Functional Fully Waterproof Rubicon Hood Vents Write-Up

[DHW]

yes and no. It shows turbulence, but doesn't show overall flow over the vehicle. Doesn't show a vehicle remotely close to the aerodynamic brick a jeep is. And an important aspect is how is the air used in the engine bay, I don't know but you could be affecting cooling of your engine at speed under load (but again I don't know, just saying its possible). The one thing I know, is the engineers making the decisions at Jeep know a whole lot more than we do on how air flow is used on the wrangler for different driving conditions.
On a front engine vehicle, the rear end aerodynamics are a little simpler to understand with what they affect (drag, downforce, lift on underside), but front end (to windshield) there are a lot of things going on with engine intake, cooling, etc that make it hard to know how the air is used.

And I'm not saying doing hood vents is a bad idea. I'm just saying we (forum members and jeep enthusiasts) do not know the side effects of doing hood ventilation. I myself mostly only wheel my jeep with highway driving to locations. I'm on the fence if I want to turn my rubicon's fake vents into water sealed air vents.

Maybe slightly over-analyzed. Jeep engineers also thought an aluminum steering box was a good idea.

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[DHW]

Figured I post this in case anyone was considering the Valkyrie vents. 15% off.

 

[Countryswiss]

I have the same vents but no waterproofing, haven't had any problems I think everything is waterproof.

 

[DHW]

UPDATE - Once the engine is at full operating temp, you can definitely see heat squiggles coming from both vents at every redlight. Although the heat is so intense on the driver's side, it's causing the duct tape to curl and harden. Just gonna replace it with foil tape since it's for aesthetics anyway.

 

[Skyvet]

Figured I’d do a quick write up of my hood vent install, which is pretty easy and cheap. I know some say water won't hurt, but I'm OCD (as you'll see) and I do what I want, so....

I went with the Valkyrie Off Road vents cause I think they look cool and I didn’t want to cut up my stock vents. That way I can buy a $35 hood pad and go back to stock if I want.

OCD tip #1 !! - Use 3/4" (I think) foam tape around the edges so it isn't metal on metal on the hood.

I used Outerwears Prefilter for the waterproofing. Gotta credit @wibornz for this idea. $20something on Amazon. I got 18X18, but had to order another because I screwed up the first attempt. 18x18 is just enough to cover both vents, but doesn't leave much room for mistake.

First attempt I left the hood pad attached. Remove the front and side pushpins on one side and you can stick your arm in and get the stock vent out that way. This attempt I followed Valkyrie’s instructions and bolted the two pieces together through the pad, then cut the middle out.

Problem here is the brackets crush the pad and the water has nowhere to go. Have to keep these channels in their non-crushed state so the water can escape out the side.

Second attempt I took the hood pad completely off and bolted the brackets directly to the hood. Use one of those pin removal tools, don't rush it, and you can get the pad off without breaking it or the pushpins. Easier if it's warm. I swear the hood pad is made of potato chip.

OCD tip #2 !! - Use whatever the hell this thing is called to make sure all your louvre angles match! The brackets feel kinda flimsy out of the box, but feel sturdy when they are bolted up. But make sure you get the angle on the first try. The metal is strong enough, but I can see parts breaking if you bend them too much.

OCD tip #3!! - I used black duct tape to go around the edges of the cut pad so it looks better. Yes, I'm gonna clean this up. Tape looks like shit now.

Then I used metal foil tape to tape the prefilter to the top of the hood pad, over the vent holes. If you go Valkyrie, make sure to leave enough slack in the prefilter for the bent louvers. Test fit a few times, then just pushpin the pad back on.

Finished product. Dyno shows a 17hp gain.

I ordered these as well. Shipping was unbelievably fast with great notifications at all stages by Valkyrie. They arrived looking perfect and well packaged. Since my diesel JL will be pulling an opus this summer almost 10k miles I really was concerned with heat. Looking forward to installing these as I currently have the westin lights on the hood. They look cool but don't really provide much light---more gimmicky. These should be a functional upgrade. Thank you for your post

 

[ChuckQue]

I ordered these as well. Shipping was unbelievably fast with great notifications at all stages by Valkyrie. They arrived looking perfect and well packaged. Since my diesel JL will be pulling an opus this summer almost 10k miles I really was concerned with heat. Looking forward to installing these as I currently have the westin lights on the hood. They look cool but don't really provide much light---more gimmicky. These should be a functional upgrade. Thank you for your post

Did you end up doing this? Do you see any difference in oil or coolant temps on your JLURD?

 

[Terpsmandan]

I did see a youtube video about someone who did something similar with the stock "vents" and found out that part of the hood is a high pressure area and that at speed air was going into the vent, not exhausting engine heat. Wondering if anyone who has done this has experienced this?

 

[RZ.]

Very nice!

I believe the clinical term is "inclinometer".

 

[BDinTX]

I did see a youtube video about someone who did something similar with the stock "vents" and found out that part of the hood is a high pressure area and that at speed air was going into the vent, not exhausting engine heat. Wondering if anyone who has done this has experienced this?

I did some testing on mine:
https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/under-hood-heat.78513/post-1641280

 

[Skyvet]

Did you end up doing this? Do you see any difference in oil or coolant temps on your JLURD?

Not yet as I am in the process of replacing axles, etc. Here I'm test fitting the RH front bumper, Toyo Open Country 40" and the metalcloak fender. It may be another 2 or 3 weeks before I do. I will then be taking this jeep on the entire TAT so should have a report afterwards.

 

[SJsJeeps]

I ordered these from OTB, seems like the same concept as what everybody is doing here. I just prefer the look of the factory vents and the waterproof layer comes pre-installed.

 

[Hercules]

I ordered these from OTB, seems like the same concept as what everybody is doing here. I just prefer the look of the factory vents and the waterproof layer comes pre-installed.

Where did you order them from?

 

[SJsJeeps]

I think the only place to get them is here

https://www.ironrockoffroad.com/product/jl/jt-hood-vents.html

 

[C.Sco]

I ordered these from OTB, seems like the same concept as what everybody is doing here. I just prefer the look of the factory vents and the waterproof layer comes pre-installed.

Those look awesome but for some reason I really dislike it when production items are made with a 3d printer. Feels like I'm paying $200 for a prototype of something, not a final product.

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