I remember Dick Barker telling me that he had done a similar test years
ago and had established that at higher speeds, air was pulled back into
the engine compartment at the windshield area. He had the LAT hood, I
think (correct me if I'm wrong, Dick).
Anyway, it seems that at low speeds, you would have hot air blowing out
(which, as Robin wrote, and as the TEAE tests seemed to prove, doesn't
really lower the temperature that much) and at high speeds, you'd be
pulling cool air into the compartment from the back of the bonnet which
would be, in theory, helpful to lowering the intake charge temperature
and making more power.
Or, none of the above.
To paraphrase; The ways of British cars are dark, but never pleasant.
Best regards
David Sosna
Steve Sage wrote:
> Robin Young wrote:
>
>> Steve wrote:
>> This got me to thinking if propping the hood open
>> slightly during very hot weather will help the car cool a bit better.
>>
>> Steve, when I bought my car the seller had done this. It is pretty
>> simple to
>> screw out the hood catch pin and hold the hood secure in a 1" open
>> position.
>> It looks peculiur and did not cure an over heat problem (I live in
>> Florida). Also, I am not sure that this would not work against
>> cooling at
>> higher speeds since such a high pressure exists against the
>> windshield. With
>> the airstream piling up there, some air may escape into the engine
>> compartment. This is why reverse air scoops work. If you try it please
>> tuft test and let us know which way the air flows. Robin Young
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
> I'll let the list know if I can figure a good way to do it. I had not
> thought about the air flow direction issue at high speed. I'll tie a
> piece of string at the latch to see if in fact it blows back into the
> engine, or forward at speed. Great idea.
>
> Just to clarify again, though; Since I'm not loosing any coolant, the
> reason for my exercise is to just bring under hood temps down a bit,
> my theory being that this would result in a bit less heat being there
> to transfer to the passenger compartment, plus putting less load on my
> A/C, letting it run colder when outside temps are really hot.
>
> Steve Sage
|