Well, I just got my Scoops in the mail from moss, after a couple week delay. The instalation is a breeze, just pop the old ones out and pop in the new ones.

now, before anyone says it: Yes I know by car is filthy! It's been raining for the past few days, and there's no sign of change. So I'm not going to wash my car for the like of you!

Anyways, onto the pics:

 

I like those. I wish I could just buy the driver side one. More air towards the intake is always good.

 

You know, I did put just one in and took a quick picture, I honestly didn't like how it looked. Now I have some great direct cooling to the abs , but it looks much better.

 

Those are sweet. I want to get them someday.

 

are you sure these really do any good? the base of the windshield is an area of positive pressure.

 

Those look great, got to help get a little more air too!

 

Well...I think they look good...but...

they are in an area of negative air pressure which means that they really aren't helping airflow at all.

At highway speeds, the airflow hits a fairly upright front end of the bonnet; that is a whole bunch of positive pressure! However, the airflow meets this upright surface and is deflected up a back toward the windshield in a arc. Viewed from the side, air striking the leading surface of the bonnet goes up and over the bonnet's surface and strikes the windscreen about half way up it's nearly vertical surface. Thus, most the positive air pressure is kept about 6"-10" above the bonnet. In fact, the cowl area at the base of the windscreen actually is an area of slightly negative pressure, i.e.; air is slightly pulled out of the cowl vents rather than pushed in.

It is important to note that this negative air pressure area depends on the speed you are going. The slower you go, the more the air pressure at the cowl is slightly positive (pushed in). The faster you go, the air pressure crosses into the range of negative pressure (pulled out). Unfortunatey, for performance purposes, it would be best if this effect was the exact opposite. Best to have more positive pressure during higher rpms.

Note that the factory tried to capitalize on all the positive pressure at the edge of the bonnet by putting an air intake duct under the bonnet just above the radiator toward the right of centerline. Why would they go to that trouble if they could have put a scoop on the cowl?

And, if you were to design a really functional cowl scoop, it would look like a giant snorkel sticking some 10"-12" high above the cowl to reach the positive air pressure flow. An absolutely horrid design restriction for driver visibility!

But...as I said, IMHO, I think the black, angled scoops are some of the nicest I've see, and certainly give the MINI a slightly menacing look when viewed straight on.

Nice job!

Theo

P.S. You can test the surface airflow patterns on any car by cutting some fine, brightly-colored yarn into 1.5" sections, teasing some of the fibers apart, and sticking them to the surface of the car with masking tape. Put them in strategic locations: bonnet edge, rearward from the egde in 3" spacing, at the cowl area, and up the windshield. Then try driving at various speeds and have a passenger note the direction of the yarn's flow. It's a very educational exercise! Oh...and don't forget to take the yarn off before you go to work the next day....ask me how I know!

 

yeah, I know about the negative pressure at the base of the windshield. But here's a new theory, based on no expert knowledge. Perhaps the scoops could be blocking the negative flow. I have no idea if this is true, but I doubt the scoops are hurting performance. I mainly did them for the look, and I'm happy with them.

 

Dude good answer . You must be doing something right, you have 100k on your car .

 

Is this what they'd look like if the Mini was clean?...

 

Cowl induction has been used for many years even in (dare I say it) Nascar. The low pressure zone at the windshield allows the engine to suck air from that area. If the air was racing by it, the engine would not be able to pull in the air very easily. The front has Ram air induction ( but not very much) and with the cowl induction added you get both. That said, if the scoops are tall enough you would also get Ram air there; they probably are not. The scoops probably would help more if they were turned around; effecting even less resistence. But damn do they look good! Just 2 cents.

 

Maybe this can help... http://www.vu.union.edu/~korimd/fluids/pivcfd.htm
more.. http://www.vu.union.edu/~stroudj/Data.htm

 

VERY enlightening! Beats yarn!

Theo

 

good... now can some one explain ... i kindda undertand the graphics but i dont know if it is good or bad for the cowl to be pressurized area and not a velocity area... hood scoop i guess is good cause is bit of both.

 

but only if they come in carbon fiber

 

so i noticed this thread has been dead since 2007. has anybody had any recent experience with these? or logged and any data regarding their performance? i have the alta intake which supposedly sucks air from that area behind it where the section under the bonnet. if i can effectively get more in going in there i'd like to take advantage or that. as well as, if anyone has designed or purchased anything, like a custom piece that routes air from another location, into the intake area... id be interested to see that.

 

I think those as well as the Orciari scoops that were popular while you could them are pretty much just aesthetically pleasing cowl scoops that have no real performance benefit other than making your Mini look menacing.

 

I have a set that I am getting ready to install soon. I will let you know if it makes any difference.p

 

Yeaa ACallahan, that appears to be the consensus. I didn't really understand those previously posted charts and graphs, but I can definitely understand the positive and negative pressure aspect of it. It'd be nice if one of the many mini enthusiast manufacturers came up with something for the R53. I know theres a product for the R56 that is placed at the hood scoop opening that spans the length of it and takes in air that way. Wheres the R53 love?! haha

 

Thanks mib4840. I'd be happy to know you're results. I'm interested in getting one, or maybe even a pair, because, either way, they do look good imo. As long as there are no negative effects towards performance, I'm interested.

 

I was considering these, as I have a DDM air intake. Even if it's not 100% effective, getting some fresh air at the filter is better than nothing :p

 

i have scoops. cant say it really "helps" (drove for a bit with scoops off), but it doesnt seem to hurt either. i mainly did mine for looks.

actually, when re-painting my scoops, i found a big PLUG in the bottom back wall of the airbox! took that thing out, along with some other non-sense items in there (some weird filter looking deal, not hooked up to anything), and the vac switch from the top of my JCW airbox. lots more air going in now!

 

Ok, I know this is dead but I had a question/comment.


I'm thinking of adding these scoops. However, I was thinking forward facing on drivers side and rear facing on passengers side. Reasoning, forward facing takes advantage of what little air you could "scoop" into the air box, and the rear facing on the passengers side will take advantage of the airflow and actually draw hot air out from under the hood?


Any ideas? Also...will I have to buy 2 sets and have to use the drivers side of both of them due to the curve?

 

Wow, I completely forgot about this thread and posting my results. Honestly the only thing I can say about them is that I like the looks of them. There did not seem to be any negative or positive affect on performance. I did have an older MINI mechanic tell me one day when he was looking at my car that when they raced theMINIs that they would put one on the drivers side and left the OEM cowl grate on the passenger side. He said that it helped a little by sucking a little bit of air in the drivers side and it would exhaust out the side. It was like a vacuum.
Smitha6, it looks like you would have to buy two sets to do what you want. The only place that I know of that still has something like this is a Corvette shop over in San Diego, they are at cranescorvette.com

 

I hate Moss stopped selling MINI parts. I live a 15 minute drive from the warehouse