TOTL Innovations JK heat expulsion hood review
Ok my father and I are building our jku's together, and we wanted an item to set ours apart from the majority and tie our two together. Since we both wanted weight saving and a hood that reduced heat build up for future superchargers. I stumbled across the heat expulsion hood when it first made it's appearance on jk-forum. After several phone calls with the owner of TOTL Innovations, all my questions were answered and the customer service was excellent. Dad and I each ordered one for our rigs. They are fiberglass and are lighter than stock by 25lbs. The 6 vents on top that sit over a dry channel to keep the engine bay dry( though a stock jk has the under hood listed as a wet compartment, aftermarket intakes or sc units could be worrisome). The dry channels work great. On the rear of the hood you get another air outlet on each side for pulling heat off the block while at speeds in excess of 35mph, where the top vents focus on low speed ventilation. Both hoods arrived via truck freight packaged very well. The fiberglass is produced by a high end RV company, and was smooth and gel-coated. I found this to be important because of our rural location, there are few body shops that will even attempt to paint a fiberglass hood, let alone do much in the way of prep-work. If there is a downside to this hood that would be it, but only because of my location. Both were painted and installed without issue. The hood isn't drilled for the stock washer fluid nozzles. So I sat mine(2012 so single nozzle) over the mesh in the cowl, and ran the hose under to the mesh so it would hold in place. It only loosened up one tine when it got hung on the tip of a pine tree branch. My Dad's being a 2013 has two nozzles, and he elected to have the body shop that did the painting run the lines to the corresponding wiper blade, witch also works well. Both have been installed for about ten months without issue. Dad's is two-tone (commando green and flat black) and he has a ripp sc unit installed, also we used locking rampage hood locks over stock. His jku is stored outdoors and daily driven here in Virginia where we apparently are supposed to experience every season at least once a week. My hood is solid black forrest green pearl coat. My jku is garage kept and only used for off- road fun and work. No issues with my hood either. I will post pics of each installed hood when my laptop decides to work again. Pics of both are on the manufacturers site per his request as he was just starting up the site. I'm no expert, this is just my honest unsolicited opinion on a product. Any questions about the hoods I will answer best I can. If you want a functional hood that doesn't look like everybody else's this could be for you.
