ifitgoesfast

This is just crazy Thursday thinking while work is slow.

The side louvers, and the hoods on the 1963-64 were nonfunctional. Has anyone ever tried to mod them as actual vents? My '64's side louvers were cut out at the fronts in the 70's when it was slalom raced, I guess for heat exhaust (Arizona is a hot place). This is on my list of things to address one day; fix it by filling with fiberglass (I have LH RH used panels to make a mould), or buy those Grand Sport chrome inserts.

Would it be possible to make '63 hood screens actually functional? Has anyone tried. I'm guessing you'd have to consider the support and water drainage to the front with air towards the engine. As far as the screens go, I'd imagine fabricating a set, or painstakingly cutting out the holes from a reproduced one.

...or you could find/buy a GS hood

oldsarge

Try checking out any info you can find on 63-64 grand sports, they have some interesting designs for the side vents.

http://www.google.ca/search?num=10&h....1.av3M2AllveU

desertpilgrim

Functional hood screens is a GREAT idea.....if you want oil on the
windshield.......

toddalin

Lots of us have done it.



Hood too. (Both the fiberglass and the chrome insert.)

ifitgoesfast

The driver in the last photo looks like Mike Brewer from Wheeler Dealer. Did you guys finally wrap? I've been watch every chance I get to catch your car. When is it scheduled to air if not already?

Love the the louver chrome inserts on yours. How does it hold?

toddalin

Polished aluminum. Each has two threaded holes along their back sides and the screws come through the fiberglass.

Yes that is Mike. Should air sometime next season that starts next month.

jim lockwood

Part out an original grill and make your own:



Jim

lib

What results did you realize after opening the vents? Did the added ventilation allow the engine to run noticeably cooler? Did the front-end resist being elevated by the trapped air at higher speeds? Other than cosmetics, are there any other benefits of this alteration? Just curious- lib

sub006

Before installing the cut-down grille bars, I once attached jumper cables to the battery through the holes to start the car and get home.

ifitgoesfast

You know, I always wondered about that. The road racers used to cut the left and right ends of the '63/'64 grilles for headlight relocation at the grille ends instead of having the rotating buckets. I wondered if they took those side ends and used them for the louver inserts (no waste). This kind confirms, in a way. Thanks. Now, if I can only find a cheap grille. But, how do you attach the grille pieces? I could guess, but if you're willing to offer a solution, I'd be more than happy to hear it.

ifitgoesfast

brilliant

In a way, it would've been great if GM had designed the C2's with a tilt front end. Given all the work people do to them, and the whole race culture it was intended to inspire, would've made sense. But I like your idea

toddalin

I use mine to unplug/replug my Mallory box when setting the dwell. The box sits on the back of the wheel well behind the battery and expansion tank and I could never get at this plug.

jim lockwood

I used flat, aluminum stock for vertical braces. At the proper intervals, I cut into the flat stock and bent over a piece which formed a bracket for the grill bars. The grill bars are pop riveted to the vertical braces. It all looks like this:



Jim

GreaseMonkey

I always love seeing them

jim lockwood

Gee..... I wonder why!

Jim

GreaseMonkey

MrPbody

Back when I was heavily involved in the P body cars, I built my own hood vents to extract heat from the radiator and help with a front end lift issue similar to the C-2.



The one drawback for a street car, that one seldom thinks about, is that the heat from the new hood vents is drawn out, but then goes right down the cowl vent below the windshield, which is a high pressure area. makes for a very warm ride in the summer months if it's street driven very much.


Russ

silverslashstreak

That is exactly what happened to the designers of the 63 with the hood grills. They were functional until they test drove it and all the hot air went directly into the cowl vents. So they quickly made the grills non functional right before production.
So to answer the op, making the hood grills functional is a bad idea if you want to enjoy your car on a warm day.
I have often thought about cutting the side vent openings over the past 40 years just can't get comfortable with the look on a 63.

Jeff

63Corvette

Yep, several of the 1963 Z06 owners modified their vents and louvers for better air flow in March of 1963 for Sebring. Here is a pic of Delmo's car.

richscorvettes

When we were building our 63 one of things I wanted to do was make the side fender vents functional. I always liked the Grand Sport style but wanted to do something which would be different and blend in a bit more with the original fender design. After drawing several designs I ended up making the depressions deeper by an inch and a quarter. After they were boxed in I then designed grills and had them machined to fit the openings we had made.

Below is a link to what the finished product looked like:

http://www.corvettefever.com/project.../photo_20.html

Below is a link to what it looked like in primer and without the grills:

http://www.corvettefever.com/project.../photo_09.html

Below is the link to the entire article which covers the exterior mods we made to the car.

http://www.corvettefever.com/project...rior_features/

I had briefly thought of making the hood vents functional as an air intake but two things stopped that. One was that I understand that area might not be the best location to get cold air into the intake. The second was that it would have required a lot of work to seal the area and avoid water getting into the air intake or engine compartment. In the end I designed "hood spears" to replace the original hood inserts.

Hope the ideas are of help as another example of the endless approaches you can take in these projects.

Rich