hoodscoop-cosmetic or functional?

[duckncover182]

other than looking really sick, does the hoodscoop on a 2.5 gt serve a purpose? im sure its not there just for looks but where the air flows in doesnt match up to where the intake is. there is also a lot of plastic under the hood and very constricted vents and it doesnt seem to me that this scoop is living up to its full potential. should i gut it so more air flows in? or is it good as is?

[95legacy]

I put on the GT hood and scoop onto my L and I never bought all the ducting and pieces that close off the scoop. I have zero problems with it wide open and I can't see it being bad at all. So if it can't hurt why not, it can only do good and get more cool air flowing to the engine.
Peace,
Kyle

[ivwarrior]

On a turbo Subaru, the hood scoop is functional, pushing cool air over the intercooler.

On a non-turbo, it's capped off and simply cosmetic.

[Wiscon_Mark]

On a non-turbo, it's capped off and simply cosmetic.

correct...however :twisted:

you could make it a ram air intake, if you wanted.

Most think subaru put these on "just because they wanted a sporty look". Same with the later GC imprezas (even the non-2.5RS). However, most subarus in Japan are turbos...so they have to have the intercooler opening. Think about how much cheaper it is to make all the hoods the same...well, it was easier for them to make the GTs (some of which were probably made in Japan at that time) with the hood scoop because they already had the design...plus they could attract a new buying group.

[Huffer]

Mine's functional.


It makes all the Mustang owners wonder what's under the hood of my unrecognisable car. :lol:

[duckncover182]

i will probably take all the vents out of the scoop to make it functional then. so then if i decide to get a ram air intake, it will already be ready to hook up. if theres no harm in removing that, then why not, then i can at least say it works, unlike my friend in his 01 mustang.

[Wiscon_Mark]

Mine's functional.


It makes all the Mustang owners wonder what's under the hood of my unrecognisable car. :lol:

best post ever! :lol:

duckncover- it would be hard to fab up the proper materials. You'd want to keep that intake sealed so water didn't get into the engine bay (electrical problems are possible) but don't worry about a little moisture in the intake, it actually improves combustion a little (many people have alcohol/distilled water injection systems on their WRXs).

[duckncover182]

i pulled out the metal duct that was restricting the airflow and it took about 5 mins all together. it rains a lot where i live so well see how this works out but the driving i have done so far is fine.

[dropdfocus]

i pulled out the metal duct that was restricting the airflow and it took about 5 mins all together. it rains a lot where i live so well see how this works out but the driving i have done so far is fine.
Ditto, I've removed mine & all it does is just leave water stains on the back of the intake tube.
I plan on fabing up an air track which will feed up to the intake & ABS dist. box (which can become very warm with heavy/frequent braking).

[Pwise2326]

Unfortunately for the USDM BD/BG legacy's its cosmetic, subaru didn't return the hoodscoop to the Legacy's until the new 2005's where it is functional for the Top-mounted intercooler (TMIC). The turbo Baja's (basically half a legacy) has the same hood as the BE/BH's but has the hoodscoop for functional reasons (the turbo baja's TMIC). On the GC's the scoop came for cosmetic reasons, but were just the JDM GC8 WRX hoods plugged off for the USDM models due to no turbos/no TMIC.

I had the backing plate for the scoop removed for a period of one week, in which it rained heavily for 3 days and I left my car sitting in a parking lot while at school for the last 2 of them. One thing to add is I never got my fuel line recall taken care of (to eliminate the smell of gas during cold morning start-ups by replacing a section of fuel line with a longer piece, the TSB should be posted here somewhere). My car started very rough, and ended up stalling out due to water seepage into the fuel system, but a bottle of dry gas and a near-heart attack later, my car was running fine again. As long as you coat up your electrical connections with a good layer of dielectric grease (the red stuff found at most auto stores), you shouldn't have a problem with water intrusion.

As far as the ram air goes, probably not a good idea. Plus there isn't enough room to set it up, without the restriction of the intake tubing and the breather hoses hooked up your engine won't run for long anyways. One nice thing about having it opened, on the BD/BG GT models subaru adds the intake plenum box, or the big black box that's attached to the throttle body. This box stores up a big charge of air so if you crank open the throttle you've got a full supply of air right there to feed your cylinders, instead of the extra seconds it'd take to suck the same amount all the way up the intake tubing through the filter. With the scoop opened, it flows cold air right onto this box, cooling the air inside the box giving you a nice COLD charge of air sitting anxiously just waiting for you to kick open that TB.

One thing to consider to get the best of both worlds -- cold air flowing in the engine bay and water protection -- is to leave the metal plate on, but cut some larger openings into the back of it. This will let more in but keep the original water drains that were designed into the plate. You can also tac in a piece of wire mesh to keep leaves and debris out of your engine bay to keep it a little cleaner as well.

Ultimately, the bottom line is for N/A legacys (which all stock BD's and BG's are), the scoop can only be used to drop some high engine temps, and freak you out when water drips on the engine block and steam comes pouring out of it, making you think something is really really wrong!

[dropdfocus]

Thank you Mr. Wizard... :-D :lol:

[Wiscon_Mark]

I've had a very long setup (when I was experimenting with ram air) all the way around to the grille, and I never had any problems with stalling out. Just reset the ECU. If and when I get a hood with a hoodscoop, I plan on doing ram-air, just to tinker :)

[dropdfocus]

I've thought about a snorkle tube coming from an opening in the front bumper feeding up to the bottom of the fatory air box w/ a K&N panel filter installed. Just a thought...

[Wiscon_Mark]

I've thought about a snorkle tube coming from an opening in the front bumper feeding up to the bottom of the fatory air box w/ a K&N panel filter installed. Just a thought...

you'd be able to do it, you have the second version bumper in the 2nd generation Legacy. My bumper didn't have enough clearance to put any sizable tubing through :?

[dropdfocus]

I'm likely going to ditch the Injen shorty intake for that setup some time soon. I just have to collect all the parts to make it work. (had it all once, but I cleaned out my garage and it all went bye bye)

[ivwarrior]

Ok, this came up in another forum, and I thought I'd share it here. Anyone give any thought to mounting a tranny cooler under the hoodscoop? It'd give functionality to the scoop, if there's room to squeeze a cooler in there.

[Reason]

Ok, this came up in another forum, and I thought I'd share it here. Anyone give any thought to mounting a tranny cooler under the hoodscoop? It'd give functionality to the scoop, if there's room to squeeze a cooler in there.

That sounds like a good idea. I just open mine up last month. Everytime it rains hard or when I wash my car and get alot of water in the scoop my CEL goes on, and the car ir very sluggish. I had it read and everytime its the knock sensor.

[dropdfocus]

Never had a problem & mine has been off for almost a year now. No CEL to speak of w/ rain or car washing.

[PetterFan]

Never had a problem & mine has been off for almost a year now. No CEL to speak of w/ rain or car washing.

No problem with mine either (had it off for about 8 months) , and I wash my car quite often.

[Huffer]

Tranny cooler will actually get more air mounted lower in the bumper...

[Wiscon_Mark]

Tranny cooler will actually get more air mounted lower in the bumper...

Well yeah, its like FMIC vs. TMIC ;)

[Huffer]

TBH, I'd rather have a water/air cooler than an air/air cooler. At least I could add stuff to the water to make to transfer heat better!

[scottzg]

TBH, I'd rather have a water/air cooler than an air/air cooler. At least I could add stuff to the water to make to transfer heat better!

like ice cubes!

[Wiscon_Mark]

TBH, I'd rather have a water/air cooler than an air/air cooler. At least I could add stuff to the water to make to transfer heat better!

like ice cubes!

That'll last :lol:

[Reason]

dry ice??....somehow

[Wiscon_Mark]

NOS!!!

[ivwarrior]

TBH, I'd rather have a water/air cooler than an air/air cooler. At least I could add stuff to the water to make to transfer heat better!

True, but you can also add a NOS (or more cheaply and about as effective CO2) fogger onto the air/air intercooler to make it cool more effectively, as well.

[Huffer]

^^ but all that requires extra hardware, and systems to either temp-activate, or refilling. The beauty of the water/air IC is that it works at any temp, providing consistent temps (unless the water boils!), and water is cheaper than NOS or CO2.

Plus, Subaru used water/air coolers on the early GT legacies (pre-BD gen).

I know some folks back home in NZ that have converted v5/6 STi's to use water/air ICs, they run consistent 12s in their daily driven machines. Even during summer!