MrLeadFoot

First, I just have to get this off my chest --

Mid-America says:

"Our Performance Hood Seal actually forces more air through the air intake area, thus permitting increased airflow into your Corvette's engine. This seal allows air to enter from under your Corvette, as it was designed."

Come on, now, really...their hood seal can't possibly force more air into the intake area. Does the seal come with a fan?

Secondly, this seal can't allow air to enter from under my Corvette... it can't direct air... does it come with a deflector in addition to the fan?

It's marketing crap (not even just hype...CRAP) like this that removes all faith I have in a vendor, so much so, that I no longer believe ANYTHING they say about ANY of their products!

OK, now that that's been said...

Yesterday, I washed my car for the first time since I installed my Halltech Stinger. I decided to see for myself what all the hoopla was about on this forum regarding water and aftermarket air cleaners. Lo and behold, the warhead filter was wet. Now, I really don't think the water allowed in is enough to cause any mechanical problems even in a heavy downpour, far from it, however, I don't like the idea of water getting onto my element and washing off the oil, especially if I get caught in a downpour this winter.

I was going to order the Performance Hood Seal, and was at first pleased to learn that it would also work to force air into my intake area and re-direct air up through the bottom of my car (yeah, right), but when I looked closely at the seal, I didn't see any fan or deflector.

So, today I went to Home Depot, looking for something I could use to seal the space between my bumper and hood. I found this for $5:

Although it's dimensions are not quite as large as I wanted, I figured I could make it work, so here's what I did:

I measured the length I needed, 39 inches, then split the stripping down the middle giving me two pieces of hollow stripping. Instead of mounting it horizontally on the wide lip of the bumper that extends into the hood area, I mounted it on the vertical edge, where the bumper dips downward before extending into the hood area. I wiped the area with alcohol first, of course, then mounted one piece 3/32 of an inch from the top edge of the bumper. That turned out to be a great place because the stripping is small enough so that it sits about 3/16 of an inch above the horizontal lip, and since it's mounted on that vertical wall, no water can build up anywhere, like someone else mentioned about the Performance Hood Seal. I closed the hood, then inspected it closely.

While it looked like that did the trick, I was able slide a one dollar bill under the hood between the stripping and the hood. Being the picky guy that I am, I took the other 39 inch piece and stuck it to the top edge of the other piece of molding. Below is a picture I took of two leftover pieces mounted on the side of my toolbox, just to show how I applied it. If you look closely, you might be able to see that a small edge of the second piece of molding is actually stuck to the vertical wall, as well as stuck to the first piece of molding.

While at first glance I wasn't sure if the adhesive would stick one piece to the other, after awhile the adhesive bond seemed to become stronger.

Now, although the weatherstripping is grey, you can't really tell that it doesn't belong there, and I'm sure over time soot will get on it and darken it. In either case, it's hard to tell it's there unless you're looking for it. Here's the stripping with the hood open (oh, and there's the new Halltech warhead element designed for the C6...thanks again, Jim!):

Here it is with the hood closed:

And here's a closeup. Please...no comments about the leftover wax in the emblem

Now, I don't know how long this will work out in the long run, and if the adhesive doesn't hold up to water, I'll just re-attach it using either 3M's double-sided tape, or even better some clear silicone, but I just thought some of you might be interested in at least seeing pictures of something to do with a C5!

Oh, and by the way, Mid-America was right... my car is MUCH faster now!

USA-VET

z16kalel

[
Oh, and by the way, Mid-America was right... my car is MUCH faster now![/QUOTE]


Great job!

Blueyednd

I bought a hood seal on ebay like the MAD one, it was a piece of crap and I'm trying to get my $$ back from the A-hole that I bought it from. The instructions that came with it even stated that the glue would probably not work and I'd have to buy some weatherstripping glue to fix the problem. I'll have to try the Home Depot solution. Thanks for posting...

MrLeadFoot

Is the seal itself nice? What size is it? Maybe you can just use clear silicone and stick it to the horizontal piece, if it's like the Mid-America one (don't forget to wire the fan and attach the air defelctor ). Silicone won't hurt the paint at all, and what's really nice is that it will hold to just about anything, and if you want to remove it later, the silicone will peel right off.

Doo

My hood seal gave me 20 extra horsepower and deflects all bugs and rocks to the roadway prior to hitting my car. The fan that came attached also works flawlessly.



Oh yeah...did you know you have some leftover wax on your emblem



Nicely done, be careful when you wash your car, water will pool by your seal, just soak it up or use a wet vac.

CAJUNY2KC5

I paid extra and got the High Performance Hood Seal with 25 HP. Now my car rides lower, corners better, has better 1/4 mile times and my insurance rates were lowered.

MrLeadFoot

I didn't see any wax! Where? I better get it quick before it reduces my drag coeficient!

Also, water will not pool up by my seal. The way it's mounted prevents that from happening. Also, I use my air compressor after washing the car to blow water out from around the body joins, door handles, mirrors, lights, etc. An extra quick blow of the seal shouldn't take too much effort. I wouldn't want any water, if any to slow me down, either!

Dave1998

I just hope you can handle all that extra horsepower !

tmcclaff

I think I will take my poor slow car to Home Depot, Maybe they will have a how to clinic

CAJUNY2KC5

It's on Thursdays here in Jacksonville. Right after the bathroom tile installation session.

Vetteman Jack

You guys are brutal. My performance hood seal has been the biggest reason I still keep the car - It has kept my engine compartment clean without having to do anything. My fuel efficiency has increased from about 30 mpg to 35 mpg even when running at 90+.

sebringsilver97coupe

i got my seal fer free when i bought my hurricane air filter...keeps it nice and dry. GM made a point to seal the sides but not the front. why? i dunno. has anyone figgured out a way to seal around the headlamp door/hood gap? water gets in there when it rains or when i wash it and thats the only place water gets in now with my hp adding hood seal...

C5 Frederik

Is this the way they breed?

Frederik

Rattler71

Scott

CAJUNY2KC5

Hey Scott - A bunch of us are going to Eckler's on Saturday with STUZVETTE for fun/discount mod shopping.

Can you make it up there????

MyOwn69

I can't get to the bathroom tile demo. this week.
Will somebody please post pics and show me exactly where they get installed?
How much faster do they make the car go? Do you use the same tile with a coupe as with a Z06?

Rattler71

I would love to go up there, but I am leaving tomorrow for two weeks to California for business. Man, that would be a good chance to stretch the legs on the new Z. Please keep me in mind for future get-togethers.


Scott

CAJUNY2KC5

Have a good trip. We also occasionally meet at Mike Norris' in Altamonte Springs and while cars are being worked on we go play golf.

Maybe next time

Dark-Knight

Wow! What hoopla. I just bought mine and stuck it on with hope that it keeps some dirt out from under the hood. I wasn't worried about the $15 or believed the claim of added HP.