Hi everyone,

I live in an area with lots of construction, which will probably continue for several years. This means lots of dirt, gravel, chunks of asphalt, etc. I'm looking at a chrome cover for my hood scoop that includes some aluminum mesh inside the scoop to keep debris out. Would this be a good idea, or would it restrict airflow too much? My engine is stock, but I was thinking of combining the mesh with an Alta diverter in the hopes that they would cancel each other out and prevent harm to the engine. You know, Alta increases airflow efficiency and mesh slightly decreases, so we're back to stock levels. What do you think? Keep in mind that both highways that I drive will have several construction sites along their length, so there will be lots of debris out there. (I'm already considering the 3M shield to protect my paint.)

 

Air flow restriction will not be an issue. Save your money and just buy some stainless steel gutter mesh from Home Depot. You just trim it with tin snips and install it. Looks good and costs less that $3 bucks and a half hour of time.

Check this link for an excellent how-to

http://www.tech-esq.com/MINI/how_to_...oop_grille.htm

Sean

 

Thanks for the tip! I think I'm going to try it. A new intercooler sounds pricey and I don't know if it would be covered under warranty, or decide to give up the ghost the day after my warranty expires. A screen seems like cheap insurance, as long as it doesn't harm anything. Now if the mesh does restrict airflow, I'll notice the water temperature running hotter than usual, right?

 

I have no idea how sesitive your water temp guage is...That said I would think you would at least have to cut airflow from the Scoop nearly in half before you would see a sizeable difference in your water temp. Maybe someone else could chime in on this.

If I had to guestimate data on how much the grill would decrease airflow, I would say somewhere in the neighborhood of 2% or less.

 

Water temp is not an indicator of air temp. Checking the intercooler efficiency with a pair of inexpensive temp probes would show whether the mesh causes problems or not.

 

I'm not very mechanically-oriented. How do I do that?

 

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=23248

 

I've had this on my car in the Las Vegas heat for close to 2 years now and haven't noticed any airflow issues. From memory, the water temp gauge on the dash is "averaged" somehow so that it's not bouncing around as you start and stop moving. Mid-summer, at a red stop light, I've never seen my MINI's temp gauge go above the mid-point.
Here's my scoop grille.

 

I'd like to thank all of you for your input. That was really helpful. I've decided to do the mesh conversion. Now I just have to wait for the car to get here!