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Bryan Irons photos
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Bryan Irons photos
Let’er Breathe
1. Colour matching is NOT our forte so we decided to keep the main body of the cowl on the JK black and just match the side vents. Following the rattle cans directions for prep; we needed to take the sheen off the parts before spraying on the adhesion promoter, which is like a primer for plastic parts.
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Let’er Breathe
2. Resist the urge to get your grubby hands on the pieces before they have dried, we called it a night and came back to start the install the next day.
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Let’er Breathe
3. The windshield washer nozzle, hood bumpers and footman loop need to be removed for the install of the cowl hood. These factory holes also locate the template for easy cutting and perfect fit.
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Let’er Breathe
4. We used a hole-punching die to cut the locating holes in the template before affixing them to the hood.
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Let’er Breathe
5. Find the rough area where cuts will need to be made and cover them with masking tape. This will make for easy to read cut out lines and paint protection of the areas to remain in tact.
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Let’er Breathe
6. With tape applied and the exact location settled, it’s time to mark the hole drilling locations. We used an adjustable centre punch to just make light indentations in the sheet metal without dimpling the steel around it.
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Let’er Breathe
7. Gather your courage, take a deep breath and start poking holes in metal. Use a small pilot bit to start.
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Let’er Breathe
8. Using scissors or an X-acto blade, cut the template where the vent openings are shown so you can use it to trace the final hole size and location.
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Let’er Breathe
9. A stepped drill bit (left) works well for opening up the pilot holes to their final size, the tape is to let us know just how deep to go. A carbide tipped bit is used for the larger holes and makes clean cuts along the edges. Regular bi-metal hole saws work well too.
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Let’er Breathe
10. Go slow and let the cutting teeth do the work. The steel used in the hoods on the new Jeep JK is thinner than the discount toilet paper here at the office.
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Let’er Breathe
11. The wimpy sheet metal is easily trimmed away with an air nibbler. A jigsaw, or even tin snips could be used as well. In a few locations, access holes must be drilled to later fit nuts to hold the cowl hood firmly.
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Let’er Breathe
12. We now have bare metal exposed to Mother Nature and need to do something about it before the rust bunnies start to multiply across the hood. After deburing the sharp edge we took a Q-tip and used it as a paintbrush to cover the exposed steel. We chose to spray some self-etching primer into a cup and gave the areas a few good coats.
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Let’er Breathe
13. With the insulated liner removed we test fit the hood. No tweaking or adjustments required. Be forewarned that with the cowl hood installed you will no longer be able to lean the hood back onto the windshield frame. Using a paint pen, the hole location in the liner was clearly marked via the included directions. We found a good old pair of tin snips worked best for us.
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Let’er Breathe
14. The hood uses cast-in studs for secure mounting of the surround (vent ring) and holds the insulation in place. Getting the nuts and washers on can be a pain. An extra set of hands and magnetic nut drivers can be a savior.
By Bryan Irons
Let’er Breathe
If you can’t stand the heat… cut a hole in your hood! Err, something like that. It makes sense to us. Daystar had just released their new line of hood vents for the venerable Jeep JK just in time for the smoking summer heat. With the slow crawling we do on summer trails, getting as much excess heat out of the engine compartment as possible is a priority. And if you’re getting psyched up for some winter wheeling you know the engine can get even hotter bashing through the snow.
We had an ulterior motive as well, our primary trail rig is receiving a massive increase in engine power and the wheezy hamster that currently resides in Stinky Jeep (so named by my kids) was topping the temperature gauge on some of the steep hill climbs we enjoy. Daystar doesn’t offer any venting options for the CJ line so we made the call and ordered up the whole lot they had for the JK, including a centre hood vent, cowl hood and side hood vents. The primary focus was to see what vents could be made to fit the lines of the old CJ hood and use the other(s) on our buddies Jeep JK.
We lucked out and were able to fit the centre and side vents on Stinky Jeep and strapped the beautiful cowl on our buddies JK. Follow along as we show a few different ways to hack a hole in your pride and joy and end up with a pro looking job at the end of a few days labour. Plus enjoy the benefits of ditching that bag of hot air… from under the hood, not the passenger seat.
CJ Install
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CJ Install
1. Because no templates are available for mounting hood vents to the small and curvy CJ hood, some artistic merit and careful measurement were made before poking any holes.
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CJ Install
2. Cutting the template out with scissors helped better situate the final location of the vents. Keep in mind that the template just shows the hole size, not the overhang of the gaskets or outside dimensions of the actual vent.
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CJ Install
3. Like the JK hood, a carbide tipped bit was used in the corners to allow a body saw to make short work of the offending metal. We would have used the air nibbler, but the steel was too thick for it.
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CJ Install
4. Time to debur and paint the bare edges for rust protection.
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CJ Install
5. Without any under hood insulation, we swapped the gaskets upside down for a larger surface to press against the hood, and it also makes for a cleaner install.
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CJ Install
6. Beside good looks and clean lines, we noticed in both the CJ and the JK that the electric cooling fans did not seen to be running for as long on the trail as in the past. Just what we were looking for!
Daystar - www.daystarweb.com