Auto Racing: Ram air/Heat exchange hood, ram air hoods, custom ram air

Question
Hello, Not sure if you can help or not but here it is. Im working on a custom ram air hood for my supercharged frontier, I have the ram air part figured out and the under side of the hood is done. What I need some input on with is the heat exchange part. It wont be hard to do and figure out how but what I would like to know is it worth it. I know I will hear the moter more but how much I dont know, Keeping the water from going ontop of the moter when i stop is not to hard to figure out I think. But If you have any idea for that Im all ears. Guess what I would like to know is what someone else who may know something about this thinks. Should I worry about it or just close off the back of the scoop and have it work just as a ram air only? Thanks for your time.

Answer
Brian-

  Honestly, I've never really seen much of a point in heat exchanger hoods.  Ram air hoods are questionable enough.  It's fairly widely accepted that they only increase power at speeds above 80mph or so.  That might change with a supercharger, though...especially if you've got other airflow modifications.  Unless you're really having trouble with engine heat, I'd say just stop at the ram air.  I mean the truck was designed to run at normal operating temperature without a heat extracting hood, right?  And adding the heat exchanger part to the hood just means there are more chances for dirt and water to get into your engine bay (not a huge concern, but no one like a dirty engine).  Ultimately it's your call...this is just my 2 cents.  I'll just say that if it were money spending the time and money custom fabricating a hood, I wouldn't bother with the heat exchanger portion of it.  Hope this helps.

Steve