Wonders never cease...

updated 1/17/09

 I was looking around for something change the sleeper look, perhaps a hood scoop.  Well, what do you know, just have to ask the sales guy behind the counter at the wrecking yard.  Check this out.

This scoop used to be solid black with 2 gold pinstripes outlining of what is going to become the intake side.  Smokey and the Bandit came to mind, and it was just dropped off at the wrecking yard just the day before.  It's in relatively good shape for what is going to be visible above the hood.  Not bad for $5.

The fiberglass on the scoop is only about 3/16 to 1/4" thick and should provide plenty of airflow when opened up

This is about how much should be over the surface of the hood when installed.  There is a structural brace under the hood going down the middle, will use another hood that my good friend supplied to me from another ranger to make the new addition.  Will get somes pics as progress is made.  Holes cut on either side of the support  should allow the hood to maintain it's strength.  Ducting will be fabricated from the inlet and run to the air filter.  Fiberglass mat is going to be used to make the air filter box and the ducting.  The scoop installed underneath will remain in place

1/17/09

Here is what has formulated together with the spare hood and a bit of creativity.  This much above the hood should provide plenty of air input and give it the non sleeper look.  I'll have to see what kind of reactions are in store when it gets exposure around town.

The access holes were cut to acommodate the scoop and not compromise the integrity of the support beams.

  A little rough but what can't be done using the dremel to smooth it out .

More mods to the breather box.

  This will be getting a thick coat of fiberglass cloth to seal it up when done and includes the two separate air inlets from the top and bottom to help it with the performance at highway speeds.  A lid that will be screwed in on top will have the port from the hood scoop.

2/9/09

The filter box had the glass laid up and insulated with the heat resistant mat, previously shown, now covers the box.

All that's needed for the box now is the lid with the hose inlet from the scoop.

As for the scoop, the paint turned out better than expected, not perfect but does show off some gloss when completed with the final sanding and buffing compound.

 Before getting the dimensions on the new hood, needed a little perspective, didn't realize it before but the shaker scoop kind of follows the lines and corners of the ranger, seems to complement the front end.

So it started the arduous task of painting and wet sanding.

Looks 3 times better than the paint job on the original hood, may have to keep using these $6 cans of engine block enamel to do the rest of the truck a panel at a time.  Ford Red is almost a perfect match, not too worried about it at the moment.

2/27/09

Used small rivets to mount the brackets to the scoop, visible on the outside, didn't bother painting over, thought it would add character.

Used the wire mesh originally, then thin aircraft aluminum, both without good results.  Finally had to settle on some pvc square pipe left over from a fencing project, and turns out it can be shaped into just about any form and glued together in a few minutes. 

Everything all fitted together with the aluminum stiffeners.

All set to be glued to the hood with the goop adhesive for flexibility.

The insulation was cut to fit the outline of the ducting, no problems.  The heat protective matting went over and buttoned up, cut an opening for the hose outlets.

Once the hood went on, the hoses got hooked up to the air filter box without too much struggle, the self threading screws took care of that.  Any water entering through the tubes would hit the baffle first and then drain out the bottom of the box.  No question about getting enough cold air anymore.  An aluminum lid was cut and fit with hinges and an extra spring loaded hood latch to hold it down(still looking for it).

The only thing left was to seal up the gap for the scoop on top.

Might or might not see an increase in mileage, definitely want to have the extra perfomance.  Hope to find out soon and post results.