I was wondering if removing the weather stripping at the rear of the hood would function as a make-shift heat extractor, or is this just Internet folklore? I have read on a couple different F-body forums about people doing this, some say it works, some say it doesn't. I'm looking for any scientific evidence or real tech about the cheap mod. For me, just looking at it, I would imagine that it would be a high pressure area at the base of the winshield, and better off for a cowl induction or something of that sort. The only expierence I have that relates to this is, one time on my buddy's 3rd gen, after coming out of the paintshop (has not had the weather stripping reinstalled yet) made a few spirited blasts (~120mph), and his hood latch gave up the ghost, but we did not notice till 5 minutes later that the hood was gone! I don't know if this was a freak incident of latch fatigue, or if the pressure build up under the hood blasted it off? Just looking for any input......

This post has been edited by felton316: Oct 28 2004, 02:38 AM

I removed the weatherstripping, and even trimmed the cowl back a bit with a box cutter.

I tested it by taping several thin strips of paper in the gap, about 6" intervals. They didn't flow as well as twine would have though.

I drove 45-75 with the wipers sticking up in the air, so I could see the strips better. The ones in the middle tended to stay fairly neutral, or sometimes the very middle ones would go down inside. The ones toward the edges would come out toward the windshield.

It seemed there was more going out than in. Hopefully it wasn't the same air going in that was also going out...

I also get a significant amount of heat blowing in through the fresh air system of the car now. Especially after making the car a front breather. It's like having the heater on all the time.

I have the entire front plastic cowl gone and no windsheild wipers on the car....stock hood that has been cut up good for varios reasons....the hood is still on the car...didn't "blow off" (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

My temps seemed to go down 5 degrees on the guages, but time of day, temp, etc. were all different....

I saw cool extractors on a Grand Am... at least it is a GM Part.