Louvers in the Hood
by brian @ 18:01:22 - [perma-link]This is the next attempt at reducing underhood temperatures. I cut
some "test" louvers into the hood today. I drilled holes at each
corner, then cut across from hole to hole using a cutoff wheel on a
cordless grinder. Then I grabbed between two holes with needle-nose
pliers and twisted the louver in the hood. The small ones were the first test. They are about 1/2" wide each. I
think they are too thin. The larger ones are about an inch wide and go all the way from the
center rib to the inner edge of the shock tower, and end just behind
the valve covers, so rain doesn't drip off the louvers into the spark
plug trough. (Even though the spark plugs are in the engine, which is
on the other side of the car... I had the hood upside down when I cut
them. But if I mirror them, the ones on the other side won't drip on
the spark plugs!) I also pulled the header out of the car to clean it. I was going to
wrap it with insulating header wrap, to reduce their heat
contribution, but read some SCCA forum postings about header wrap
absorbing oil leaks and catching on fire and decided not to wrap
them. They still needed a good cleaning, as they were pretty packed
with mud from running rallycross without the skid plate. I'll reinstall the clean header tomorrow, swap in the Celica airbox
from the old rally car, and go do some more test driving and go to a
car wash. The North Nevada Rally has been postponed, date unknown. That gives
us a little more time to figure things out before Idaho.
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