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| North American Grand Cherokee Association | ||
| Your one stop source for Jeep Grand Cherokee Information | ||
Hood Vents
If you have ever touched the hood of a Grand, especially with a V-8, after the engine has been running for a while you will understand the benefit of this modification. There is a tremendous amount of heat that builds up under the hood and it is begging to escape. The special edition 5.9 Jeep Grand Cherokee that was produced only in the 1998 model year installed two hood vents to help with the ventilation. Unfortunately they did not offer this beneficial option on any other models. Here is an inexpensive way to add functional vents that will give you that 5.9 look. Nick Ianuzzi from Multitronics, better known as Kolak, did the leg work on locating a set of vents with splash guards that could easily be adapted to fit the Grand.
By Gary Heinz (whodat)
The preinstall: Set them on the hood, and moved them around till they looked good and closely straddled a single-thickness section of the hood, roughly where the 5.9 louvers go. Put lots of blue painter's tape (a quick, clean release masking tape) over the hood where they would mount. Set one on the hood, drew the outline with a marker, marked the mounting holes. There are 6 posts sticking down from the vents into which screws are threaded from the bottom vent sections. I marked the location of each of these posts with the marker.
The cutting: I drilled the holes marked earlier, and connected them with a jig saw. Lots of emotion at this point. The tape protects the hood paint from the bottom of the jigsaw. Clean easy cut.
The installation: I installed the vent into the top of the hole, fit perfectly. Tried to attach the bottom piece, had interference. It was hitting the hood brace pieces (the large X in the bottom of the hood) and I cut the offending pieces off. Now it fit well. Unfortunately, after I trimmed the under hood insulation, the aforementioned insulation blocked most of the vent holes in the bottom piece. So I got out the 2" hole saw and put 3 holes in the bottom piece. More cooling!
The painting: I scuffed the entire surface of the vents with 150 grit sandpaper, and applied black BBQ paint. Due to the extensive heat it requires high temperature paint.
The other one: I measured the location of the original hole, transferred those measurements to the other side, and repeated the aforementioned process.
Outcome: Sweet! Looks nice (not 5.9 nice, but it's not 5.9 expensive) understated, not like a huge look-at-me hood scoop. Functional, not stick on cheapies. Well made; they are designed to cover a 3.8l 240 HP 280lb/ft supercharged V6. They won't melt or deform with heat or age. Functionality: Hell, I can't give you real numbers. My engine still gets to 210 (or just below) and stays there. Objectively, it works. My AC seems colder, the fan clutch doesn't seem to keep the fan spinning as much, and after a 20 mile, stop&go/70mph combo trip home today, in 75 degree weather, bright sunshine, my hood was cool to the touch in the center. I'm talking, the same temp as my wife's car that stayed in the driveway all day. Directly in front of and directly aft of each vent the hood was hot, but directly over the engine was cool. I figure this means it works. Also way cool is to sit at a dead stop in traffic and see the shimmer of the heat coming out of the vents.
The current cost of the hood vents with splash guards is $86.00 from Multitronics.
North American Grand Cherokee Association
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