DartSportDude
Old school A-body owner
I seen people (mostly serious racers) cut out the entire section of the hood below the scoop. It's usually done to accommodate a tall intake or air cleaner that protrudes above the top of the hood.
7demon2:
Thanks for posting the latest photos. I did not see them before posting my most recent message. A couple of observations:
- On the 71 Swinger hood, the locations for the clean air holes are accompanied by small cut outs in the hood support structure to provide extra room for the holes. This is not the case on the 72 hood where the holes are installed below the snorkel scoop. Again, that makes me wonder if the clean air holes were ever really intended for use with the snorkel scoop on the later models.
- As I mentioned in my earlier message, the scoop and stripe on my 73 Dart Sport 340 were added by a Dodge Dealer in 1976. Both the scoop and stripe kit were original, OEM Mopar products purchased from the dealer's own parts department. While the scoop/stripe were not originally installed on my car at the factory, they were a standard option for this model and year.
can you account for the clean air holes being installed on the car from the time it arrived at the original dealer? In many cases, these performance add-ons were installed at the dealership prior to sale to the customer -- but were not factory installed.
-i guess we need a definitive factory description of the "Performance Hood Package" offered on 72 and 73 Demon/Dart 340s to be sure the clean air holes were part of the package -- and not just the scoop and stripe kit.
It sounds like you've got some factory literature that might help answer these questions. Thanks again!
Well, I must say I tend to agree with Old Demon. .
The factory hood used on all these vehicles shows cutouts in the bracing for the holes in the dual scoop locations -- but there are no similar cutouts in the bracing in the snorkel scoop location. I think that is very telling.
again you added the scoop yourself.....the factory couldn't justify the liability with the chance the scoop could come off or break. you adding it is just the point i was trying to make.....As for using the snorkel scoop without fresh air holes, I can testify that it's no problem at all. As I said, my scoop was added by the dealer in 1976 without adding the holes, and it held up fine with no damage for nearly 30 years. .
I'd love for somebody to produce factory documentation (i.e., vehicle order form, broadcast sheet decoding, etc.) proving this performance feature in 72 and 73, but unfortunately, nothing has turned up.
Oh well...
72DemonNewB:Hi there i'm new at this so please bear with me if some times it takes a little longer to figure this out ( chatting on the form that is)
i just bought a 1972 demon that does not have a hood scoop and from searching the web i came across your conversations and by pure luck i guess i also was looking at a demon that looks very original but before reading all the comments i had not noticed that this original looking car does have as you say the fresh air holes in the hood.
i will try to attache the web page./www.conceptcarz.com/view/photo/124384,11749,0,0/1972-Dodge-Dart-Demon_Photo.aspx