Hood Louver Instructions

1. You will need these for this installation:
• Electrical tape
• Duct tape
• Drill (high speed better than low speed)
• Gloves
• Angle grinder tool (if you don’t have one of these, this is the handiest electric tool anyone can have in his garage). Harbor Freight (800-423-2567) sells these starting at only $11.95 (#03150-IRYH) and $19.95 (#31309-IRYH). Northern (800-533-5545) also has them in the $20-$25 price range, and theirs comes with the cutting disc (this set is item no. 143378-B259). Lowe’s has several starting at $49. Popular sizes are 4" and 41/2" diameter. Be sure to have a thin, 1/16" or thinner, metal-cutting disc for this tool (1/4" is too thick). DeWalt (available at Lowe’s) makes one only .045" thick – excellent. An air tool cut-off wheel with a cutting disc works quite well.
• Pop rivet gun ($6.95 at Harbor Freight #7356-OVGA). If you have compressed air and want to speed up the process, an air-powered rivet gun can quickly justify itself – #93458-9YFA for $34.99 from Harbor Freight Tools.
• Goggles (eye protection)
• Fire extinguisher (always wise to have around when grinding steel — due to sparks!)
• 5 or 6 bath towels
• Can of flat black spray paint
2. Some (not all) of our hood louvers come with a white or clear plastic film overlay for protection in shipping. If yours have this, remove it now.
3. Place plastic electrical tape along the underside of the perimeter of the louver panels. This will form a slight cushion between the louvers and the surface of your vehicle to prevent scratching. Put it inboard enough so it doesn’t show around the outer edges when the louvers are installed.
4. Read Steps 5 and 6 before finalizing the exact location of your hood louvers. Place the louver panels on your hood and locate them where you think they look best.
5. Open your hood and look at the interior hood support frame to see if it interferes with the location of the hood louvers. It is somewhat of a back-and-forth action — you might want to use duct tape to affix the louvers in place so you can open the hood far enough for a good inspection. Some parts of the hood frame may, possibly, be cut away for clearance, but be selective. It is satisfactory to have some of the hood frame passing under the hood louvers, if need be. You can also “hole out” or “swiss cheese” the hood frame (selectively drill 1/4"- dia. holes through it). The more open the underside of the hood louvers are, the more air that will flow through them. Some vehicles (e.g., certain late Fords) have flat, un-raised central panels that have no real support function and which can be cut through and removed.
6. As part of this location process, consider where the open louvers in your hood will be and if rainwater, flowing in from these, will flow directly onto the distributor (most vehicles built in the last 15 years don’t have one) or the alternator (which is typically far for- ward enough from the louvers so this is not a problem). An open- style air cleaner (as on carburetored engines) is also a consideration (but if this is a V8, usually no problem as the louvers are outboard of this). Experience shows no problems with rainwater flowing onto the engine block, valve covers, battery, manifolds, etc. – after all, many people frequently wash their engine!

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