1963 hood - historians & engineers

[Joseph R.]

Regarding the 1963 hood and fake vents, if the vents were operational were they designed to assist cooling and/or reduce frontend lift? If the vents were made operational, what dimension(s) would the hole in the fiberglass be? Has anyone made the metal hood trim operational (can it take the stress from machining/cutting)? Or machine from scratch or not worth the effort?
C Ya, Joseph Rock
Frankenstein 59 & GS proto

[Tracy C.]

Re: 1963 hood - historians & engineers

Joseph,

I believe the original purpose for the hood and side louver openings on the Sting Ray racer was for cooling purposes. Most other racers of mid year cars just left the hood unlatched and achieved some relief.

The hood grills on a 63 are pretty flemzy off the car. If you tried to cut out the blackened areas to make them functional, I think you would have a pretzeled mess. If you want to do this, I'd suggest finding a 64 hood as a donor and make your own grills using something more substaintial.

tc

[John H.]

Re: 1963 hood - historians & engineers

Joe -

They're strictly for appearance - they were never designed to be operational at all - just Styling "jewelry".

[Sydney G.]

Re: 1963 hood - historians & engineers

John,

Not sure, but I think that I remember reading way back that the hood sheets were originally designed to be functional but that they were a problem in initial testing as they would cause debris to be thrown onto the windshield.

Syd

[Loren L.]

The "oil on the windshield" question

had been "asked and answered" on the open ribs of the 58 hood proposal.

[John H.]

Re: 1963 hood - historians & engineers

Syd -

No functional forward hood vent has ever made it to production, primarily because of issues with water ingestion at speed and water accumulation on the engine. The '65-'66 BB hood is the closest thing to a vented hood that ever made it; there was a design program early on to open up the front of the '67 BB hood, but it failed the water ingestion test at the Proving Grounds and was abandoned.

[Duke W.]

Re: 1963 hood - historians & engineers

The original Stingray racer had function hood vents - to let hot rediator air escape. The very serious lift probably would have been worse without them.

Now look at your production 1963 model and observe the HVAC inlet at the base of the windshild. Now imagine you have functional hood vents and tell us what is wrong with this picture.

Duke

[Frank C.]

Re: 1963 hood - historians & engineers

Hi Joeseph...I,m no authority by any strectch, but saw the Sting Ray Racer at the Rose Cup races in Portland, Ore many years ago when GM brought it out. IIRC, those hood grills were considerably longer as was the hood. I happened to catch the guy from GM watching the display and he invited me to take all the pics I wanted to take. Very interesting piece of engineering construction, what with inboard rear disc brakes and all. He lifted the front and rear end sections, so I could take closeup pics of any thing I wanted. One problem I have now,(30+yrs later) I can't find my pics, but I know their here some place. If you've never seen this car up close and personal, you're really missing a great piece of history........Regards Frank

[Frank C.]

Re: 1963 hood - historians & engineers

Hi Joeseph...I,m no authority by any strectch, but saw the Sting Ray Racer at the Rose Cup races in Portland, Ore many years ago when GM brought it out. IIRC, those hood grills were considerably longer as was the hood. I happened to catch the guy from GM watching the display and he invited me to take all the pics I wanted to take. Very interesting piece of engineering construction, what with inboard rear disc brakes and all. He lifted the front and rear end sections, so I could take closeup pics of any thing I wanted. One problem I have now,(30+yrs later) I can't find my pics, but I know their here some place. If you've never seen this car up close and personal, you're really missing a great piece of history........Regards Frank