2008 Dodge Charger RT Hemi Shaker Scoop - Fresh Air Funnel Upgrade

Because the Shaker mounts to the engine and pokes through the hood, it shouldn't take a rocket scientist to realize a hole has to be cut in said hood. As a first step, the nine plastic pins retaining the hood insulator pad have to be removed. This doesn't have to be done gently, as the kit includes new push pins to replace them. Trust us when we say that safety glasses are strongly recommended; these hard plastic factory pins become screaming projectiles when pried loose.

The windshield washer hoses are separated from the nozzles, and then the nozzles themselves are unclipped from the hood. Because the hood must come off, the washer fluid lines are completely unclipped from the hood and hood hinges.

On the bench, the centersection of the hood is taped off, and the side-to-side center-point of the hood is established, front and rear. To fit our available space-we're not able to be overly specific here-but the kit includes extremely detailed and well-illustrated instructions.

Once the paper template is properly positioned, a sharp blade is used to trace as accurately as possible the outline of the eventual hood cutout. The idea is to cut through the template, the tape beneath, as well as the paint on the hood. Scoring the paint in this fashion (with the masking tape installed) will help keep it from chipping when the hood cut is performed.

The Charger hood is made mostly of aluminum, but it's obviously still a two-man job to lift it off once unbolted from the hinges. Notice the pieces of masking tape that will facilitate reinstalling the hood in the exact same orientation (then again, not all factory hood alignment is perfect, so the hood hinge fasteners allow adjustability if necessary to correct for misaligned hood/fender gaps).

A line is drawn on the masking tape marking the longitudinal centerline of the hood. Then, a point is marked on this centerline a distance of 81/8 inches from the rear edge of the hood. Accuracy is vital, as this point is used to correctly position the kit's included template for the hood cutout-and we don't want to cut the hole in the wrong place, now do we?

The template and tape inside the cutout line are then removed. A half-inch pilot hole is then drilled through the hood. This hole is a starting point for the jigsaw that will be used to make the opening's cut. Note that the tape has been doubled around the perimeter of the eventual cutout, in the area where the foot of the jigsaw will ride.

A fine-tooth, bi-metal blade is the way to go in the jigsaw. This slices effortlessly through the outer and inner hood skins, so the hood must be elevated above your work bench. A good tip is to pry up the corners already cut (we used paint sticks), to avoid blade binding. Again, accuracy is critical in this cut, as the inner and outer hood trim panels are molded to lock around the perimeter of the cutout.

A second line is then drawn inboard of the perimeter line that was just outlined (don't worry: the instructions are explicit). This is the cut line for the inner panel and is best done with a cut-off wheel as shown. Since only the inner hood skin is being cut this time, a spackle knife or something similar can be used to protect the outer hood panel in the areas where the outer and inner skins are close together.

You can see that the inner trim panel has a profile that is stepped to follow the inner cutout. Also, its inner-most flange (where Jim's thumbs are) is referenced around the initial through-hood cutout, and sits flush with the outer skin of the hood. We're looking at a trial fit to see if either the inner or out skin cutouts need further trimming to size.

The inner hood trim-ring is then positioned through the cutout, and its perimeter is traced on the inner hood skin. The inner skin will be trimmed out larger than the through-hood opening.

The idea is to end up with an opening that looks something like this, with the inner panel cutout clearly larger than the Shaker opening itself. The reason will become more obvious in the next photo.