While you may think that the hood is the most unpalatable part of your jeep Cherokee, you will find that there is a wide range of customization options available in the market to help you improve your Cherokee’s performance as well as its aesthetic.
Sometimes bullish and sometimes chic, these heat-reduction hood vents can let you transform any plain Cherokee into a beast!
So if you want the RPMs to climb faster than they ever did, it is time to learn how to install hood vents on the jeep Cherokee.
How do Hood Vents Work on Jeep Cherokee?
Most people think that hood vents don’t make a major difference ever, whether installed or not, on the Jeep.
However, if your vehicle sustains a high load condition frequently and stutters at low speeds (which you also know as crawling), the installation of a good vent should allow more heat dissipation.
Also, venting hoods are more than punching holes in them. If you want a good amount of cooling when driving on the highway, hood vents create a vacuum from where the engine air is pulled out. However, be sure that you do not have any coolant leaks if you want to reap the fullest benefit of the vents, because it may cause the coolant to flow up and out of the vent.
This is something you don’t want as it may splatter your windshield and hinder your view.
So in terms of cooling and taking out the air, do vents work? Always. But with a leak? No, then you have to fix the leak first to let the vent work.
Where to Put Vents on a Jeep Cherokee Hood?
You should vent the hoods in a neutral place. Otherwise, you can place them in an area of high pressure. You will also hear that you need to place them in a place of vacuum, which can let the air break over the hood.
So what makes the best location?
The back of the windshield is good enough. This is why you will see most muscle cars drawing air for their carbureted engine right there. With the high pressure that you get towards the posterior of your windshield, you can get enough pressure difference that will allow you to have a cold airflow into the engine bay and warm air out of the compartment. This allows more air when they speed up and extra ponies.
In other types of cars, you may see the vents located in front of the windshield for proper highway cooling.
However, if your Jeep tends to get hot when you are offroading at lower speeds, you may face vapor problems. To avoid this, you can place your vents directly over the fuel injectors, or at least one of them over the injectors.
How Much Does it Cost to Install a Hood Vent On the Jeep Cherokee?
The typical range of costs that need to cover for the installation of the hood vent will be between $400 – $1,500 depending on how much of it you do yourself, the need for fixes in leaks, professional costs, and similar.
How to Install Hood Vents on Jeep Cherokee?
To complete the installation, you will need tree fastener removal tool, 9mm socket, hobby knife, blanket, painter’s tape, center punch, 1/16” drill bit, 3/16” drill bit, hand file, proactive gears, marker, scissors, Phillips head screws,
In the 15 steps below, you will get to know how to install the hood vents on Jeep Cherokee so that you can take the full cooling benefit of them:
1. First, you need to raise the hood and remove the hood insulation blanket present in the compartment by removing the Christmas tree fasteners. For neat removal, you can use the tree fastener removal tool.
2. Now, you will remove the Footman by using a 9mm socket. If needed, you can also remove the windshield bumpers.
3. After that, place the hood template on a flat surface. Get yourself a hobby knife or if you don’t have that, a razor blade, and use it to cut out the shaded circular regions to make the ‘Footman Holes’.
4. Lift the hood and then place a blanket or something that can act as ar protective barrier over the engine bay, the fenders, and the windshield. Now, you will need to gently lower the hood.
5. Next, you will place the template on the hood and align the footman holes you just created in step 3 with the corresponding holes on your Jeep hood.
6. This is where you will reinstall the Footman (and the optional removal of bumpers if you had done it in step 3. This will positively locate the template on the hood.
7. Now, you will carefully inspect the placement of the template to ensure that they are properly aligned. Using painter’s tape along the edges of the hood template, secure the template in its place.
8. In this step, use a center punch and mark the centers of the mounting fastener holes. There should be a total of 8 centers to marks; with 4 centers on each side. Here, you must make sure that you are using the right markings of the template concerned with your vehicle model or year.
9. Now, it’s time to use a 1/16” drill bit. With the machine, drill pilot holes at the 8 center punched locations you created in Step 7 for the Hood Vents fastener holes.
10. Next, use another 3/16” drill bit in order to enlarge the 8 holes for the fasteners. When you are drilling holes in the hood, make sure that you have supported the underside of the hood to prevent metal deformation or damage.
Side Note- Steps 8,9, and 10 can be completed differently by using a center punch to mark all 4 locations on each side of the hood where you will be cutting the vent holes under the Hood Vents.
For this, you can drill 1/16” pilot holes at the 8 locations that you just marked for the vent cutouts. And after that, you can use a 1-inch sheet metal saw to enlarge the holes.
11. After the drilling and enlarging of holes, you can remove the hood template and the painter’s tape. If you need, you can use a hand file/ a deburring tool to remove the sharp edges that have been created in the drilling and cutting so far.
You can also use necessary touch-up paints if you want to cover exposed metal from these cutting and drilling actions. But remember to let the touch-up dry before you proceed.
12. Do not re-install the Christmas tree fasteners as of yet. Instead, use a marker that can help you to trace the hole cutouts onto the hood insulation blanket of Step 4. Use a scissor or a razor blade in order to cut the corresponding holes into the hood insulation blanket.
13. Now, place the inserts of the Hood Vent onto the hood surface. You should align this with the mounting fastener holes. From the underside of the hood, insert Phillips head screws through the holes created and fasten Hood Vents in place.
14. Next, you can re-install the Footman and the windshield bumpers.
15. Finally, you will need to replace the hood insulation blanket and the Christmas tree fasteners. You can raise the hood to remove the blanket carefully without spilling any debris into the engine bay. Close the hood, and step back because you are done!
Can you Drive a Jeep Cherokee with Hood Vents in the Rain?
Driving a Cherokee with hood vents depends on how heavily the rain is pouring. Say, for example, it is a heavy pour and you will be stuck in the rain for hours, then you should use duct tape to cover up the vent.
Otherwise, if the rain is not heavy and it is just a drizzle, the heat coming out from the engine will be enough to evaporate the rain by the time the water touches the vent!
Final Words
In a muscle car like the Cherokee, the hood is not just a hood; but a performance improver, only if you can install the vent right!
Here, you have learned how to install hood vents on the Jeep Cherokee to improve the internal performance of the car through the newly installed vent system. Hope it helps!
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