Fox Does this make sense?

[79 Fox]

I have a GT hood scoop on my '79. I have a K&N round air cleaner (the kind with a filter on the top as well) I'd like to make the hood scoop functional. Would it make sense to cut a hole in the hood under the scoop and use a carb spacer to move the whole assembly up so that the air cleaner is sticking up a bit into the hood scoop, or would it work better to just cut a hole and use no carb spacer?

 

[Mustang5L5]

You have to be careful with scoops. They don't always work out the way you intend. For air to flow through the scoop, it needs to go somewhere. The front radiator grill lets air into the engine bay, and then downwards around the trans and out under the car. At speed, there's likely to be pretty good pressure inside the bay that could likely prevent anything from blowing down through the scoop.

Secondly, a scoop places low to the car's hoodline tends to not be effective as the airflow simply streams over the lip of the scoop, especially if there is any pressure inside the scoop. One of the issues that 03-04 mach 1 owners had was the scoop was too low, and spacing the scoop upwards 1/2" or so was a common mod back in the day.

Other side effects of open scoops are collecting tons of crap, especially if it rains. Bugs and other debris with mass won't follow the airflow over the scoop and end up in the bay.

 

[79 Fox]

Ok! I think that I'll just leave the hood scoop purely for looks. Thank you so much for the help!

 

[LILCBRA]

I have a GT scoop on my II and had to cut a hole in my hood just for clearance with my new intake manifold. All of the above are considerations that have to be made, but if you only take it out on nice days vs it being a daily driver in all weather you shouldn't have a problem. They don't form an air-tight seal to the hood, so there's no chance of it blowing off from catching too much air. And, IMO, it should direct air to the top of the engine moreso than the forced air entering the engine compartment through the grill and radiator since there is no restriction, but obviously not as much volume. Now I couldn't tell you anything about the aerodynamics of it or anything like mustang5l5 eluded to and what Mach 1 owners had to do, but in any event if all else fails it's an extra place for hot air to escape. The opening is only about an inch tall and my air cleaner sticks up into the opening, I've not had to clean bug splatter from the air cleaner either. While it's all a concern, it's probably not too big a deal if you wanted to go that route.

 

[79 Fox]

Thank you! It isn't meant as a daily driver, so I might consider it. I have no idea if clearance will be a problem. Edelbrock performer intake, Holley 600 cfm carb, and the aforementioned air cleaner. I'll have to check.

 

[RaggedGT]

No carb spacer- Longer stud and really tall filter element

 

[79 Fox]

After some testing, it seems like the air cleaner does fit under the hood, but its damn close. I will be cutting a hole in the hood.