the help!!!!

BlueXJ

SYE is not required if you have no vibrations. As to the hood vents They do help as do rear hood spacers. Another thing to consider might be a cowl induction type of hood. Quadratec has them if you are interested.

MASTERS

ive got two hood vents installed, my cooling system works great and i run at normal temp, its more of a visual thing...when im at a stop light and i see the hot hair coming up i feel better lol never had a problem with water... not much will get in there regardless of how much it rains, and if your river crossin and flying through water not much gets that high on the roof.... i'll post pics for you soon, its dark out now ! for the time being you can catch a little glimpse of them in my album.........

muddeprived

Here are my hood vents. They do nothing for the motor temp but they might be reducing underhood temps, i just never confirmed it.





Masters is right about the visual thing. Stopping and seeing the heat wave coming out is pretty neat.

Volcomroofus

A passive intake like a hood scoop would do alot more than a passive exhaust like hood louvers.. With more, cooler air rushing into the engine bay, it will cool off under hood temp more than the louvers will allow heat out.. imo a hood scoop looks better than vents anyway.. kind of a rally look to it The only vents I ever liked were the triangle vents on each side of the hood LIKE on the supra in fast and furious.. There are alot of different variations that look alot better! but that's what an example is..

muddeprived

I agree. The main purpose of my vents are to release underhood heat when out on the trail crawling. These xj's get unbelievably HOT to the touch out there. I can't leave my hand on the hood or fender cuz it's so hot. My ex-TJ was no where near this hot. My vents don't do much on the freeway. I had plans to get a full scooped hood that came unpainted but they are out of my price range and not in the top 5 items on my never-ending "to buy" list so I did these vents just for the time being.

I hear the complete hood scoops are on sale now, down to $300 something from $500. Good deal....but no $$ right now.

yellow97XJ

if you dont have any driveline vibrations, you should be ok without the sye

with the gearing, its up to you. i have 33's on mine with 4.10's and its a 5-speed. there is deffinately a big difference between it and my old automatic with stock gears and tres

Volcomroofus

If you get some blue foam from a hobby shop or composite store you can take a hot wire to it and sand it alittle to make a form. Then just lay some fiberglass over it. Cure. Replease. Trim. Cut out the intake and add a mesh to it.. Paint and install... It's not too hard to do, it's how I used to make rockets for school... If I was interested in it I would try.. Most people have some resin and fiberglass in the garage, atleast everyone I know because we all surf lol. the foam is cheap as hell. You could make it for under 20US dollars