Hi all,
I'm sure there's probably a thread on this somewhere already, but I searched for a while and found nothing. So here goes. I have a 2007 MCS with a plastic hood scoop. The heat from the turbo has warped it slightly in the middle....:frown: I removed the black honeycomb grill-like thing, seeing as though it renders the scoop basically useless....I was wondering if there is a solution to the warping and if I should be weary of debris entering my engine bay through the scoop. Should I put the honeycomb grill back on? Thanks in advance for anyone with some useful info.

 

I used a turbo blanket wrap kit to wrap my turbo around $40, put back the honey comb and cut out the holes with a dremel.

 

I'll look into that, thanks for the help!

 

MINIFINI sells a black or stainless ventilated replacement grille for the scoop.

 

Oooh I hope they aren't costly. Sounds awesome.

 

$40 for stainless, $48 for black.

http://www.minifini.com/details.php?...keywords=Scoop

http://www.minifini.com/details.php?...keywords=Scoop

 

Cool! I appreciate the info! I should probably invest in a new hood scoop as well. The dimple annoys me...

 

There's also an NM Engineering Ti heat shield that bolts on nice and neat over the turbo and looks nice and clean. I purchased mine from Way Motor Works. I definitely noticed a significant reduction in the heat on the bonnet almost immediately upon its installation. It is a little more costly though than the solutions above. I haven't pushed Calico Jack too hard since its installation but we'll see how it REALLY performs at the Dragon next weekend at MSSD. Way has A LOT of confidence in this product. I believe he uses it in concert with that MINIFINI turbo scoop grille. Now that I've seen the difference in the heat transfer, I'm a lot more confident as well.

 

That sounds pretty useful. I just bought my mini about a month ago (used) and I noticed a place on the hood where the heat might be affecting the paint a little. You should post pictures! I wanna see how it looks.

 

There is a simple very effective cheap method to keep heat off the hood scoop, much more effective than any heat shield.

http://www.waymotorworks.com/mini-co...5-r56-r57.html

 

It's a heat shield. The main difference is where you fit it, directly to the hood versus over the turbo. Looks similar to the one that MINI recommend for use with the chrome hood scoops.

 

It might be a good Idea to check into why the scoop warped its not always good to keep heat in it needs to be managed.

 

His scoop warped due to removing the grill.
Its actually a vented brace.

 

I didn't remove the grill until I realized it was warping. And I didn't drive with it off. I had it off for around an hour yesterday while I was in my garage.

 

Yeah I noticed they put a heat shield over the main part of the engine bay, but not over the turbo. I feel like that'd be the best place to put it, don't you think?

 

check your turbo cooling and oil system for any blockage.

 

Could I do that myself or do I have to take it to a professional?

 

If you have a garage and some tools do it yourself you will get a better idea of what you are trying to do with the heat management. the fittings are easy enough to deal with but the oil line needs care to not cause it to leak which is a bit more work. Get a manual, haynes and/or bently and find online posts. If you are willing to give the job a few days then learn to take the front off just have a shop pump the ac for later use. You can now see the whole engine and any work will be so much easier. PS use new washers and only loosen the oil line once you understand its two part design.

 

This is a known problem for the early years of the 2nd generation cars. I believe it's a combination of a scoop made of a soft plastic compound/material and high under hood temps inherent in a turbo car. There are several solutions and some can come with their own unintended consequences. I am running an AEM intake which comes with a sandwich type heat shield. A couple of members report that this shield causes the valve cover to warp. I have not noticed a problem after running it for a year. I also replaced my scoop with a fiberglass unit made by M7. You could try the WMW Turbo Wrap, but it won't fix the warped scoop you already have. There are multiple threads/posts concerning this problem.

 

By far the simplest solution is to remove the honeycomb grill. Mine's been gone for years, never a problem in any rainstorm, and everything under-hood is noticeably cooler for the ventilation.

 

I will honestly say that while I had my AEM induction type intake with included heat shield did keep my newly painted hood scoop surface temperature lower than what I recommended a few posts back, the scoop wasn't even warm when I had the AEM system.

 

Thanks for all the info guys! I have a lot of research to do. I love this forum!

 

One more option, similar to the Way item posted above.

http://www.nm-eng.com/231/11/0/2596/...oop-saver.html

My hood was much cooler to the touch after installing. I also later installed an M7 turbo heat shield.

 

Do yourself a BIG favor and don't melt your valve cover with that turbo shield, just put on the factory heat shield and you'll be fine.

 

I appreciate the caution... gets echoed quite a bit and is certainly valid under the right conditions. However, I only recall reading one known (or greatly discussed?) case on NAM of the melted valve cover with the "newer" design: if I remember correctly that person had removed the heat-absorbant material that comes with the shield, and the stock heat shield (which is not per the M7 directions) and was pushing their car pretty hard at the track. The first action making a bit of an impact to this situation! There may have been other details or even other instances, but that's what sticks out in my mind. Regardless, I do take a hard look at the valve cover every time I open the hood to try and catch impending doom in case I'm wrong

Cheers!