What's up with hood scoops on pickup trucks??

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Truck_Van.jpg


Now that is a conversion van.
 
Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
What's even worse is hood scoops on cars with transversely mounted 4 cylinder engines. That's just dumb.


You mean like this one?

2010MS3.jpg
 
A lot of things on vehicles have become non-functional appearance-only accessories. Large rims with ultra-low profile tires, especially on trucks, fall into this category as well. Large wing spoilers are another. But people gobble it up. Manufacturers sell it because market place wants it. After all, many of us buy vehicles not only based on performance, utility, reliability, but also based on looks.
 
Originally Posted By: ViragoBry
My all-time favorite is a Civic with a really ugly and over-done ground effects kit glued / riveted on the car before it is painted to match. Add a HUGE f*rt-can muffler, a super-high Easter-basket style spoiler, steel wheels with the original Honda hubcaps, and you have the offical car of the Dallas ghetto. Extra points allotted for an Si-R sticker on the trunk, even if the car is actually a DX.

Parked every day in my compound, ah, apartment complex is a Mercedes E-Class sedan, vintage 1996-2001 model. It began life, I suspect, as a plain silver sedan.

The owner has painted the lower half of the body (from door handles on down) a bright reddish orange; has pasted the silly fake portholes on the front fenders; and has swapped the wheels for 20" chromies (I know, because the legend 20" is picked out in rhinestones just back of the front wheel wells).

I'm not making this up.

But the hits keep on comin', folks. The Benz star on the hood wasn't enough; a large one about 6" across has been airbrushed onto each rear fender, along with the script letters "Ms. BaBINO". On the dark-tinted rear window (hey, you knew there'd be dark tint, didn'cha?) is the image of two praying hands, along with the letters "Blessed." And the hood has a huge airbrushing of something that looks like a female centaur.

Still not making this up.

Naturally, since all her money went on this tasteless mess, the owner can't afford to fix her sunroof, which is always stuck open even in the rain, and apparently can't afford to repair her A/C, since I always see her driving with the windows down. . . .
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
A lot of things on vehicles have become non-functional appearance-only accessories. Large rims with ultra-low profile tires, especially on trucks, fall into this category as well. Large wing spoilers are another. But people gobble it up. Manufacturers sell it because market place wants it. After all, many of us buy vehicles not only based on performance, utility, reliability, but also based on looks.



Definately a good point though. Wish I had pictures of some of these trucks. They range from ragged out Rangers to nice new hemi dodge's.
 
Originally Posted By: Benzadmiral
Originally Posted By: ViragoBry
My all-time favorite is a Civic with a really ugly and over-done ground effects kit glued / riveted on the car before it is painted to match. Add a HUGE f*rt-can muffler, a super-high Easter-basket style spoiler, steel wheels with the original Honda hubcaps, and you have the offical car of the Dallas ghetto. Extra points allotted for an Si-R sticker on the trunk, even if the car is actually a DX.

Parked every day in my compound, ah, apartment complex is a Mercedes E-Class sedan, vintage 1996-2001 model. It began life, I suspect, as a plain silver sedan.

The owner has painted the lower half of the body (from door handles on down) a bright reddish orange; has pasted the silly fake portholes on the front fenders; and has swapped the wheels for 20" chromies (I know, because the legend 20" is picked out in rhinestones just back of the front wheel wells).

I'm not making this up.

But the hits keep on comin', folks. The Benz star on the hood wasn't enough; a large one about 6" across has been airbrushed onto each rear fender, along with the script letters "Ms. BaBINO". On the dark-tinted rear window (hey, you knew there'd be dark tint, didn'cha?) is the image of two praying hands, along with the letters "Blessed." And the hood has a huge airbrushing of something that looks like a female centaur.

Still not making this up.

Naturally, since all her money went on this tasteless mess, the owner can't afford to fix her sunroof, which is always stuck open even in the rain, and apparently can't afford to repair her A/C, since I always see her driving with the windows down. . . .


Wouldn't that be sad to see if you were the original owner of the car and loved it/took great care of it.
 
Quote:
Still not making this up.


Oh ...please ...images. We NEED visuals here. Your literary style is JAUNderful (the Spaniard Swordsman - who really should have also said, "Huehar fanTASTIC!" ) but we need more.
 
Originally Posted By: daddi
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
A lot of things on vehicles have become non-functional appearance-only accessories. Large rims with ultra-low profile tires, especially on trucks, fall into this category as well. Large wing spoilers are another. But people gobble it up. Manufacturers sell it because market place wants it. After all, many of us buy vehicles not only based on performance, utility, reliability, but also based on looks.



Definately a good point though. Wish I had pictures of some of these trucks. They range from ragged out Rangers to nice new hemi dodge's.


We've got 'em here too..... In SPADES.

I think they look absolutely ridiculous. "Stick on fake RAM AIR!"
 
Originally Posted By: D189379
One of the reasons I bought my Frontier over a Tacoma was that fruitcake looking scoop the Tacoma comes with.


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OEM built in bling.
 
Originally Posted By: daddi
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
A lot of things on vehicles have become non-functional appearance-only accessories. Large rims with ultra-low profile tires, especially on trucks, fall into this category as well. Large wing spoilers are another. But people gobble it up. Manufacturers sell it because market place wants it. After all, many of us buy vehicles not only based on performance, utility, reliability, but also based on looks.


Definately a good point though. Wish I had pictures of some of these trucks. They range from ragged out Rangers to nice new hemi dodge's.


I have added a non functional scoop to 2 of my trucks. A 2004 Dodge Ram and a 2005 Chevy Silverado. I do it because I am a muscle car guy at heart and I generally like to dress up my vehicles so they don't look like everyone else has. Also, some of these so called "functional" hoods w/ built in scoops don't do as much as you think. For instance the very popular Dodge Ram SRT-10/Daytona hood that everyone and their brother add's to their 02-08 Ram is not functional unless you buy the parts to make it so and even then due to the aerodynamics very little air enters the scoop. Even that hood is 95%+ for looks.

Buy an afftermarket hood, from say Keystone as an example, that looks great and you would think just pours the air into the engine and you are in for a surpirse. Unless you buy the very expensive ram air kit that directs the air over to your air box it does nothing for you. In the old muscle car days with Carbs, and a traditional top mounted air cleaner assembly with a snorkel(s) facing basically towards the front of the engine or off at a slight angle to one side, the hoods with scoops were much more functional than the ones today for our FI vehicles with their off set, totally enclosed, air boxes.

Air boxes today are closed off from the engine bay and grab their air from the fender well or down low near the front of the engine compartment near the radiator support. Blowing a bunch of air into the engine bay from a scoop or scoops in the hood isn't going to find it's way into the throttle body unless you add the kit that directs that air into the airbox. At best you lower underhood temps marginally. Even on the older muscle cars with scoops in the hood they generally added some type of enclosure to the air cleaner assembly so the air was rammed in. Seldom( sometimes yes )did they set it up so air just went into the engine bay.

I have no issue with people doing what ever they want to their vehicle. It is no different than choices in oil. Use what makes you happy. There is a lot of it I hate like tribal graphics, f art cans, and big Indy inspired wings on little Civics and such but to each his own. The Fast & The Furious was one of the most ridiculous movies ever made(IMO)other than that great Charger Vin had.

I actually like the look of a scoop added to a truck however if it matches a theme for looks. Especially when you consider the cost of a hood with painting and install is going to be $1000+ and a scoop maybe $400 tops. HUGE difference. For me personally however it has to be a scoop that has no visible tape flange. The scoop can be applied with double sided tape but it has to at least look bolted on. Those twin scoops someone else mentioned that are so popular are made by Lund and they have visible tape flanges and I don't care for that personally.

I Ran the OEM Rumble Bee scoop( metal - bolt on )on my 04 Ram...

04Ram6.jpg

04Ram8.jpg


I also ran an ACS( now SLP )hood scoop on my 05 Silverado that looked really good. Even though it was a stick on the tape flange is hidden and it looked like a OEM bolt on. This is a popular scoop for the new Mustang( this is just a stock photo - I don't have any of it on the truck - also my truck was dark blue and it looked better than the red photo shown ). I may actually run one on my new 08 Ram because I have yet to see one with this scoop. I would be different than everyone else who uses the SRT-1o hood or the Rumble Blee scoop..

12000B-1.jpg


Again, to each his own.
 
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Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
Originally Posted By: daddi
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
A lot of things on vehicles have become non-functional appearance-only accessories. Large rims with ultra-low profile tires, especially on trucks, fall into this category as well. Large wing spoilers are another. But people gobble it up. Manufacturers sell it because market place wants it. After all, many of us buy vehicles not only based on performance, utility, reliability, but also based on looks.



Definately a good point though. Wish I had pictures of some of these trucks. They range from ragged out Rangers to nice new hemi dodge's.


We've got 'em here too..... In SPADES.

I think they look absolutely ridiculous. "Stick on fake RAM AIR!"



I agree - lots of them in Ottawa.

We're going back to the 1970's - b/c of gas prices, and a severe crack down on speeding/racing, owning a car/truck that is actually fast is pointless. People still want the look of a sporty/muscular car truck, so what's your next best option?
 
Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
Quote:
Still not making this up.


Oh ...please ...images. We NEED visuals here. Your literary style is JAUNderful (the Spaniard Swordsman - who really should have also said, "Huehar fanTASTIC!" ) but we need more.

I had Miss Linda's digital camera with me yesterday, and looked for the Shiny Mercedes o' Doom, but no luck. I'll keep an eye out!
 
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