Review: Track Spec Hood Louvers

Fabman

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Time to ditch the phony plastic hood scoop in favor of some functional hood louvers.
I looked at the Tiger racing hoods, which are awesome no doubt, but the carbon fiber one is quite pricey and the fiberglass one still being a fair chunk of change.

Add to that the price of freight (ships via truck) plus paint and it was just more than I was willing to spend on a hood.
So I visited Track Spec Motorsports and picked up these spiffy hood louvers for about $350.00.

Installation was straight forward with finishing the extra large pizza I ordered being the hardest part of the project.
The parts came well packaged and are of high quality. Fit and finish were very nice and a semi gloss black power coat tops it off.
Instructions were complete with templates and measurements making this install a real "Why didn't I do this sooner" kind of moment.
I'm pretty excited about it and wanted to share this alternative with my fellow Mustangers who may be in a similar situation.

And with that, here are the pics:













Carbon fiber hood w/shipping - $2000
Custom Paint w/stripes - $1000.00
Getting similar results for 350 bucks....Priceless!
:thumb:
 

Sky Render

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Wow, I've not seen these before! Me likey.

Have you taken it out on track yet to test the aero???

Also: link?
 

Racer47

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Nice job, any pics of the underside?
 

zquez

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These louvers are fantastic. Much cheaper alternative to a tiger racing hood.

 

SoundGuyDave

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Couple of things....

First, philosophy: If you're using RACE parts, don't expect STREET manners from them. Rod-ends clunk, deal with it. The thinnest, lightest possible carbon-fiber part will NOT have a perfect high-gloss resin finish, deal with it. Holes in hoods do NOT keep water out, deal with it. If you run your car through an automatic car-wash, drive LOTS of miles on pothole-filled roads, and are prone to park the car at a "cars and coffee" night more often than you park in a paddock, then you don't need race parts. Pretty simple if you ask me. If the part is legal for GrandAm or TransAm racing, it's probably not going to be very "street friendly."

That said, and with the aforementioned firmly in mind: If you're getting water intrusion into the engine bay due to heat-extraction holes/louvers/ducts, you're just not driving fast enough!
 

Sky Render

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Couple of things....

First, philosophy: If you're using RACE parts, don't expect STREET manners from them. Rod-ends clunk, deal with it. The thinnest, lightest possible carbon-fiber part will NOT have a perfect high-gloss resin finish, deal with it. Holes in hoods do NOT keep water out, deal with it. If you run your car through an automatic car-wash, drive LOTS of miles on pothole-filled roads, and are prone to park the car at a "cars and coffee" night more often than you park in a paddock, then you don't need race parts. Pretty simple if you ask me. If the part is legal for GrandAm or TransAm racing, it's probably not going to be very "street friendly."

That said, and with the aforementioned firmly in mind: If you're getting water intrusion into the engine bay due to heat-extraction holes/louvers/ducts, you're just not driving fast enough!

Yeah, but I like doing everything with my car; that's the problem. :shrug:

To clarify my previous question, does the water enter from those vents and go anywhere that shouldn't be wet? In other words, if the car gets stuck outside in a torrential downpour, are you going to need a tow truck?
 

SoundGuyDave

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Yeah, but I like doing everything with my car; that's the problem. :shrug:

I have no problem with that position, at all. In fact, I would say that is probably pretty common to about 95% of the Mustang fans out there. Making your car into a hard-core race machine will pretty much ruin it for anything else, trust me! A "universal" build is one that is full of compromise, it's just the nature of the beast. The hardware that makes the car handle at a race-prep level will beat you to death on the street, and won't let you get a 60' time worth squat. Setting up for a super-fast 60' will have the car tripping over it's own feet if it tries to take a corner at more than 5mph. If you do heat extraction, you either accept the car as fair-weather only, or you take measures to protect against excessive water intrusion.

There are solutions to the problems, though. Don't want to chance flooding the engine bay? Do a spare hood with the louvers, or get a Tiger Racing hood (whichever floats your boat), and just change it out when go to the track and actually NEED heat-extraction (screw the exotic paint job, just do something that looks "good enough!"). With take-off hoods being fairly available (check the junkyards, too!), and relatively reasonably priced, it is an option to at least look at. Nobody is going to see a very minor color-mismatch when you're doing 130mph past pit row!

--OR-- just spitballing here, how about fabbing up a couple of plastic or aluminum trays that bolt to the underside of the hood with nut-serts to block off (or at least redirect) any water that might get in there? It's already fairly common to change brake pads, tires, etc. before going to a track day. A hood is really only four bolts when it comes down to it.
 

zquez

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The placement of the louvers on my car has most of the water draining in between the radiator and engine. I have had the louvers on the car for 3 years now and have had no issues with water. I have even tracked the car in the rain. I wouldn't worry about rain in the slightest.
 

GreenTerror

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Stock gt500 hoods have heat extractors and plenty of people have driven and parked gt500s in the rain. They say their position on the hood makes it okay.
 

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