Aero mod effect on engine bay temp?

[rbrowning]

Has anyone checked the effect of blocking off the air intakes and putting a belly pan and fender skirts on the temperature under the hood? Not just the coolant temp which has a control system, but the general temperature inside the engine bay with less air flow?

My concern is the negative effects that higher temps have on electronics and rubber products.

[Creeper]

While I have not done any aero mods to the front of my car it is because of the reuced airflow. If your engine runs hot it may not be a good idea to block the air off compleatly. However you might want to take a page out of Mugen's book and do something similar to the 2010 Mugen Insight which dose have the front grill blocked off but has a hole on the left and righ hands side to allow some air into the engine bay to keep it from over heating.

[Weather Spotter]

This why I only run a upper grill block, with a partial lower one.

Last winter I did a full upper and lower grill block and it worked for short trips. Other than that I left 3-6" open on the bottom. This cooled the coolant, and the engine bay still had ice on the bottom.

The other way to measure is to look at intake temps, that draws air from the engine bay. I have only seen a 5F increase in intake temps during winter, summer it is 5-10F.

[3-Wheeler]

Hi rbrowning,

Check here for under-body smoothing panels, and their effect on engine heat.

Honda Insight Under-body Smoothing Panels (custom belly pan / undertray)

Jim

[Clev]

Originally Posted by rbrowning

My concern is the negative effects that higher temps have on electronics and rubber products.

And the battery. Heat makes batteries work better; too much heat makes batteries dead sooner.

[Piwoslaw]

Originally Posted by rbrowning

Has anyone checked the effect of blocking off the air intakes and putting a belly pan and fender skirts on the temperature under the hood?

I've kept an eye on manifold intake air temperatures on the last few trips and here is what I've noticed. With ambiant air temp around 16°-18°C, my intake air temp is 18°-22°C while driving, but while standing in a traffic jam it could rise to over 50°C.
I have an openable lower grille block, no upper block, while the intake air takes the following route: intake at front, plastic ducting to filter behind engine, plastic ducting back to front, turbo, intercooler, manifold. Not an efficient route, but I haven't gotten around to shortening it. I'll add that I have a diesel, so less energy is wasted as heat and a CAI is better than a WAI.

[dmac257]

Originally Posted by 3-Wheeler

Hi rbrowning,

Check here for under-body smoothing panels, and their effect on engine heat.

Honda Insight Under-body Smoothing Panels (custom belly pan / undertray)

Jim

3-Wheeler,

I looked carefully at your construction pictures and the detail and attention you used is amazing. I have thought of doing something simular but cant seem to find anything about the basic construction method you use. Is there a separate thread someplace or wiki? Is that a different foam than the pink stuff at home depot. I tested a couple of glues on the home depot stuff and it melted and several places say that resins will melt foam and they need to be sealed before trying to glass them over. What are you using to glue them together and what glass/resin are you using?

Don

[BamZipPow]

I think he used white glue.

I had been monitoring my under hood temps when I had my belly pan, side skirts, and grill block in place. During the winter months, my under hood temps were in the 170°F range. During the summer months, those have rocketed to over 240°F.

So far my new (1.5yrs old) battery has worked just fine. My alternator died (it wasn't the brushes) one day...so I had to replace it. Not sure if the extended heat is hardening the rubber valve cover gaskets or not...but they are starting to weep. I'm gonna have to revise how my engine bay is gonna git vented in my next generation.

[Piwoslaw]

How hot does it get under the hood of a parked car?