A few weeks ago, I was bored at home and wanted to tinker with the truck. Talk of summer 4x4 trips was in my mind, and I got to thinking about cooling solutions. I always liked the look of hood vents, but being a 'baller on a budget," I decided to make mine from a Home Depot air return grill intended for use in the home.

A fellow ExPo forum user and I recently ran a trail that had a lot of fairly steep climbing, in fairly warm weather, so I got a chance to test out the vent mod.

Part way up, his A/T temp gauge lit up, so we shut down for a few minutes to let his truck cool down. My light hadn't come on. Then for fun, I held my hand in front of the grill of his '98 SR...the radiant heat was very strong. I walked over to my truck, and did the same test...and it wasn't nearly as hot. There just wasn't as much heat collecting in the engine bay. It was a lot cooler under the hood.

We are both in stock-engine Monteros, his was on 31's and mine on 33's...on the same trail, at the same time. Trans fluid was at about the same level and cleanliness on both trucks, and they have the same radiators, fans, oil and trans coolers. So all I can think is that the hood vent and hinge-prop mods kept everything, including the transmission, measurably cooler. If you don't mind hacking your rigs, I highly recommend it. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />