Thanks Steve and Big Daddy. There should actually be a "Best Mod Of The Month". That is a pretty good idea.

 

Given that the stripes go over the grill and the hood scoop, shouldn't they go over the new heat exit vents? Just a thought given how much trouble you've obviously gone to. These are very well executed vents, indeed! Congrats.

cheers

 

Thanks DrPhil. I think I might try to vinyl the part of the vent that is on the stripe, to see how it looks.
The scoop is all paint, to match the stripes. The guys in the body shop at work did an awesome job on it.

 

I think these vents and Msfitoy's are both really cool looking and likely to yield good results.

I was looking under the bonnet today and noticed what I think might be an opportunity to create a "stealth" vent that might yield some heat-reduction results. Here is the idea:
Location: center of the rear edge of the bonnet
Method:
First, cut away the portion of the hood edge that is vertical, and which is located between the left and right enclosed sections that lie under the cowl when the hood is closed and then cut away the corresponding section of the rubber weather strip that is sandwiched between the bonnet edge and the cowl there.

I think this would help to reduce under-hood temps somewhat because there is (everyone seems to say) negative pressure up close to the windshield to help draw hot air out when the car's moving, and this part of the hood is about the highest point of the bonnet so that it is where warmer air should travel even when the car is standing still.

I looked for things that might suffer from potential "exposure" under this part of the hood and could not see anything that I thought would be problematic. But I could be wrong.

Any thoughts, feedback, things to be concerned about that I have overlooked in this probably too-quick analysis?

Thanks for the thoughts.

 

looks very good! Then it hits me ! Bahamabart and Partsman, isn't the hot air comming out of the driverside vent going right back into the CAI via cowl grill? Sid is OK:AGS.

 

Thanks and I still need to call you

 

Yes you do!

 

At speed, the air coming through the front upper and lower grilles is exiting out the back near the header, the MINI has a pretty good down draft effect. I don't think it is blowing up through the vents. I installed mine to let the hot air escape when sitting at a light, in traffic, and after shut down.
Have you ever felt the hot air coming out of the bonnet scoop after you shut your car off? It's the same thing when it's running(and generating more heat), the hot air has no where to go.

 

That sounds pretty good.
I'm not sure where you will cut. The hood? or the body?

 

That is exactly why I came up with the Hot air extractor, I don,t know how to link it but you can get an idea on my galery or search for it under hot air extractor. As you said it is amasing how hot the air can get out of the engine bay at idle or even after shutting the car off

 

That will greatly reduce the structural integrity of the back of the hood.

 

so where's all the air from the radiator going? some over;some under; all or most ending under ?

 

You raise a good point.

What if one drilled (cut?) large holes in that area (of the vertical part) instead of simply cutting all the material away?

Or what about removing half the edge across that portion instead of all of the edge?

How much material might be removed without going "too far"? I don't know.

Need a structural engineer type to recommend what size holes or whether some other addition to the structure that would not block the exit of the heated air but might provide additional strength?

 

I don't see it as part of the equation -

1) the CAI is deriving most of its air from the airduct feed. The cowl area comes into play only at low speeds. The rear cowel opeing is only intended to eliminate any "straw effect" when starting our or launching the car from a low speed.


2) I did some vent tests that showed that air was noticed exiting the vent starting at speeds from 30 miles an hour and up. Bear in mind that I have primitive ways of testing but thats what it told me.

 

Just do it...it's only a tiny hole...

 

There is a good amount of air entering the front intake duct, because my Samco airbox to throttle body hose is dirty on the front side. I have the lower airbox hole plugged in anticipation of some kind of ram air setup I am working on. However, I may hook all that back up(with a custom tube)and fabricate an extension for the front duct that will will grab air from right behind the grille.

Then maybe I should install some wash/rain water baffles under the vents. The hot air will still escape while sitting still, but the baffle will direct underhood air to exit in normal fashion.

I wish I had a wind tunnel.

 

The initial idea was to cut the hood.

There is a trough at the front edge of the cowl, which I think would minimize water entering the cavity.

I think the biggest potential problem, as has already been pointed out, might be the structural integrity of the hood. However, I think there might be a couple of potential ways around that. But I'm no structural engineer.

The other problem is that it might not do much of anything to reduce heat -- which, of course, would be disappointing.

 

how come no one has opted to put a cowl scoop on the car yet?

I would be willing to try that soon here, once my water to air intercooler setup is all done.

if I dont go that route, i will be trying ot simulate m3 csl road car vents on the hood of my MINI.

 

Sorry, but what do you mean?

Is that a forward facing (open end forward) scoop for grabbing cold air, or a backward facing vent to let hot air escape?

 

Cowl scoop as in chevy cowl style scoop.

Rear facing.

 

The cowl hood would look pretty cool.
I don't think anyone has done it because it would require body work and paint.

 

Your going to be surprised how little water gets in. Yours (like mine) mount from the top so there is a rim thats diverts any water running down the hood around the vents. While my vents clip in, I also ran 3m tape around my vents to seal it up nice an tight more for water than holding. Only water falling directly down on the actual vent opeing will get in and thats if you are not moving.

MSFITOY has had vents the longest will have to get his input to water entry.

 

I've driven many miles in steady hard rain and water is not an issue...by the time I stop and open the bonnet, what ever water that dripped in has evaporated...

Remember this, no matter which IC you have, water is rammed into/onto the top of the block...if you have the DFIC, then you're sucking all the water entering through the IC straight into the motor bay...so why are we all worried about water?

The only time the top of my motor gets noticably wet is when I'm washing the Mini...

 

The only thing that I'm worried about is that part of the drivers side vent sits above the front of the ECU, I'd like to keep that area dry.

 

Not that its water proof - but I have the mymini enclosed CAI and the lid extends and covers the ecu.