American Expedition Vehicles (AEV) Heat Reduction Hood

Upgrading to the American Expedition Vehicles (AEV) Heat Reduction Hood was equal parts simple decision to equal parts difficult decision. I’m very analytical, which is also an equal parts positive personal quality to equal parts negative personal quality.

50% Difficult: First, the JKU Recon edition comes with the non-vented, vented looking hood. Also the “Rubicon” stickers are unique for the Recon as it’s a different style and has the parts of the Jeep build on it, i.e. Dana 44 axles, 4:10 gear ratio, and many more. The AEV Hood and the length between the cowl and the hood vents would not allow the Recon “Rubicon” decal to fit. Even the 10^th Anniversary Rubicon edition sticker would not fit. You can only use the standard “Rubicon” sticker from MOPAR. I did talk with a local final shop and they would not be able to recreate or shrink the “Recon Rubicon” sticker. This little detail really bothered me.

Second, was the consideration of cost, and what to do with the old hood. This hood is expensive and I needed to get it painted. I was posting on social media about the “Rubicon” stickers and a viewer reached out to me with interest in buying my hood. That solidified the decision that I was going to move forward with this modification. Shipping it turned out to be extremely stressful and the sale almost fell through. But, alas, after some doubtful moments, the deal happened!

50% Simple: It looks cool!

I knew that I was going to get the AEV Snorkel in the future and cutting the hood was something that I would need to do with the stock hood. The AEV hood already has vents the same size for the snorkel.

Buying the hood – easy – just go to OK4WD website, put the hood in the shopping cart, put in your friend’s credit card info and BOOM in 5 days you have a hood at the door. Not my door… I had it shipped to VanDevere Body Shop, here in Akron. Dee and the guys at VanDevere Body Shop did all the work from there. New hood out of the box, sand, prime, paint, clear coat, remove old hood, new hood on the Jeep, old hood back in the box, and Aloha! I shipped it to its new owner in Hawaii.

Dee did an outstanding job on making the new hood align with the Jeep.

Overall, I am quite pleased with the hood. It was expensive, but I do notice that the radiator fan doesn’t run as often as the heat is venting out. When the Jeep is idling, you do see a lot of heat escaping the center vent, so you know its doing its job! Coolant temperatures are the same as the stock hood, and I have not noticed any change in MPG (better or worse). I was expecting a drop in MPG because the engine might be working more efficiently, but I haven’t noticed that.