Are people joking when they ridicule the perf hood seal, or is it worthwhile?
I plan on adding either the blackwing or halltech. I missed out on the gp purchase for the halltech but I have a request in to honor the group price, we'll see.
My next purchase will be exhaust, I just can't figure out which one. I think I have to wait for better weather to hear them in person.
Thanks.

Steve.

 

No joke, pick up 5hp

 

I joke about the performance gains, but it's sure serious about keeping dust out of my engine bay. It's my DD and I hardly every have to wipe it down. YOu can go to a home inprovement store and get window insulation for pennies compared to Vette Specialty shops.

Besides, it keeps HP from leaking out. It's one thing that saddens me ... it's when I see HP laying on the side of the road and think, "I wish people would get Hood Seals and stop wasting HP." :

 

Don't know about 5hp But it is cheap and easy to do.

 

Hey Steve: Welcome to the Forum I used to travel to Westboro all the time on business a few years back and ended up leaving up north in Haverhill for about 5 years.

The hood seal is a good, inexpensive mod. Helps keep the dirt out and keeps it clean....especially good if you do upgrade to the Blackwing. I have the Blackwing and the seal....Do a search on the forum and you'll get plenty of reviews on the products. Also, I'm sure someone posted that they "made" their own hood seal ....good luck

 

it will help keep the engine bay cleaner and keep a little more water away from your intake. I'd say it's worth close to 5h (.5hp is close right?)

 

But do you have chrome letters on the rear as well? That's the secret!

 

They are joking about the performance, but it is a must for keeping water and junk out of the open element type filters. I installed one when I after I had my car for a couple of months, it kepts the engine bay cleaner and the water runs right off the hood instead of going into the engine bay.

Chris

 

You don't hear about Haverhill very often. I lived in Plaistow, NH and when to Haverhill Trade School many year ago.

 

If you get one don't get it from Ebay member "C6parts". The one they sell is junk. The first one they sent me came off within a week. The did replace it for free. The second one lasted about 3 weeks before it started to peel off. Both times intructions were followed to a "t".

 

I wnt to advanced auto parts and picked up the weather seal (exact same thing) for like 11 bucks... my engine bay is spotless!

 

MidAmerica's hood seal is also junk,, came off within 2 weeks, had to use some double sided tape to get it to stay on..we'll see if it holds.

it is good for keeping dust out of the engine. As far as HP gains

some even have said if you have a top breather air intake (Blackwing or Halltech stinger) you wouldn't want the hood seal cuz it could block some air flow.

 

The one I got from MID AMERICA peeled back too. It looked like crap so I took it off. I made up the 5 HP loss with a the pedals and chrome badges in the picks below. Actually it dynoed at 5.345 more with those mods..

 

I had a98 MN6 coupe which I cut the stock air lid to help with air flow. She is a daily driver and during the winter, I started to get MAF error codes on the DIC. After troubleshooting for hours I found out that the K&N filter element was frozen solid! The water from the gap on the hood drips on to the filter and the filter gets very wet and very dirty.

To solve this issue, I installed the hood seal! I purchased mine from AutoZone autoparts. It is made by SoftSeal and one package has enough to do 2 C5 hood seals!!

I also installed the seal on my Z06 at the same time.

After 2 years, both seals are still tightly in place and working like a champ! I have NOT had any more water issues with the filter and the engine compartment is MUCH cleaner!

There is another solution to the problem that may look a bit better and function the same. The seal that GM uses on the sides of the hood will fit and function the same on the front of the hood. I installed that same hood seal on the trunk lid area on my Z06 and it seals the gap around the trunk lid very well! NO more dirt and a lot less water gets into that area.

I picked up the strips of hood seal at my local dealer ( relatively expensive) and installed it. i have a full set of pictures of the install if anyone is interested.

Bill Curlee

 

I have found that the hood seal does keep the dust down and also keeps water from falling on my Blackwing through the front of the hood. For the small cost, its worth it to me.

 

Install a Blackwing and wash your car.... and watch your engine injest a gallon of water.

Install the hood seal and that problem goes away. Keeps you engine bay spotless too, as a added benifit. No HP gain - that's a CF joke.

EG

P.S. But chrome letters are good for 3rwhp.

 

You've got to keep the water out of your intake!

 

 

yes, i have the hood seal and the chrome letters on the back...it was just enough horsepower gain to get me a 12.999 at the dragstrip on my stock 2000 M6...

oh yeah, that and the blue smooth coupling

 

A related question is where do you install the hood seal? On the horizontal surface below the hood seam? Or on the vertical surface facing backwards at the same location? I don't know why I did so but I installed mine on the vertical surface so you get a side view of the seal instead of the top view. Figured the side view was good for another .375hp