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MG MGB GT V8 Factory Originals Technical - hood scoops

I am putting a V-6 with a two piece edelbrock manifold and a holley 390 4brl. What I am looking for is a low profile hood scoop. Something like the Austin Healey hood.
I want it to blend with the lines of the car, not look like an add on.
Any ideas on where I can get something like this or am I going to have to fabricate myself.
Thanks
Garret
Gaarret

Fabricating it yourself can be the best way to go if you have the patience for it. You can mock up the profiles you want with plywood forms and then cut, bend, weld and form the sheetmetal to fit your patterns so that everything is symetrical. Not an easy task, but if done well can be a source of pride. Whatever you can do to match the identifying characteristics of the standard bodywork will make it look more professional, such as matching the front creases in the hood to some degree, and matching the curvature of the hood. There are a few tricks to get around some of the more difficult forming problems, such as using some of the skin from a scrap hood, but details like the rear corners will take some work.

I have yet to see a pre-fabricated scoop that would look right on the front of an MGB, and I've been looking at them for better than a dozen years. Probably missed some though.
Jim Blackwood

Gaarret
I used a hood scoop from a 67 pontiac GTO,(it was a wrecked hood).I am very pleased with it. I had to shorten the scoop 6 inches to make it look right on an MGB hood. This was done by cutting out a 1 inch strip and welding the two pieces back together. I then moved down 1 inch and cut out another 1 inch strip, then welded the halves together again. This process was repeated six times!
What this does make the scoop shorter while retaining its original shape. The scoop is then placed on the MGB hood and trimed and shaped to match the curves of the MGB hood. Welding the scoop on is a very slow process! Weld for a second or two, let it cool,switching from side to side untill you have a continous bead. Don't cut the hole untill you have the scoop welded on, its very easy to warp the hood.It took me about 200 hours to do mine! Bill bill_jacobson@hotmail.com
bill jacobson

A fairly easy scoop to form is a rear opening scoop. Figure out how wide to make it to clear the air cleaner then cut a square cornered "U" shape in the hood with the open end facing the front and the bottom of the "U" about 2" in front of the rear edge of the hood. Lift up that portion to the height required for clearance and cut filler strips for each side and weld in place. A little hammer and dolly work and you should get some pretty nice curve to the edges. A piece of 3/16" steel rod welded to the rear of the opening will give a nice finished edge. Try some expanded metal in the opening to keep leaves etc out.
I made a similar scoop for my Midget. Photos at http://www.mgcars.org.uk/v8_conversions/
Bill Young

Bill, do you mean 200 hours on the hood ALONE????!!?? Boy that's a huge investment of time! If my mechanic -- the one I retain to work on our plain old non-MGs -- sent me a bill for 200 hours of time I am quite sure I would have to be sitting down having not eaten for 12 hours. How much time did the whole car take?

By the way, those fender holes for the RV8-style headers are simply out of this world ... I saw the pix on Larry's site. I found myself gaping at my screen, just wondering how on earth you controlled all those variables simultaneously and made the whole car so amazing. It's so far beyond my ability that I can just say wow. It's sort of like we're all sitting here playing with bows and suction-cup arrows, and you show up with a 30mm Howitzer!

The thing is a work of art. Don't crash it!!!
Harry

Heh, yeah bills car is a monster!! Another idea (depending on how much room you need is to use a MGC hood. If that will close over your set-up and you WANT fresh air (not sure if you just want scoop for clearance..)

You could open up the front of the bulge. that would REALLY match the cars lines and give you a large open faced area for fresh air..
Larry Embrey

Larry,

That's what I was contemplating with the C hood. Been playing with it on the computer to try to make it look right; havn't found the right combination yet. If you open the whole bulge, it looks too big, at least for me. I'm surprised nobody's done this yet; or at least I havn't seen it. It looks like a natural modification. I will also get rid of the carb bulge, for cleaner lines.

Which is easiest to work with, aluminum, steel, or fiberglass?

Steve Watson
Steve

Steve, I totally agree, the carb bulge bugs me. Don't get an alu C hood though if you intend to get rid of said bulge during this lifetime! I purchased a 'glass hood and ended up essentially chucking it, because I just could not get the lines right after getting rid of that bulge. One thing I was surprised at is that even though the C hood had no cross-piece in the middle of the hood, air cleaner clearance was really no different than the stock B bonnet ... the C hood's additional height doesn't become at all material until you are pretty far forward. Be careful that a forward-facing opening won't actually act as an extractor -- I'd check it out first! Plus remember that your diss is right under there so watch out for rain. In fact it seems to me that allowing for rain separates the men from the boys when it comes to hood scoops.
Terrence

That GTO scoop does look good Bill. I can well believe the 200 hours part too. Hand forming takes a lot of patience, and six butt welds across the scoop almost equates to masochism. Very nice. Not quite a pre-formed, ready to tack on item though, huh?
Jim Blackwood

Harry, Jim
Yes those hours are for the hood alone, but that does include blocking it out to 600 grit ready to paint. It also includes time to finsh and block sand the underside as well. You know how it is when you have a V8 MG,the hood is open so people can check it out!!
The whole car took a couple of years to do, but I gave up trying to keep track of the hours! Some day maybe I'll ask my wife. I'll bet she has an estimate! If you know what I mean!
Bill bill_jacobson@hotmail.com
bill jacobson

Terrance,

Thanks for the tips. I'm hoping that with inner and outer welded in fender vents that the forward scoop will mostly suck in air, when moving, and vent heat when sitting; am I missing something obvious? In any particular situation, could it cause more harm than good?

(I havn't checked the archives thoroughly on this subject yet)

I mostly like the looks of the C hood, and have been planning on having one (with some sort of scoop) from the 1st time I saw it, engine conversion or not.

Steve Watson

p.s. I don't drive much in the rain; yet
Steve

ONe car that always catches my eye for its hood scoop are the new subaru's. they have a small "slit" type scoop on them, I am wondering if that would fit and look ok....
Larry Embrey

Bill, those 200 hours + makes the $1000.00 I paid for my scoop from Joe Sulpy seem like a real bargin. I figure my time is always worth about $50/hr (you do the math). However I guess the personal pride and satisfaction you get knowing you did it yourself is priceless.
I too wondered about the Subaru scoop being adapted, that is kind of cool looking.
Michael S. Domanowski

Larry,

If I get it to look good on the computer, I'll send you a photo, if you like.

Bill Jacobson,
when I saved the photos of your car from Larry's excellent site, I labelled each one Exterior Front, Engine Bay, etc... with the extension NICEST ON THE PLANET. Beautiful car, thanks for the inspiration. Also saw it on the Convention 2000 site; I hope to attend one of these years.

Regards,

Steve Watson
Steve

Tip for the scoop fans.
I am going to weld the bulge from an Eclips on the MG hood. I think this bulge has slick lines and should give some more room under the hood. I cut the bulge from a wrecked Eclipse(Mitsubishi).
When the project is in process I will post some pics.
Werner
werner Van Clapdurp

For those of you who would like to see the Mitsubishi bulge now, go to Dan Masters site at "http//members.aol.com/danmas/" and look at the MGB V-8 of Tim McCracken. It looks to me very much like the MGR V-8 bulge. I bought one from a junk yard thinking I'd need it for my V-6 project, but my mechanic was able to keep the stock hood lines. So, I've since sold the hood to another V-8er.


Bob Fish

Steve,

As far as the easiest material to work with it really depends upon what is your background. An advantage to steel is that the scoop can be welded to the hood, eliminating the possibility of cracking of paint as could happen with an aluminum or fiberglass scoop. Aluminum is easier to bend and all that, but will need to be mechanically fastened or adhesive bonded to the steel hood. I'm a naval architect and my background is in composite boatbuilding, so I would find it easiest to make a fiberglass scoop. If you go that route there are some tricks I can go into if you want to email me. Essentially, do what Jim Blackwood suggests. First, put mylar packaging tape on the hood where the scoop will go and then some, beyond where the most remote end of the scoop will go. Then make a pattern out of 1/4" plywood or so on centerline to get the profile right. Then, make a piece for the front to get the front view right (it would be called the body plan in naval architecture). Then, make a few more cross pieces (sections) to get the taper right into the hood. The advantage to this approach is that you are only messing with thin pieces of plywood that are easy to shape. When everything is to your liking, fill in between the pieces with foam, such as the blue refrigeration foam you can get at any hardware store. Sand the foam to match the plywood, it will sand much more easily than the wood so you won't destroy your shape.Then, cover everything with mylar packaging tape. Using bondo, do any fairing in around corners etc. Then wax everything. Lay up your scoop over this. Remember that fiberglass is fairly flexible so you will need some thickness to it to keep it stiff. When it is cured, pop it off and trim the flange and opening edge in a neat fashion. You can now mechanically fasten or bond it to the hood. One piece of information for any hood scoop that would be worth pursuing is some of the new adhesives that are available to bond metals. I have a friend who has a restoration shop for MG's in Bristol, RI and he is now bonding on quarter panels. Apparently you cannot pull them apart and no distortion due to heat. He ahd a Lola with an aluminum tub that was bonded together which he crashed into the wall at ~120 MPH and none of the glue seams failed (He hit the right front and the left rear suspension was broken, one of THOSE wrecks). I can try to get a brand name if anyone is interested. Well, this has gone on long enough. Good luck all.

Best regards, David Walworth
David Walworth

You might look at a old Mustang 429 scoop. My father and I put a Buick 231 in a 75 Midget and used a 429 mustang hood scoop. It looks cool and allows a lot of room to clear a big air cleaner and lets plenty of cold air in!
Paul McCracken

David,

I'm very interested in what adhesive your friend uses, considering my car is facing a total restoration. I was going to seam weld everything, but it seems to me that the bonding would be just as strong.

Thanks!

Joe Pitassi
Joe Pitassi

Has anyone considered a "cowl" type induction hood? I am working on a setup thatmight look alright.while everyone is looking at adding and cutting pieces of hoods together, the 96-7-8 mustang cobra's use a hood with a little bigger dome if you will, Kind of rounded edges that could blend in fairly well. Just a thought....
mike childress

Mike, do you mean a hood that is raised up right in front of the windshield? If you can lick the rain problem, this seems like the best way to do it assuming you can get the proportions right to look good on a B. At speed you are ramming in cold air and around town you are venting hot air. I don't exactly see how to deal with rain, though. As I understand it, on a regularly driven car the motor should not be exposed to the elements. There has to be a way, though, it's kind of like American cars with concealed windshield wipers.
Terrence

Well Terrence, I did mine by using an old hood, I cut from the front about 3" from the leading edge and cut all the way to the back about 2" from the edge. I then just raised the cut portion until The desired height. If you only need an inch or whatever you can just roll the edges into the rest of the hood.I think if done right, it looks better than added scoops. If you close the back in like I did you won't have to worry about rain, ut I only enclosed mine be cause it sits outside on occasion and I did'nt want the motor compartment getting wet. I am still working on a way to get fresh air in with no water though. HTH mike
mike childress

The way it was done in the seventies was to take the stock air cleaner housing, remove and block off the snorkel, take the lid off and put foam on the outer wall to seal to the underside of the hood, then cut the outer part of the lid past the element away and replace the lid. The actual hole in the hood skin matched the air cleaner housing. In some cases such as a high rise manifold the housing wall might need to be cut down. A water drain could be added to the housing, but most people didn't bother since only a little water was likely to get in when stopped, and when running the engine would suck it up.

Another thought for you cowl induction fans, if you plan to use your cowl vent you might not want to build a cowl induction scoop. Things like sucking in fuel vapors, hot air, and the usual engine compartment smells may not be what you want to breathe when driving.
Jim Blackwood

Mike
I made a cowl induction tpye scoop that I used for 16 years in Wa. state. Rain intrusion was not a problem. Air pressure exiting the scoop and air pressure at the cowl are about the same. When it rained I could watch the rain drops flow in about an inch or two, drop down then flow out.
At speeds less than 35 mph this type of scoop is very effective at venting under hood heat.

Bill bill_jacobson@hotmail.com
bill jacobson

Good Info, thanks Bill! Mike
mike childress

Just saw this on the MG V8 mailing list.. not a bad scoop job, sleek and subtle..

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/aw-cgi/ebayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=573960944&r=0&t=0
Larry Embrey

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=573960944
try this one

That one looks OK, but I would question whether it would not suck air _out_ of the engine bay at speed. (Boy, the guy must have resto'd that himself ... the top/hood sure fits poorly!)
Harry

This thread was discussed between 25/03/2001 and 31/03/2001

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