Run hoodless or fab up a new hood?

I'm wondering what everyone thinks of having a hood versus not having one. The 98 LT1000 I got is missing the grill/headlight assembly and the hood it's self is really thrashed. It's my understanding that the hood is necessary for cooling.

My options are to run hoodless, try to rig up the one I have, find another one, or fab one. I'm considering a steel drum cut down.

Also, how hard would it be to rig up a hood from something else to work on it?

i honestly dont see how not having a hood would cause over heating as id think is get more air. i look hood just for looks and to keep the engine from getting to muddy. I hade a 90 murray with a 84 grill but i decided to stop on that tractor. Wouldnt take much to make another hood work maybe some mounting tabs and welder or bolts . And how would you cut the drum? like the bottem as a grill and uncut side as a hood?

gearheadmike wrote:

i honestly dont see how not having a hood would cause over heating as id think is get more air. i look hood just for looks and to keep the engine from getting to muddy. I hade a 90 murray with a 84 grill but i decided to stop on that tractor. Wouldnt take much to make another hood work maybe some mounting tabs and welder or bolts . And how would you cut the drum? like the bottem as a grill and uncut side as a hood?

Lay the drum on it's side and cut it down the length. Yeah, the bottom would be the "grill" area. It'd be about 10 minutes worth of work with an angle grinder.

I saw a guy build a crawler tractor (tracked) using a ford I6 motor, and then used a drum cut down as a hood. That's where I got the idea.

ok i thought so i think a guy did that near me tho he was building his to look like a old train lol. if you got the stuff i say go for it it be different and least then you could mount lights if you wanted to.

gearheadmike wrote:

ok i thought so i think a guy did that near me tho he was building his to look like a old train lol. if you got the stuff i say go for it it be different and least then you could mount lights if you wanted to.

I can get a food grade drum for $5 locally. That's one of the reason I'm considering it.

Running without a hood won't raise the operating temp of the engine. What will affect the temp is running without all the tins on the engine.

souldn`t bother it any because my tractor has no hood and it has never over heated

The hood has nothing to do with engine temp. You may be confused with removing the flywheel shroud. If you remove the flywheel cover/shroud it will cause over heating, and may end in seized internals.