hood insulation and drain tubes

[abiddle]

I'm installing the hood insulation, arrived today from Rick's. 1969 SS hood with louvers and drain tubes. On an original, were holes cut in the insulation for the drain tubes?

Also the insulation came with an info sheet that says to lightly spray with flat black paint to achieve an original appearance. Truth?

Thanks - Andy

[Kelley W King]

Do not remember drains on mine.(years ago) But it stays inside. But as a word of caution, my 77 trans am has a drain on the shaker hood that clogged up. When the engine locked up we all just said well. When I drained the pan it was several gallons of water in the pan. Even though it had sat outside over a year without starting and full of water it started right up and I have been driving it for two years. The water had pushed the oil past the rings which I guess saved it. In short do not let drains dump on the air cleaner.

[abiddle]

Hi Kelley - Great advice, this car used to spend time outdoors, but no longer. These drains are part of the hood, so that any water collected in the SS hood ornaments drain away from the ornaments within channels of the hood structure and forward of the engine. The small rubber drains are at the end of the channels and drop the water forward of the engine (although I never really tested to see exactly where the water falls. Part 3903974 on L48 B2 of the AIM, if you're interested.

I've installed the insulation and reinstalled the hood light. That was painful. In case anyone reads this in the future, there is definitely a trick to setting the clips. Once you find the hole for the clip tooth (the holes in the hood are close but not always exactly matching the insulation - Ricks repro is very nice), press the entire edge of the clip at positions within the circular edge of the clip setting an indentation for the entire circle. Then press the clip in the center to set the tooth. Before I learned this, the clips would pop out on me.

I just need to decide if I need to make holes for the drain tubes. Sadly I'm not sure how I will find them, I will need some help.

Thanks - Andy

[NoYenko]

Andy first I really like your car for the color combination and originality. I saw a car with original hood pad drain holes but I cant find that picture right now.
I used a gasket cutter and punched holes in mine like the original pad. Not a close up but you can see the holes. Hope that helps. By the way my car was built 11A and had a "WT" master also. George

[Mike S]

 Be glad you have drain holes. They weren't used in '67 and the hoods began to rot from the inside out. I have that issue with one hood and nI eed to replace a large chunk of sheet metal to keep it original.

Mike

[abiddle]

Thanks George! That's a whole lot of engine you have there and it looks really nice, which means it was a ton of work. I have a long long way to go, baby steps. Tonight I dug out the original RC15 rad cap, I had tossed it in a box when I bought the car because it was dirty. I probably spent a few hours cleaning it up with some metal polish. This is the fun part.

The holes I see in your picture are indeed at the corners of the hood ornaments, but they aren't where my drain tubes are. My tubes are more forward on the hood and I don't see that much of your picture. In fact, I don't know why those holes are cut by the mfg into the insulation. Can you show me another picture with the tube holes?

I'm actually tempted to run a little water into my hood ornaments, then look for the wet spot on the insulation. I guess I should have taken some precise measurements.

Thanks Mike, I wonder what made them realize the error of not having drain tubes - was it 68 or 69?

Andy

[NoYenko]

Andy I screwed up, those are not the drain holes, I should have looked at my car before posting. Here is the correct picture of mine and I found the picture of the original hood pad I mentioned. George

[ZLP955]

Aren't those holes just forward of the air cleaner also for insulation retainer clips? I have a resto note saying there should be 19 or 20 clips used, although I can't recall the source of that info.....

[abiddle]

Thanks George, that's the pic I needed. Also I can see why they suggest spraying some black paint on the insulation to match the original as the repro is much a much lighter gray.

It looks like my SS will be getting a much needed body and paint restoration in a few weeks, so its all coming back off anyway.

Hi ZLP955 - I just counted mine at 19. The two on either side of the center hole I don't think reveal positions in the hood for clips. George has 17 in, looks like he's missing a clip at the 4:30 position and the center hole. I wish I hadn't put the center clip in, its pulled clean through the insulation and left a big hole, that's a real bummer. If I had money to waste, I would buy a new one and not put the center clip in until the insulation loosened up a few months.

Thanks - Andy