Best Summer gift for my Zed

For a long time, I was thinking of making some Exit vents on the bonnet for the hot engine bay air to pass out. And reduce some temperature of coolant and engine bay.

I was inspired by this Zed pic


My Zed's coolant temperature normally sits on 78-80c on nice day. But last Thursday we had 38c in melbourne and on the way back home from work,the coolant temperature reached 95c
Then on Friday it was 43c outside and coolant temperature gone to 105c and i have to stop for 40 mins to let it cool down.

I had made six Exit Vents on the spare bonnet last weekend..
here are some pics with the mesh put in glued with sikaflexxxx...







Did a trail fit on Sunday, fits perfectly.
And driven to work and way back today in 36c melbourne. Guess what zed's coolant temperature only gone upto 88c on ecutalk.

Big drop in engine bay temperature and about 10c drop in coolant temp. made a smile on my face

 

looks good man!
Do you have more pics of that white Z? Looks amazing :zlove:

 

very nice !!:zlove: And yes the white looks good to!!

 

nice work, good start and happy to hear it helps temps.
Just make sure there are no electrical's (connectors, starter etc) that can get shorted by water flowing over them in rain.
From factory its all pretty sealed but with age cracking plastics, rubbers etc, many zed owners have washed their engine bay and then fried something or cant start!

 

Thanks mate, Here is another one

 

thats all well and good that a few people on the forum are cutting pieces out of their bonnets. but how does the water getting into and on the engine affect the engine after time? and all the bits that arent aluminium or alloy?

I know these are different to the old v8 s that had an issue with rust if the old painted parts got wet and had bad paint.
but I would have thought it wouldnt be a great idea to let water into the engine bay directly from the top.

suppose its all good if the car is always garaged though.

 

Thank mate,
Yeh, it's big concern in the rain and when I am gonna wash the car. The water will go in.
Will be alright when driving, Bcoz inside air gonna push the rain water out.

But I wonder how those Evo bonnets made from factory??? What they have done to stop the water to go in the electrical connectors???

 

BAINS ... a good result but given the high readings, despite the ambient temps, it would be worth giving your cooling system a serious overhaul / refresh ....

and if you do not already have one, get yourself THE BEST SUMMER INSURANCE, a TWD ... now available from member OX320 .. you will never regret the purchase and your Zed will love you.

 

The Z doesn't overheat but now i want to cut holes in the bonnet.

what is wrong with me.

 

another option is to remove the rubber seal that runs along the cowl top on the firewall which seals against the bonnet. you can also lift the bonnet up slightly at the rear by spacing where the hinge bolts to the bonnet, helps draw out hot air from in the engine bay. i do this for track days and it's completely reversible.

 

My old Evo 7 had the vent straight above the gap between the engine and the radiator. The manifold heat shields sometimes get a bit corroded, but nothing too bad.

 

Looks pretty good, although as Baz said there are some other things you should definitely check if you're having cooling trouble. I was having similar issues a little while back and decided to get around to removing the AC element and found straw and shredded fabric from an old mouse nest between the AC and radiator, must have sat for a while at some point. Temps are fine now.

With the water issue and cars with OEM vents the important bit is position, I know FC RX7's have deflectors on the inside of the hood which funnel any incoming water towards the front so it just pours down between the fan and radiator. The bonnet on my Z filled my mongoose siren with water, corroding it and resulting in it being a pita

 

Thanks baz,
Yeh I am also looking into refreshing my cooling system.

 

Thanks rob
Yeh that's the good idea "towel" mmm.

I know it wont have any problem driving in rain. Its only when its sitting in the rain.
But I am thinking to put some big sq tyre rubber piece on the electrical connectors. So they won't get wet.

 

Yep will check those.

Funnel or some sort guide under each vent for the water to drop would be the way to go.

Ideas ideas!!!

 

Yeh then the zed wont have those "killer looks" lol

 

Yeh it's garaged at home.
And I had the spare bonnet, so I experiment this. Cost me next to nothing, just bit of hard work.
Atleast it's better than the UAS vented bonnet for a grand.

Guessing it's gonna stay ON until summer ends, then swap with other one for winters.
Thanks