Engine bay cooling improvements? DIY?
 

It's super hot out at 109F today, and the car is stuck in the garage. Last week I was working on one of the turn signal bulbs and felt the intense heat coming from the engine bay. I'd like to see if anyone know of DIY mods or ways to increase airflow to the engine to lower engine bay temperatures.

All I've done so far is remove the fang covers, and it seems like the car is not "losing" power as often. In fact, 1+ hour drive in 95+ F ambient temps is actually much more enjoyable now.

How about fender lining vents? I see DIY mods for brake cooling, but can it improve engine bay temps as well?

I thought about vented hoods, but they don't look that great. DIY mod like SIMOTA is nice since it retains the OEM hood, but I'd like additional or larger vents of some sort. Whatever is functional.

Maybe I'm just OCD about it...

Better cooling under the hood would be great, or more airflow.

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BTW, I was in Houston all of this week and visited Baker Nissan. It was nice to meet Brad, Paul, and Justin. Can't wait to get the TT kit from Sam so I can ship the car. :excited:
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Yea, short of getting a CF hood I think there's plenty of heat to remove.

And you did not let me know? Though I was pretty busy this week, when you are scheduled to get your kit?
A good hood design can help with air flow through the car but only to a certain degree.

Haha Paul called Justin as he was getting off work. Heard it's supposed to be sometime this week.

Wonder if anyone tried making a vent in the fender well.

Today I decided to enlarge the fang duct. I used a Dremel to cut out the remaining parts of the opening. It doesn't look too bad.

I'm going to research vents for the fender well cover. My fat tires already shredded a tiny portion of the cover. It'll be nice to get an after market one that's a bit stiffer with vents. Do you guys remember the preproduction 370Z? It had vented wheel well liners. That's something I'd like to get my hands on:
http://www.370z.com/Portals/0/Magazi...e-oil-cool.gif

Here are pictures of the enlarged fang vent:
http://www.the370z.com/members/digit...-fang-duct.jpg
http://www.the370z.com/members/digit...-fang-duct.jpg

While looking for wheel well liner with vents, here's another mod I'm looking for: center bumper air duct.

I contacted Z1 to see if they can get something that fits the 370Z. Hopefully it doesn't look too tacky.
http://www.z1auto.com/images/espritbumperz332.jpg
http://www.caranddriver.com/assets/i...2005223421.jpg

[EDIT] Z1's response is none available, but there is no guarantee of this one fitting. I requested measurements if they have one in stock. It would need to be flipped upside down to follow the contour of our bumper. If all else fails, I need to find another solution (some sort of box with trim bezel to hide the cut out).

If you're in a dry climate, you could vent your hood a bit. Maybe go as far as a vent with a fan to pull heat out.

Hood with inlet/outlet vents. Inlet vents closer to the nose/outlet vents closer to the windshield?

I have my fender liner vented on the passenger side where my oil cooler is mounted. I also removed the fang covers and have aluminum ducting directing all the air into the passenger side fang go straight to the oil cooler. My car also has 2 custom Flexalite fans: 10" and 18".

I'm with you on preferring the OEM hood, but I still need to lower the engine bay temps, so now I'm looking into the VIS AMS hood.

-create louvers
-making more holes in the front is not effective and creates lift (which is why louvers are needed)
-move radiator to the rear
-relocate fuse boxes and all plastic covered computer / electronic parts for more room in the engine bay - make walls (compartments) in the engine bay to direct the heat out to the louvers efficiently.
-wrap exhaust manifolds, intake manifolds, etc.
-front v mount and radiator shroud is a choice
-more suitable viscosity fluid for your motor and trans
-keep the heater running constantly as it uses heat from your radiator

if you want to use a fan or make louvers, try making walls (paths) for the heat to travel through before pulling out through the louvers. a fan spinning freely without walls to channel the air is ineffective.

also depends if you are building a race car or a street car.. it's all about channeling the heat.

it would cost less, be more effective, and unique if you build your own custom radiator shroud and hood louvers that work together as one cooling system. this way the air that the fan brings-in won't touch the motor.. the air passing through the radiator will have pressure pulling it in 1 direction = efficient cooling. this will also benefit downforce character because now you have the entering-air being pulled upward and out INSTEAD of going underneath the chassis and through the wheel wells working against the df and causing turbulence.

shroud and compartment:
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5129/...7f0b235ee8.jpg

louvers:
http://www.bearmetalkustoms.com/imag...louvers002.jpg

This is for a daily driven street car with Stage II TT on the way.

So perhaps there's enough air coming in from the air dam?

Hood louvers? I would love to mod my OEM hood with louvers provided I can find something that's not too tacky, but functional. Hmm... I would love to get the manifolds wrapped. These two ideas shouldn't be too cost prohibitive.

My fans are pushers now, not pullers. With the downpipe crossing the front of the engine, there is no room for pullers. Unfortunately, this idea won't work.

98, are they doing any modding to your hood or engine bay to help with cooling since your turbo is up higher and in front? Not to mention the exhaust pipes coming back into the engine bay instead of out the rear?

Good thread :) I've been looking into this for a while now too. Looking for someone locally to mod my hood...

Nothing has been done other than what I listed above. I'm contemplating modding the OEM hood or getting the VIS AMS hood, although I don't prefer the CF look and I don't want to take my chances of screwing up the OEM hood. I'm also contemplating buying a spare bumper to mod. I already have my design drawn up, it's just a matter or finding a body shop willing to work with urethane.

If you're going turbo, get some turbo blankets for the turbine housings. Wrap the downpipes. Manifolds are so small that I don't think you could practically wrap them, though you could possibly cover them a bit with a custom sheet metal heat shield.

If you use wrap on anything, I recommend the "DEI Titanium" wrap over fiberglass since it holds up to heat better, easier to work with, doesn't get brittle like fiberglass. I've seen old fiberglass wrap just crack and flake like potato chips after being on a car a while.

Downpipe and uppipes are fully wrapped and I have a turbo blanket. Check and check.

I want to see a good vented hood, something that is not just vented to look good but has true functional value.

I was talking to the OP

:tiphat: No problem... I appreciate the advice. So far it's just the kit installation without any mention of wrapping anything, but it's definitely something to consider.

You could go hoodless.:stirthepot:

I see it all the time at the track :) I even see them go front bumperless...? Is that a word?

I've been thinking of busting out the dremel and making some vents of my own back there.. Wonder if it would do any good?

I talked to someone who would be happy to vent my hood with a pair of naca ducts. They would go near the front the hood on either side. To help you imagine where they would go...it would sit right over a Stillen SC.

Anyone interested in having their stock hood vented like that? If you pop your hood and look under it, you will know exactly what I'm talking about.

Oh and they sell those fender vents for audi's, I'm sure we can retrofit something.

what is in that corner of the bumper to cool?on the preproduction cars that was where the oil cooler sat, so it makes sense but for most people venting that spot will just reduce the pressure in front of the radiator. vents in the bumper for intake and brake cooling, vented hood, and vented fenders connected to the back of the engine bay to let the air out is probably going to be it for engine bay cooling without making a full under tray to suck the air out under the car.

With temps hitting 100F+ all week, are you guys hitting 220F oil temps? Last year, I hit 220F numerous times and the car would lag often. I don't know what it is, but I've not seen anything higher than 210F the past several weeks of driving even with the A/C blasting.

Opening up the fang vents can't possibly make much difference right? :icon14:

It's difficult to tell what happened since the accident repairs late in March, but something's different.

With the AC off and the temperature turned all the way to hot, driving for 30 mins never saw oil temps over 225 and the coolant light never budged. Only if I could live without AC....my overheating issues wouldn't be an issue.

You could get a CSF High Performance Radiator/condenser module. There should be some more revews/ data coming up on the forum soon :bump:

Well this is part of my solution
1/2" drill bit and lots of them
http://www.the370z.com/members/zat_z...ler-fender.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/members/zat_z...nder-holes.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/members/zat_z...cooler-fan.jpg

Added a SPAL 330 cfm 6.5" fan with temp controller to the oil cooler to help control oil temps and air flow through the cooler and fender liner.

It was around 3pm yesterday and on my wag Hm..and
my oil temp was at 253 degree..WTF?? Our car are not mean to drive during day time here in the desert?

Oil cooler....It's the only way to fly.

I've been thinking about it. I'm curious to see how much your radiator lowers the coolant temps, as my car gets VERY hot with the downpipe crossing the front of the engine bay and being so close to the radiator.

During daily driving, some traffic with freeway with Texas 100+ heat I am in the very low 200 degree range. If I start to push it hard, redline every gear, it tops out around 215-220 and then about 3 minutes after I back off it is down to low 200 again.

I have the Seibon TS c.f. hood, and painted it to match. It has the same lines as the OEM hood, but with 6 vents. Noticeable heat temp improvement.

I'm not FI'ed but with my 24 row cooler i'm seeing about the same here in south Louisiana.

Oh, I was talking about water temps, but my oil temps with a 24 row cooler are about the same, closer to 220 more so.

You guys down in TX are definitely dealing with serious drought, but up in KS we're not much cooler haha. We did get some rain, but temps still hover around 100-103F.

Anybody else heatwrapped some components? I haven't fit it to my budget for this build.

I just want to double check to see if you guys already increased the fang vent by cutting out the extra plastic, and whether it had any improvements. For me, I think it does. I hardly touch 220F the past several weeks. Water temps look good. Fuel gauge... inaccurate as usual haha! Car is getting shipped out to Baker towards the end of the week, so they'll be doing some warranty work on the fuel sending unit.

We cut the fangs the day the SC was installed so no way to compare any real test results. As I never had an oil cooler on prior to my SC install.