> I've noticed almost all high performance racing vehicles have some cool
> thing popping out of their hood.   believe it is called a blower (not sure)
> and has something to do with cooling the engine.
Yes, a blower (supercharger) is what you typically see sticking out of the
hood of cars.  They don't have much to do with engine cooling however.
The blower is what you see residing on top of a topfuel car. Which is known
typically as a GMC 6-71 blower.  GMC as in General Motors. 6 as in 6
cylinder diesel, 71 as something else (air flow maybe) Yup, these things
come from the factory on blown diesel engines.
They come in different sizes. 4-71 (4 cylinder diesel) and a 2-?? (B&M)
The purpose of a blower is to force feed the engine air. Which in turn makes
more power.
> Just out of curiosity, how much does it cost to add one of those and do
> you need a new hood or simply slice up the one you have?
Starting costs will be $2000. Just for the blower.  If your planning on
something like a 6-71, add at least another $2000 to build up the engine
block to survive.
There are also Centrifigal blowers, which can be bolted onto the engine like
an accessory and feed the carb through a long hose. (Paxton markets these
kind, you'll find their ads in most any performance mag, car, truck, RV)
Many times the centrifigal blowers do not require additional engine work
*IF* the engine is in top condition.
If your interested in supercharging, theres an SA Design book, "Street
Supercharging" that you can pickup or order at your local speed shop.
And yes, you can slice up the hood you have. With a centrifigal blower, you
do not need to make any hood modifications.
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