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Thread: Driving with no hood

  1. #1
    herb fraser's Avatar
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    Driving with no hood

    hi guys can someone tell me if it is ok to drive with no hood in rainy weather ?
    Thanks Herb

  2. #2
    Senior Member TDSapp's Avatar
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    Obviously you don't want water pouring down into your air intake but depending on your engine and how it gets it's air it should not be a problem with your common rain storm. The air cleaner will keep most of the water out.

    On my car there is a air filter inside of the bug catcher. It has a rubber seal at the top and bottom and any rain that hits it is going to drain out of the many holes in the bug catcher. Arrow head also runs something like this but his sticks outside of the hood.





    So don't drive in a massive down pour but don't worry about getting caught in a spring shower.
    Tim Sapp
    11110001101
    Build Blog: http://hotrod.sapp-family.com/blog/

    33 Hot Rod
    Delivered 5/31/2017

  3. #3

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    RoadRacer's Avatar
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    No experience yet, but interesting thread on HAMB

    https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...e-rain.332917/

    One interesting point is not about driving, but parking.. "Just dont park them in the rain with the air cleaners not covered. The hold down bolt will leak water into the motor and hydro lock it. ".
    James

    FFR33 #997 (Gen1 chassis, Gen2 body), license plate DRIVE IT says it all! build thread
    My build: 350SBC, TKO600, hardtop, no fenders/hood, 32 grill, 3 link, sway bars, 355/30r19
    Previous cars: GTD40, Cobra, tubeframe 55 Chevy, 66 Nova, 56 F100

  4. #4
    Senior Member TheBabyBadger's Avatar
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    Maybe a better question is: Do you NEED to drive in the rain? and: Is it worth adverse result?
    Gen3 Coupe - SOLD Arrival: 6/21/18 SOLD: 4/12/2019
    Current Vehicle: 2014 SRT Viper (modded to the moon), 2022 TRX, 2014 RS6, E46 LS3 M3
    Current Projects: Superlite/RCR GTR ***FOR SALE***
    @madd_wrapps on IG or www.maddwrapps.com

  5. #5
    Senior Member TDSapp's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by RoadRacer View Post
    No experience yet, but interesting thread on HAMB

    https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...e-rain.332917/

    One interesting point is not about driving, but parking.. "Just dont park them in the rain with the air cleaners not covered. The hold down bolt will leak water into the motor and hydro lock it. ".


    Meh... Just put a rubber washer under the wing nut....
    Tim Sapp
    11110001101
    Build Blog: http://hotrod.sapp-family.com/blog/

    33 Hot Rod
    Delivered 5/31/2017

  6. #6
    Seasoned Citizen NAZ's Avatar
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    No experience driving in rain without a hood but lots of experience fording rivers and 3'-4' puddles in 4x4 vehicles. As long as you don't ingest an overwhelming amount of water through the carb (very unlikely in a rain storm) then the ignition is the weak link. One thing I learned that paper elements work better at temporarily keeping water out of the intake than oiled cotton or foam. Also, WD40 really does work to displace water in the distributor cap but it makes such as mess I have to be very desperate to use that stuff.

    Doubt you need to go to this extreme on a hot rod in the rain but to waterproof my off-road vehicles I used to use silicone grease on the spark plug boots and the distributor boots. I also would silicon seal the distributor cap but you can't just seal it up or condensation will accumulate in the cap and scatter the spark. I'd drill a small hole in the cap and glue in a 1/4" hose barb for a vent hose. Run the vent hose high through the firewall and this will let the distributor breathe and provide a way for condensate to escape. I could run the vehicle through water as deep as just below the carb intake and never miss a beat. The exhaust sounds like a motorboat burbling underwater. But this is way more extreme than simply getting caught in a rain storm.

  7. #7
    Ol Skool
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    let's see: The old Mopar Tan caps had little vents in the distributor. Rubber seals on the air cleaner top work as do a half shield in the front of the air cleaner. My K&N top filter not so good. Compression must go up a full point in a downpour....
    I keep my hood on most of the time. I'm over watching the double pumpers freeze up on the tunnel ram. That and rubbing the water spots off the firewall. Actually the worst part is picking the road stones off the air filter after the sticky tires throw em around.

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