Fiberglass hood mods... crazy?
I guess I am not quite sure what it is that your looking for here?.
You came to the thread asking questions and looking for answers and you brought an idea to the table and it seems that everyone that has given you ideas or given you an opinion on your idea......you have turned them down and argued on there points.
I am not being rude or anything here,don't get me wrong....just an observation.
if your looking to keep the car looking "bone stock" as you say......I guess I don't get what the difference is rather you have a cowl hood or you cut big ugly holes in the hood and put hinges on them...either way its not going to look stock and one of the 2 ways will not look good.
Sorry, I am just trying to be honest here...I don't see the point in cutting a perfectly good hood and even more so when your results from doing so will most likely not be that great.
I think out of anything, i would make a belly pan for the car.
That would drop any engine bay pressure significantly and maintain the stock look of the car.
And you could also cut a trap door in the belly pan for easy access to changing oil filter and what not ....you could even use piano hinges on the trap door if you like since it sounds like you really just want to put piano hinges on your car lol!!!!! ...J/K.
I personally would put a belly pan on the car and I would run ducting under the car and plum in into your air inlet for forced air....I did not realise your induction set up until seeing the pictures and I think you could REALLY benifit from the forced air ducting instead of moving in still warm engine bay air.
Just some thoughts and again...I am not picking on you or being rude here, just my .02 cents on the hole thing.