After the vent holes were cut it was time to make the flaps... The flap top will be made from aluminum 1/8th inch thick 5052 grade sheet... I cut them a touch longer so the back edge will rest on the scoop opening creating a positive stop when closing...

Now, to be clear I want these to open and close just like my 70 Chevelle SS air door did....

 

So the air flaps will need a hinge point and some type of actuating mechanism... Here we go again with the snow ball effect... A bunch needs to happen to make this work together... But I'll post it one step at a time to show how it works.. I went through my aluminum scrap pieces and came up with some cut ends that worked great for the flap rear grille.. And the sides were again made from 1/8th inch 5052 grade sheet... So after breaking out the aluminum spool gun I welded up the flaps...

Here's a better view of the grille area.. These are in the "as welded" stage of the fabrication and will get cleaned up for the final fitting... Not to bad huh ???

 

In order for the flaps to rotate in unison I need a common hinge point...Basically something like a long rod to pass through the hinge points...But I want this mechanism to have the ability to be completely removable/replaceable for future endeavors..Not to mention that the flaps need to be adjusted/centered in their openings...That's where the fun lies...After much investigation I settled on something that fits the bill and began modifying the bottom of the scoop for the flaps' hinge framework...
Again, I made the brackets from the same material as the flaps and used self tapping screws{tips were ground off making them flush} to hold them in place with the 3M panel bonding adhesive being sandwiched between the scoop, brackets and fasteners... A coating of adhesive around the assembly pretty much welded everything together... I hope I never have to take these off...lol...PS: I carefully machined for the brass bushings through the hinge point holes..

 

Continuing with the snow ball effect I now need the final scoop height to set the flaps... Remember the XJs center valley will continue onto the scoop.. As seen in the previous pic I have the layout for that to happen...What I did was to build up masking tape to the height of what the valley needs to be... Then I used a layer of fiberglass over the whole top of the scoop...That in turn created the center valley in the scoop...Simply peel up the tape and do some final sanding to make the same edge profile as the hood... Here's the scoop on the hood getting the final fittings to make everything line up...What do you think ???

It lines up perfectly with the hood's valley...

 

The scoop pics are an optical illusion.. The center valley is tapered quite a bit but it looks straight in the pics.. Anyhow after the initial fitting I added a drop to the center section to tie the two valleys in better...

I'll throw a pic in from the backside fitting to show more detail...

 

Here's a shot of the air doors in place and fitted... They fit nicely and the whole scoop is ready for breakdown and some paint ...

I ended up with a very nice fit and finish.. the air doors are flush with the top perfectly.. Mission accomplished on this one...

Here's the last few shots with the air doors open before the breakdown.. Time for some epoxy and 2K for the perfect scoop...

 

are you gonna hook them to an actuator for a 70's mopar airgrabber type thing?

 

There's a few different ways to get it done.. The airgrabber actuators were vacuum, as were the chevelle's cowl flapper arraignment... I remember with a radical cam the chevelle's door would flutter at idle from low vacuum... I want to stay away from any vacuum actuated set-up and use either a pull cable or a new style electric actuator.. The 70-71 Cuda's shaker hood set-up uses a pull cable to open the air doors in the shaker.. Something like that would be simple and easy...The Cuda piece isn't long enough to make it through the dash and out there above the hood.. I'd need to measure it but IIRC it's only 30 some inches long..{I've got an old one in my parts stash}..

 

The flap hinge points are simple... I squared off the flap's holes and used carriage bolts coming from the inside of the flaps ...A serrated star washer and a nut holds the flap bolts tight.. The bolt passes through the brass bushings and are double nutted to lock them in with just the right amount of spacing for ease of operation..This makes them totally adjustable in the future...A hex union joins the two center bolts together and gets locked down so the flaps move in unison... The lever brackets clear all components{including the hood} and rotate nicely... This is the simplest arrangement I came up with and still be 100% disassembled ... I could have taked the easy way out and just tacked the components with spot welds but it's a done deal going that route..

 

I came across a locking cable I had and initially wanted to use it for the flaps...And that would have been the easy way out......But as usual I didn't want a cable that would have ended up down by the hood release cable.. It's too far down there to be grabbing every time I want to open the flaps.. So I upgraded the whole system to an electric in-line actuator and momentary switch... Now the switch is going to be on the dash and will be seen by anyone who looks in there.. And most importantly it's very easy to access...And more user friendly you can hit the switch and rotate the flaps into any position as you watch them...And then smoothly lower them back to the closed position where the motor stops automatically... I won't bore anyone with the mechanical specs/ details but if anyone ends up doing something similar just PM me and I'll help.. Here's the system...It'll all end up getting painted for more moisture protection ...

 

And of course I had to test fit the whole scoop on the hood and run it through the range of motion... It works perfectly.. The actuators rate of opening is about 5MM per second.. That equates into about 2-3 seconds of movement into the open position with a 42LB force rate {at .4 amps} so it definitely has enough torque and time to get them into position... So that's it for the coverage of the scoop, hope everyone enjoyed it..I sure enjoyed making it... I'll show the dash switch yet in the future but I'm done with the scoop itself ...

 

Clever. Now you just need it to automatically open/close based on temperature.

 

That would be a great idea...And still keep the switch as a manual override.. I might need to do that after I get the paint done ..

 

The paint prep work is winding down... One of the items on the list are the super rock rails from AJ''s Offroad... These need to be fitted and the frame/pinchwelds get some holes...Man, are these things heavy !! The'll offer some serious protection.. I put them on the 6 ton jack with a piece of wood to balance them out and took them up into place... I had to massage the pinchweld to get that perfect fit... I used a straight edge to get the job done .. The self tapping frame bolts are a process and once tightened down they should be more than enough to keep the brackets in place...The rear frame mounts have the 90* turn to catch the rear spring's front hanger and it's very solid once done...Overall I'm very pleased with the fit so now they get a date with the sandblaster and off to the powdercoater...Now I can finish up the pinchweld areas with all the holes in place...

 

As I'm building this XJ, the search for NOS parts is ongoing... One headlight surround had the screw hole stop blown out from overtightening when I got it... I found an NOS piece still in the box to replace it...I'm just not confident that an aftermarket part will hold up at this position in the long run... I have visions of a cheap plastic part warping or breaking just like the original part.. And I want to paint this stuff once and done...
Anyhow another part I found made it's way to me this week... It's the console insert for XJs with heated seats{as you remember I installed heated seat switches in the ashtray}... This one's a tough one to find at all let alone NOS in the box !! And I paid way too much for it...LOL...This will make a great addition to the interior.. I like the way it fills in the cup hole..



Here's a borrowed pic to show the insert in it's place...