Has anyone opened up the partition between the engine compartment and the passenger side cowl vent? It seems that a small spoiler at the leading edge of the vent would create a negative pressure area. This along with the air moving through the radiator and intercooler would move a lot of hot air out of the engine compartment. Secondly, why can't the side grills be made funtional and also add to under hood cooling ? Thirdly, how about a louvered vent in the passenger side of the hood ?

 

Thats a good idea. I might be concerned with alot of water getting into the engine bay, but I doubt its a big problem...

 

How about a louvered hood?


It would look retro also.


Paul

 

When moving there is positive air pressure at the base of the windshield. This is why people are opening the partition and connecting it to the airbox. I am not sure that a spoiler in front of the existing passenger side vent will achieve anything.

I think some reasearch needs to be done to establish the direction of air flow around the area. I know that vehicles with more vertical windscreens tend to have airflow at the base of the windscreen that goes down and forward contrary to intuition.

Louvers in the top of the bonnet would be better and it has already been done. There is a european company, I think, that has something like this in production. There are pics on this site or MINI2.

Someone did monitoring of the temperatures under the bonnet and found that as soon as the vehicle was moving above 25mph they dropped to within just a few degrees of ambient very quickly. I really do not think high temperatures under the bonnet are a big issue.

 

That was me.
Old but still worthwhile I hope. Designs haven't changed much.

Air flow is quite good.

I will once again bang my tired drum about opening the cowl to under hood air.

This pumps under hood heat and fumes straight into your HVAC intake which is in the cowl area. That's why I'm so **** about sealing things up. I did with the Alta and I'm working on it with the HDI.

 

What's HVAC?

 

Oops. Wasn't thinking.

Heater, Vent, Air Conditioning.

 

This is a cool thread. Don't stop now.

So, obehave, does this mean that all the worry I have been having about my K&N heating up the charge is nonsense? o should I go ahead and wrap the pipes in insulation as I have been thinking of doing?

Also, there is a small "stock" hole between the engine bay and the cowl right through the bulkhead and the lower CAI cover piece. I have seen the "how-to's" that "swiss cheese" the bulkhead with VERY large holes. Is that really necessary, in your opinion?

 

Thanks obehave for the safety lesson. No need to help any errant carbon monoxide and unnecessary heat into the "capsule of life". My oppologies to your drum! John

 

Warning: The following is the opinion of an on line tinkerer and is not in any way the thoughts or opinioin of this web site, or maybe any body else

Anything will heat soak eventually. Any insulation will only slow this down. Remeber the insulation works both ways. It will slow the penetration but once saturated it will also help keep it trapped.
either another material or that heat dispersant that has been discussed here is, IMO, a better option.

For kits like the K&N, ProMINI and others of that open design I can't see how the swiss cheese does anything.

Like I noted in the thread. The air evacuates quite quickly once in motion.


Coated headers( stock or otherwise) would probably would probably be more worthwhile. Of course that's harder and more expensive Ain't that always the way it is?

 

obehave,

When you were doing your testing did you ever attach wool tufts to the areas across the lower windscreen and cowl to check local air flow?

 

That was another test I did. Too lazy to look for the link but in a nutshell there is positve pressure in the cowl area. You really don't get much effect until 50+ MPH though.
I had Andy's magnahelic gauge and tested pressure several different locations and ways.

If I'm assuming correclt the test I dd that is closest to what I think you're looking for is this:
I had the gauge pickup right in the cowl vent screen pointing up. Pressure was minimally higher there than just setting in the cowl area. Even then you didn't see a measureable amount until 50+ MPH.

Hope that's close to what you were looking for.

 

 

Iisn't there some dude in Jersey that does killer paint jobs that cut vents in his hood?

 

Yes on "Swiss Cheese" and opening grill (I have ducted this to even aid further)

Please see gallery.

Take a close look at where air enters the HVAC system. This can be sealed off from the now open area, air in on drivers side and air out on passengers side.

 

Where and who the hood? Too radical for my tastes ,but something a "little" more subtle would work. It could be welded into the existing hood, utilizing the existing scoop hole and function to vent IC air. Note there is an optimum rate of flow through an intercooler for maximum heat transfer. This woulld involve an adjustable opening in the exit hole. John

 

http://www.autohausschaefer.de/mini-clubsport/

 

When i first got my car i was wondering about opening up the passenger side bulkhead to allow hot air to excape via that vent. What stopped me was the fact that the metal brake lines and junction box are located there. I didnt know if flooding that area with hot air would do more harm than good. Any thoughts?

Randy
M7 Tuning

 

I will try to post a photo later, but I removed the bonnet entirely, but found a way to mount the scoop (M7 Extreme) to the IC (GRS), with a custom enclosure around the IC...

I can only drive in the day (legally) as I now don't have headlights, but I'm running cooler temps, and lost a fair amount of weight!

 

Joey price, That hood may be mine you are refering to. It should be in my gallery. And as small as the opening is the heat that bellows out when the car is stopped is unreal. Originally I was going to use that hole for incoming air. But I felt to vulnerable in the rain. I ended up making a new intake that pushed the filter as close to the fire wall as possible. I plan on making a box similiar to the new webb box. I have also ran without a hood liner for almost 2 years. Plus I did body work on the hood and no issues with blistering or any other paint problems. Also the ECU has not been in its original "box" for those same 2 years and no problems.

 

Yep - that was you I was thinking of...on the 2nd page in the gallery. Nice work.

 

Just a though that crossed my mind but what about some computer cooling fans in the cowls, to further help the flow of cold air, could even put a controler on ther to shut the off after the press. diff exceeded their effectiveness. Keep the parts that should be cold just under abiment and thus increase efficientcy of CAI mods as well.

 

Nice vent in the hood and a amazing paint job. When you wash the car how do you avoid excessive water getting on the engine. I am thinking of putting louvers in my hood but am concerned about the water issues.

 

Also means you can't drive when it's raining (Jan 1st, new law need headlights on when driving with windshield washers on!), so you might as well take out the washer, the windshield wipers and motor too!

Time to take another look at your car....

Matt

 

Matt, I was drunk when I typed the above... none of it is true, except for in my head, at that moment.