Engine Bay Heat

[tonycobretti]

I think the engine bay in the Sonic is WAY too hot. Especially for an INGEN air intake. Rather than cutting open the hood for an air scoop, which would bring more dirt and bugs into the engine, do the following. First remove the thick weather strip from the top area of the engine bay. It is hooked in place, and can be carefully removed (and replaced for winter driving). When the hood is closed, this will create a 1" to 1 1/2" gap for excess heat to bleed out. Like a hood cowling.
Next thing to do is get a piece of thin stainless or aluminum plate (1/16" thick) 6" wide, and the length of the small opening at the bottom of the front area of the engine bay. Bend a 4" wide, 45 degree angle in the plate length and drill and mount it to the back area in bottom front of the engine. As you drive, the air flow under you vehicle will be scooped up and be directed into the engine block, cooling it, then up into the engine bay, and then out the top of the engine bay gap, where the weather strip was. The faster you drive the greater the cooling. An auxiliary oil cooler should also be added to cool down the engine. This will help the air-intake to draw in much cooler air and help prevent engine heat. Especially in the hotter months.
Remove the plate and replace the weather strip in winter conditions. It is very important to not over cool part of the engine or it could be damaged.

 

[rdss]

Not a bad idea. Or you can get the Seibon vented hood, weight lose and a good looking hood that vents hot air.

 

[Malvino89]

I think the engine bay in the Sonic is WAY too hot. Especially for an INGEN air intake. Rather than cutting open the hood for an air scoop, which would bring more dirt and bugs into the engine, do the following. First remove the thick weather strip from the top area of the engine bay. It is hooked in place, and can be carefully removed (and replaced for winter driving). When the hood is closed, this will create a 1" to 1 1/2" gap for excess heat to bleed out. Like a hood cowling.
Next thing to do is get a piece of thin stainless or aluminum plate (1/16" thick) 6" wide, and the length of the small opening at the bottom of the front area of the engine bay. Bend a 4" wide, 45 degree angle in the plate length and drill and mount it to the top back area in bottom front of the engine. As you drive, the air flow under you vehicle will be scooped up and be directed into the engine block, cooling it, then up into the engine bay, and then out the top of the engine bay gap, where the weather strip was. The faster you drive the greater the cooling. An auxiliary oil cooler should also be added to cool down the engine. This will help the air-intake to draw in much cooler air and help prevent engine heat. Especially in the hotter months.
Remove the plate and replace the weather strip in winter conditions. It is very important to not over cool part of the engine or it could be damaged.

Pics plz...

 

[Aldakoopa]

Be careful how you make a scoop under the engine bay. If you create pressure behind the radiator it will not flow as much air to cool the radiator, A/C, and intercooler if applicable and may cause overheating, loss in A/C efficiency, and a drop in horsepower from the air not being sufficiently cooled after it is compressed by the turbo (once again, if applicable), which would completely negate the effects of cooling the intake air in the first place.

 

[tonycobretti]

Engine Bay cooling

It's not a turbo, its a 1.8 n/a. The air scoop works great. No problems. My engine bay stays cool, even on 34C days with a bit of racing around town. When I picked up the car 2 weeks ago, I noticed a large rush of hot air from under the engine bay, near the front passengers side wheel of the vehicle. This is a quick, inexpensive and effective fix. The air scoop is rather small due to the size of the opening in the engine bay. It does not create a huge massive air flow and will not vacuum air from the radiator area

 

[Aldakoopa]

The problem wouldn't come from the scoop "vacuuming air" away from the radiator, it would create a positive pressure in the engine bay which would make it harder to force air through the radiator. Since the scoop is small, it probably has a negligible effect on engine bay air pressure.

But, hey... if it works, it works.

 

[seanp1]

 

[doreo]

Agreed need pictures as I have no idea what you are referring to without and hire much of a group in temp is it cuz with the injrn its not a bad idea to get cooler air

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[seanp1]

What about rigging some 4 inch tubing to scoop air and have it dump into the airbox or the area where the airbox used to be for those who have after market intakes?

 

[doreo]

Thought about that, then I thought about how my car scrapes and how to do it with out looking rice/ghetto

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[doreo]

Thought about getting a heat shield made, then feeding a tube from the ferber much like the old one did, but then I'm not much further then before lol

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[laborsmith]

I agree with rdss.

I suspect my agreement is obvious, but I had to do it.

Laborsmith

 

[SSpeckerwood]

i wouldn't mess with airflow either.

 

[jpierro79]

I think the best idea would be a way to simply divert more air flow through the front of the car and having a way to vent it further back of the engine compartment or simply adding some type of vent to the hood but I personally dont like hood scoops. I was thinking how there is splash gaurds having some type of modified air pick up but underneath to pick up through the fenders into the compartment. This would not change the air flow over the radiator or intercooler but rather drop the engine compartment a few degrees. I think the biggest issue is clearing the hot air rising in the compartment. it has no top exit.

 

[Patgt500]

I imagine this would help even without the scoop. At speed wouldn't the airflow over the car create a sort of vacuum and suck/extract air from the engine bay? Not to mention you already have air coming through the front grill.

 

[Patgt500]

I mean through the opening where the seal was removed from the cowl.

 

[jpierro79]

I imagine this would help even without the scoop. At speed wouldn't the airflow over the car create a sort of vacuum and suck/extract air from the engine bay? Not to mention you already have air coming through the front grill.

The vaccuum theory works as downforce if you have a path that runs going front to back and bottom to top at the same time. This would still require a top exit such as a hood scoop.

 

[jchasp59]

Be careful how you make a scoop under the engine bay. If you create pressure behind the radiator it will not flow as much air to cool the radiator, A/C, and intercooler if applicable and may cause overheating, loss in A/C efficiency, and a drop in horsepower from the air not being sufficiently cooled after it is compressed by the turbo (once again, if applicable), which would completely negate the effects of cooling the intake air in the first place.

Good point. I'm going to trust the engineers that designed the vehicle and engine when it comes to cooling/air flow and leave mine as is.

 

[gsxr1000]

this engine runs very hot, at least in my mind, 220 degrees F or more.... i think and the computer wants it this hot. so some of that might be comparing it to older cars where 185 was hot and 220 means new headgasket....

put spaces on the back of the hood so the wind blowing over the hood up the windshield would create a negitive presure pulling air out of the bay and would increase flow through radiator and intercooler....

i sitll think the engine will seem hot due to 30-40 hotter operating tempature

 

[Eric Smit]

Mine runs around 200-205.


-Eric Smit