air intakes

The Oily Bits S1 Specific Topics
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in the front spoiler you got two dummy-air intakes i thought to open them :- one to the “radiateur”- one to the cockpit (all my passengers get ill from the heat)is it a good idea or do those dummys have a aerodynamic function ?

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NarcrisAs far as I recall, the front intakes on the Motorsport cars are open (with ducting) - to allow air to cool the brakes. However, the Motorsport cars do have a different (lower) front spoiler.I know what you mean about cockpit heat! To help reduce it, a few of us have drilled a hole in each of the panels behind the small grills on the rear - the reversing/fog lights remain in place. Also, we have cut out the panel where the number plate fits, & fitted mesh. This really does help the heat escape from the engine bay, & the cockpit is cooler too. My rear number plate is attached with velcro, so I remove the number plate when I am on track. I will send you some photos in the next few days - unfortunately I don’t know how to post them on this bbs.

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I’m not sure there’s any real aero function but I wonder if opening them may slightly reduce the downforce at the front, just a theory.David has recently used them to cool the brakes. See pics: http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/Forum1/HTML/000993.html I did read somewhere that this could take too much heat out of the brakes but as David’s car is supercharged (as he points out) he’s braking from higher speeds sooner than a standard car.I would have thought you’d have a hard time running a pipe to the cabin from the front of the car (it’s pretty crammed in there) and get little benefit to the rad from the increase of the small opening. Recent discussion has suggested it’s not over needed anyway.Have you considered A/c as a method of cooling the passengers?! Apparently Lotus even put the infrastructure into some cars. Occasionally people get too hot and confused and report that it actually works! [Yeah right!]Ian [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/smile.gif[/image]

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Narciris, one of them to the radiator and the other to cool the cockpit?As far as I know, the existing radiator has enough airflow, you don’t need more there.And it would be very difficult to rout from those openings to the cockpit, and there’s no need. See, the air intakes to the cockpit are just to the sides of the intake to the radiator, inside the big opening in the middle (they’re black, vertical slits).Since this is the highest pressure area, you don’t need more.Now, my car (no AC version), even putting the ventilation on full cool when the outside air temp was cold, hot air was coming out. I took it to the dealer and explained that at least air with the same temp as the outside should come through the vents. They inspected and found that in fact the flapper valve that chooses heated or cold air was not closing properly. They adjusted that and now the air comes in at the same temp as the outside. I think that could be your problem.On the Braking side, on some (shorter, more winding) tracks you may overheat the brakes (I did it) but it comes to the individual driving. Some other drivers in the same cars going at about the same pace didn’t.In the Motorsport world, it seems that nobody opened the intakes because the brakes worked ok (proving that they’re naturally ventilated enough or don’t get so hot because of the light weight of the car).In the street I would be definitely against opening them because they would cool too much (hey, I need to put on some heat into them to make them start working).Having said that I am myself considering opening them (in a nicer way) and putting a velcro lid for the road, only opening them at the track.On the other hand, maybe I’ll leave them as they are… [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/wink.gif[/image]Cheers !Uldis [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/grin.gif[/image]

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quote:Originally posted by narciris:in the front spoiler you got two dummy-air intakes i thought to open them :- one to the “radiateur”- one to the cockpit (all my passengers get ill from the heat)is it a good idea or do those dummys have a aerodynamic function ?was also thinking about this in similar way, but wanted to route the air to the oil cooler, since its more in a closed area. Any thoughts about this anyone?cheersPhilipp

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i discussed the pictures from P3SKE and your mails with my tuning-manhe says Admin’s solution is logic : you cool the tyres on the straight and the brakes when you turn the dummys create turbulences that slow the car down - there should be no problem with the downforce - it will be 5km/h faster when you open them he saidsame solution for the engine bay : you create an air flux instead of turbulences if you open the numberplateholder - and it will cool the cockpit too he saidit all made him thinking about the dummy-air outtakes behind the front wheels : if you open them, more airflux, better speed, etc

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Narc,I wouldn’t trust your mechanic too much.The air vents of Admin are not going to have any cooling effect to the tyres in the straights, the air that is already arriving in front of them will.When you’re turning the tyres are barely moved (not like in a parking lot).You would get some cooling effect because the low pressure zones of the car are normally to the sides of the wheels (and the back of the car) and the air is moving from inside to the outside, therefore cooling the disc. If you have more air there, it just aid a little bit more.But it’s not as effective as if having a shroud around the disc and the hose clamped there (D. Tweeks sell some of these, see the motorsports catalog).Agree with opening the rear vents, but better yet opening them completely (I’m looking to do that but the clam has to be removed).The vents on the rear of the front fenders (by the doors) are fake because there could be no air moving there if you have a wheel liner installed (if you open them the liner will move on the pressure differential).You might take it off, plumb a hose through the air intakes to disc shrouds and then open the rear vent of the fender, and the result would be a car that has no more top speed, every time you pressed the pedal would be like the first time (brakes too cold, no braking power), and the sides of the doors would get dirty very soon. The inside of the clam would be very dirty as well and a nightmare to wash.Recommendation? listen to your mechanics opinions with a grain of salt and if you want, open the rear clam vents only.Cheers,UldisPS-can you tell I’m an engineer? [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/wink.gif[/image]

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I guess it depends on the circuit, but I can’t imagine opening the fronts + adding a shroud will cool your discs so that they’re cold every time you need them.

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Depending on the pad composition, but yes, on a short circuit (like Knockhill) there should be an improvement with ventilation. On a long one and not so demanding on the brakes, probably no difference.But these cars are also used on the street. My impression is that all this would be horrible there.Don’t get me wrong, I still like the idea, but as I pointed out, if I do it, the scoops would have some sort of removable “cap” or “lid” that I would take off only at a track.Uldis

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so we opened the air intakes in the front spoiler and did the same thing at the rear as P3SKE with a removable numberplatei tried it at spa yesterday and believe it or not the car goes faster or was that due to the lightweight exhaust The heat in the cockpit is gone : I caught a severe cold

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quote:Originally posted by narciris:so we opened the air intakes in the front spoiler and did the same thing at the rear as P3SKE with a removable numberplatei tried it at spa yesterday and believe it or not the car goes faster or was that due to the lightweight exhaust The heat in the cockpit is gone : I caught a severe cold Don’t blame me for your severe cold [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/wink.gif[/image]At the front, have just opened up the intakes or have added ducting to cool the brakes?

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no, no ductingi saw another Exige on track in Spa with ducting to the oil-cooler

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I don’t know for sure, but it seems to me that the easiest way of getting heat away from the front brakes is not to ram ‘cold’ in but to suck out the ‘hot’.Why not take the plastic filler plate of the back of the front wings, after all, it’s only held in by a copule of screws and leaves a nice gaping hole in the airflow over and around the wing.Just a thought…Mike

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quote:Originally posted by 83man:Why not take the plastic filler plate of the back of the front wings, after all, it’s only held in by a copule of screws and leaves a nice gaping hole in the airflow over and around the wing.Just a thought…Mike83manWouldn’t you have to cut holes in, or remove the inner wheel arch liner as well??

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hey mike,yes, quite a dilemma : to ram or to suck

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quote:Originally posted by RoxTeddy: 83manWouldn’t you have to cut holes in, or remove the inner wheel arch liner as well??Yes, well spotted - you’re absolutely right…but the theory stands. In any case the same applies to ram as well as suck… you have to get the air in or out somehow and the liner is only thin plastic so it shouldn’t be a problem.RegardsMike

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I’ve been thinking for a long time about opening up those vents behind the front wheels. Obviously you’d need to cut a hole in the wheel arch liner. The problem is the door hinges. They tend to need regular lubricating to stop them squeaking. Imagine what they’d be like with loads of crap spraying all over them through a hole in the wheel arch liner. I wouldn’t consider doing this job unless I can get/make a shield that would keep all the muck away from hinges. It should probably join onto the liner to stop the dirt getting anywhere else as well.

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Anybody got any thoughts about possible downsides to opening the rear vents? I was wondering if there might be problems with too much heat around the fog/reversing lamps. I don’t want to do this without considering any potential problems. I’m thinking of cutting away most of the vent, just leaving in the upper surface, and the part of the rear surface where the lamp is screwed on.

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BrendanMyself & a few others have done this - in conjunction with cutting away the bit behind the rear number plate. See photos in thread “Da Edwards Diffuser”.

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Hi Brendan,We have opened up the rear vents on our car by removing only the back piece to the side of the lights (the bit where the black sticker is) We have also removed the black pannel form behind the number plate added around 40, 20mm diameter holes behind where the plate fits and then remounted the plate with 1" spacers the allow the hot air to escape. Then we have opened the front brake ducts and used 2 1/2" pipe to connect them through a hole into the inner arch to give cooling to the front brakes. All have had positive reactions, the engine bay is cooler, water temp is slightly lower on track and front brakes are much cooler. Haven’t noticed any negatives apart from cutting big holes in the car!!! can mail you pictures if you want.