Not only are we working on that, but also a non-rice sounding blow-off valve..Bryce, palo uber mini

 

Just a test to see if I could look at Rye's scoop...

And I can't...

 

Sorry Randy, I had my picture hosted on a non-linkable source. The picture is now visible.

 

My dealer got 11 MCS's in. One of the 11 had a "functional" scoop as shown above. The other's didn't.

 

Very strange. Looks like a token so they can say "it IS functional." Do you suppose it's not open up more to keep dirt/water/birds off the engine. Or to keep the screen from rattling too much?

 

woohoo!

*giggles like a little schoolgirl*

 

Good to see. What does it look like on the underside of the hood. This may be a compromise between under hood cooling and keeping too much noise from sneaking out.

 

Cool! Good luck with your new baby.

regards,
Red

 

I wonder what would happen if you just pop out the plastic grill in the hood and allow extra air to blow across the engine? Seems like it might cool things off a bit. Also, has anyone with a Cooper S noticed the inside design of the hood looks like there should be a larger heat sheild installed? I wonder if the turbo heat will fade the hood paint faster like older turbo cars did?

In spite of some wierd flukes, I love my new Cooper S, as much or more than my 2002 Cooper. Here's to hoping it runs as well over time!
Mike

 

Oh! the curmudgeons will make fun of that!

 

Your MINI engine is water cooled not air cooled...

 

How does the water get cooled? You guessed it, by the air!

I'm just poking a bit of fun here.

 

It's a faking hood cave. Not a scoop.
It's a MINI Cave.
Poser scoop.
Why, oh, why!!!!!! MINI, why did you have to do that!!!!!

No burble, fake scoop. What am I gonna tell my children!!!

 

well since my brand new R56 had this stupid fake hood scoop(my car is now 3 weeks old and it has a completely plugged up scoop with no holes), I decided to do something about it.

no need to wait for some mod company to come up with something. It was simple enough to unscrew the scoop, take out the plastic plug that was completely blocking the whole, and replace the scoop.

now I have a completely functional hood scoop that looks like it did before but actually works.

noticed an immediate difference, especially after spirited driving and then parking the car doesnt sit there with the fan blowing forever anymore.

no real worries about anything getting in there, its still small enough and angled enough that even in heavy rain not much water gets in there, you get more water in the engine compartment from hitting puddles then from a fully functional hood scoop.

ony other thing I have noticed is when going to a drive through I can actually hear the turbo whine now, which actually is pretty cool

 

So a guestion I asked weeks ago finally got answered. Thank you, Buffdigits. Now I know you can just pop out the plastic thing blocking the scoop. Now I have just one nagging question: Since it is obviously a separate piece, why the hell did MINI put it there to begin with?? Perhaps so things will heat up quicker and thereby heat up the cat converter quicker??

 

Mine has the "Functional" scoop. I was surprised/schocked to see it actually. All the demo R56 MCS' I've seen have the plugged one. My wife looked at me like I was nuts when I was excited.

 

Hopefully it has to do with the color of the car, so I will get one too!

 

I will take a wild guess here and say that it is blocked to keep water from entering into the top of the engine compartment. Engineers design engine cooling around a number of factors that are taken into consideration during the design process. Punching a new opening into the engine bay will have some sort of impact to the original cooling equation... and I bet its not positive. With no temperature gauge on the R56, it will be hard to say just how much of an impact this change has...

As far as functional hood scoops go, it seems that merely opening up the hood scoop on the R56 doesn't really add any... unless its function is to let rain water into the top half of the engine bay and change the cooling dyamics engineered into the R56 from the factory

 

I agree with your first paragraph slag, whoch makes me wonder about the MINIs now apparently appearing with semi-open or fully open hood scoops. I wonder, did they reset those parameters or are they saying, "You want functional hood scoops? Here's your damn hood scoop. Now don't bother us if your car runs like crap."?

 

Picked up my car on Saturday and it has the holes in the hood scoop.
Lighting Blue/ Black

 

Okay! Another lightning blue, too!

 

How about a simpler explanation...
Dealers forget to remove them off the car before delivery.

 

So rain water coming into the R53 scoop and pouring over the intercooler and the heads and down the block... that's fine, then? It does, you know.

I would suspect moisture in the engine compartment will have little effect, provided in doesn't somehow enter the engine via the airbox or oil filler.

There's enought moistue coming through the front grille and headlight holes... it's not going to make any difference opening up the scoop.

 

The scoops I have seen which are "functional", simply have a few small holes punched through the decorative grill. I suspect the MINI marketing folks are simply responding to the public response of the fake hood scoop, and as is typical with marketing folks, this is their response. These holes are very small and would not allow any real water or air to pass through. However, fully opening up the scoop certainly would. In the end, if one wants to do this, its their car. I would personally wait for the aftermarket to come up with the means to provide a true functional hood scoop where the outside air is channeled to the airbox or an intercooler, and incorporates the appropriate water drains/traps as required.

 

Certainly, the form doesn't follow function anymore now a days.