Rico's Hood-Prop How To

[rico05]

I have received a lot of emails for the past year or so since I did this, so here is a short how to on lifting the back of the hood.

Abstract: Prop the back of the hood up on spacers to increase cooling at idle and low speeds.

Parts: I just took out one of the hood bolts (I can't remember the diameter or the thread pitch off hand) and took it into Lowe's. I went to the fasterners isle and matched the size up with 4 2" long bolts. The next parts are the actual spacer. Now, you can use washers (that is what I did for a while) but it always looked ghetto. I just used 2" long (use whatever length you wantto get desired lift) 1/2" diameter female/female pipe connectors found in the plumbing isle. Total expense was ~$3.

Spacer/bolts installed

Method: This is pretty self explanitory. Simply put the spacer on the bolt and remount the hood. Make sure to not tighten them all the way down until you check the hood clearance. If you have an S13 w/ stock pop ups, make sure they do not hit the hood when opening/closing. Once all looks good, simply tighten the bolts and enjoy the cooling.

Effect: I have an aftermarket temp gauge sourced off the upper radiator hose, and at idle in Texas August (HOT and HUMID), idle temps dropped ~6*. There is little benefit for this if you do all your cruising at track speeds, but for low speed air flow, its a hard mod to beat. Some like the looks (me included), but I did this for the benefit, not for the aesthetics, so if you are not a fan of the style, go cry somewhere else.

Final effect:

[Feint of Heart]

Excellent. I've been wondering what most people used to space it out. I was planning on just getting some washers, but I like the way you did it more.

Thanks Rico!

[daconkiftador]

+1 definently better than a stack of washers.

[ZiG]

Awesome, thanks.

Reminds me of a Corvette with its hood popped.

[x240xdrifter]

rico can I just say I freaking love the peguin sticker on your mirrors and I have to have them, where'd you get it?

[SPIRONIUM]

I love the wheels, those things look really cool on a 240

[rico05]

Haha. It's Badtz Maru. Just to an eBay search for "Batds Maru", and you should find him. It was like $3 shipped.

Glad to help. Like I said, I used washers for ~ 6mos. It worked, but I always felt bad when someone noticed that is how I did it, as it looked terrible. I am under the assumption that any project can be accomplished with a trip to a home supplies and a craft store, lol.

Wheels are Manaray VS12, 15x6.5 +22. And they are FOR SALEish!!http://www.texas240sx.com/foru...23415

[YRUSOSLO]

Couldn't you have just removed the rubber strip at the back of the hood? It's no cost and I don't know what the actual difference in temps would be with the two same setups w/ these seperate mods.

[rico05]

I don't have that anymore either. Just the black plastic that covers the vents/air conditioning intake.

[zenkii]

nice write up

[Acecool]

Nice write up, but my personal feel of this taste is that it looks like you ran into something which caused the hood to bend like that...

Josh

[le_ryan]

Nice write up, but my personal feel of this taste is that it looks like you ran into something which caused the hood to bend like that...

Josh

........ so if you are not a fan of the style, go cry somewhere else.

[rico05]

I had a woman at a stoplight (in a minivan) yell to get my attetion to let me know that my hood was not closed!! Oh gosh, she was concerned!!

Between my sleepy eyes and the hood prop, most people think my front end is jacked.

[hannibal]

I was at Lowes today and saw some 'spacers' on the hardware isle. Theyre basically hollow cylinders like the threaded rods you used without the threads. I think it would make it look a bit cleaner. They had them in nylon and steel and came in tons of different diameters and lengths. They cost about $1 - $1.50 apiece, depending on size.

BTW Home Depot sucks! I waited for 15 min for help today and no one ever came. Went to Lowes about 1/2 mile away and found help in 30 secs. Theyre my new home supply store...

[YRUSOSLO]

Yes, The Home Depot does suck in the customer service area. I went to buy something one time and the only checkout aisle open was the self-check. They have one person that monitors the self-check and I told her to go get me a real cashier because I refused to self-check. They did and it didn't take 3 minutes. I hate self-check, why should I be able to do it faster than a trained cashier?

Despite this, The Home Depot is still the number one store by sales.

[zenkii]

I had a woman at a stoplight (in a minivan) yell to get my attetion to let me know that my hood was not closed!! Oh gosh, she was concerned!!

Between my sleepy eyes and the hood prop, most people think my front end is jacked.

LOL you gotta love these incidents