Steve: When I was building the car that Randy Williams currently owns I went to
the CVAR rules committee to ask if I could louver the bonnet. They told me if I
did I would need to run the car as a sport racer against other sport racers of
the time. Since I thought it unlikely that it could be competitive against the
likes of a Lotus 11 or similar cars I chose not to louver the bonnet. They did
allow me to open the two bonnet vents as long as it wasn't unsightly. I did
have two louvered panels made and I welded them to the inside wheel wells. They
can't be seen from the outside when the wheels are mounted, and there is enough
stuff under the bonnet to obscure them from view. There is a low pressure area
in the wheel wells at speed, and it helps to evacuate the hot air from under
the bonnet.
Ken G. once told me that in the SoCal region they didn't allow the spacer
blocks under the hinges. His trick was to loosen the two nuts that secure the
hinges to the scuttle. As speed increased the rear of the bonnet would raise
up. When you slowed down the hood would drop back down. During tech everything
appeared to be "normal".
I'm here to say I know that under the bonnet is a high pressure area. Having
had a bonnet open at about 40 mph I can bear witness that the safety latches
nor the hinges will keep the bonnet secured to the scuttle. I have the scar
from the stitches to prove it.
Still dizzy after all these years - Ed
Steven Preiss <spreiss@verizon.net> wrote:
FOT
I am thinking of making an objective of reducing the air temperature in the
engine compartment of my TR3, and to direct as cool air as possible to the
carburetor intakes. I know there are shrouds available to channel maximum
outside air through the radiator, but that seems to address only part of the
problem. Where does all that heat from the head and exhaust manifold go?
Surely not out those two little slits. Louvered bonnets are an attempt to
address this no doubt, but it seems they are expensive and not universally
done. I know from seat of the pants that as operating temperature rises,
performance dwindles. How do others deal with it?
Steve Preiss
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