Fake side vents

[wspohn]

The other common misconception is in regard to rear facing scoops/vents or louvers.

Many people like the looks of having them fairly far back on the hood. In fact, they often get them so far back because they like the appearance, that they get into the high pressure region in front of the windshield where the air 'balls up' in front of the glass. The result is that their 'exit' vents actually draw air in, not out of the engine compartment.

The most effective place to put vents to exhaust engine compartment air is directly behind the radiator level but most people consider that far too forward a location to please them aesthetically.

I race an MGA roadster (that's almost the same as a convertible, except that it came with removable side screens rather than roll up windows - bet you don't know the last car that came with side screens....trivia challenge!).

I removed the windscreen completely and ran with a 'cheater' racing screen in front of the driver maybe 2" high. With the removal of the windshield, the high pressure area disappeared. We weren't allowed to add vents in the class I was running in, so I simply arranged to have hood pins at the back of the hood that were much longer than were normally required. When I went through tech, the hood just sat there innocently. When I was out on the track, at speed, the rear of the bonnet would float up on the pins due to the pressure build up underneath and would act a a rear facing exhaust vent that was quite effective in reducing engine bay temperatures.

[RickyD]

Originally Posted by Nova-Exarch

The idea that opening vents will push hot air places that is isn't supposed to be kinda made me laugh a little.

So... in that line of thought...

What stops the ECU killing hot as he11 air from reacing those components when you are stuck in stop and go traffic in the 110-120 degree weather?

They had to have tested for these conditions and they had to have designed the parts acordingly on a car that is primarily a warm weather car. (this has been covered numerous times already).

Funnny how all the nay sayers have dropped off now that the road test data is up.

Ok... ok... I know... enough :

-=-

I did have another idea to help the venting process...

Take an idea from extreme computer builders/modifiers...

Those hood vents are long enough for four of these:


Ok, so maybe it wouldn't be worth all that much effort for 99% of the people out there.

It might be worth it to someone having overheating issues in 110-120 degree heat, stuck in traffic, etc...

Or maaaaaybe help with those CAI's that end up sucking in hot air until the car can get moving. At least with the fans sucking out the hottest (they're up top and heat rises sooo...) air in the engine bay you might be able to keep the area around the CAI intake at or near ambient?

Again, not all that much of a gain from that so it would be more of a geek/tinkerer factor.

Maybe those that like to drag could gain a tenth off that?
________
Suzuki Gsx-R/4 Specifications

I have over 60,000 miles on it now with the open vents. Heat kills electronic as we all know. If you read this complete post you will see I have taken several temp readings all around the ECU and the battery. With air moving out of the side vents it actually runs way cooler then not having them open. I know what the Saturn Engineers say about the ECU getting over heated if they were open but that is just not true. It works so good a couple years ago I opened up mine even farther..
(One more thing. If you read my signature you will see I have a highly modified N/A. On a turbo you may need to shroud the turbo a bit to direct the heat away from the battery but probably not. Just a thought.

[rufusmacblorf]

Originally Posted by RickyD

I have over 60,000 miles on it now with the open vents. Heat kills electronic as we all know. If you read this complete post you will see I have taken several temp readings all around the ECU and the battery. With air moving out of the side vents it actually runs way cooler then not having them open. I know what the Saturn Engineers say about the ECU getting over heated if they were open but that is just not true. It works so good a couple years ago I opened up mine even farther..
(One more thing. If you read my signature you will see I have a highly modified N/A. On a turbo you may need to shroud the turbo a bit to direct the heat away from the battery but probably not. Just a thought.

I like the look--very simple and clean. Thanks for the empirical data!

[|V3nom|]

id be interested in the direction of heat travel as well.

[Nova-Exarch]

Originally Posted by RickyD

I have over 60,000 miles on it now with the open vents. Heat kills electronic as we all know. If you read this complete post you will see I have taken several temp readings all around the ECU and the battery. With air moving out of the side vents it actually runs way cooler then not having them open. I know what the Saturn Engineers say about the ECU getting over heated if they were open but that is just not true. It works so good a couple years ago I opened up mine even farther..
(One more thing. If you read my signature you will see I have a highly modified N/A. On a turbo you may need to shroud the turbo a bit to direct the heat away from the battery but probably not. Just a thought.

Cool! I do like the look of those and I'm glad you've had good results.

I just couldn't a change in air flow being that big a deal or more of our cali friends (IE insane traffic jams on 100+F days) would have their ECU's melting.