Vented hood thread

[Nut_N_Much]

Originally Posted by DIGItonium

I received a one-off vented hood from Aero Jacket, which makes use of the OEM hood and is based off the one on Jamaica@UAMotorsports car. It's pretty rough and requires a bit of work from the body shop, but I rather have this custom vented hood than a CF vented hood or anything with protruding add on vents. I'm just crossing my fingers that it'll turn out well. I'll work underneath to improve stability and aesthetics at a later time... looks pretty gross underneath haha.

Man, that looks really good. Nice simple lines and looks like it will be functional. Thank you for posting this photo. Found my next project..

[DIGItonium]

Originally Posted by Nut_N_Much

Man, that looks really good. Nice simple lines and looks like it will be functional. Thank you for posting this photo. Found my next project..

Thanks... haha you missed a post in between of the painted hood.
Vented hood thread

[Nut_N_Much]

Originally Posted by DIGItonium

Thanks... haha you missed a post in between of the painted hood.
Vented hood thread

That is perfect.. Looks factory..

[GaleForce]

Originally Posted by DIGItonium

Thanks... haha you missed a post in between of the painted hood.
Vented hood thread

Sweet! That is one hood I would run on my car. Now to find someone to do the work for me.

[DIGItonium]

Thanks, all. I'm not sure I even need a thermal camera since it's easy to test with the cooling fans running. The front most vent doesn't flow much air at all, but the one in the middle vents lots of air. That should give you guys a ball park.

Overall, I'm liking these vents especially the middle one. If you guys have Aero Jacket cut them out for you, be prepared for lots of prep work to make it look clean. The tech at the body shop did an excellent job cleaning things up and adding additional reinforcements. It should be further improved once grills are added.

[synolimit]

Originally Posted by Chuck33079

Stock or NA cars aren't really in dire need of this, it's more for the FI guys since we've got a big *** intercooler stuffed in front of the radiator. We don't need to hamper airflow any more than we already have. If it's over 100 and I've been beating on the car and then get stuck in traffic with the ac on full blast, I can get the temp gauge to move a couple of dots. The OEM gauge isn't going to be accurate enough to show anything but a drastic difference. We really need someone with a water temp gauge. DIGI's vents look like they're in the area where I'd think you'd get the most hot air being extracted at speed. He's got access to a thermal cam, so that should let us see airflow at idle. Unfortunately we don't have many options to test airflow at speed other than short pieces of string all over the hood. It works, but it's a pain in the ***.

Can't we live log the coolant temps? Isn't there apps too for iPads and stuff to view everything?

[wstar]

Yeah you can use Torque on android. My RaceKeeper datalogger tracks coolant temps throughout my track sessions, too (well, when I don't have a bad SD card or some other tech issue holding it up, as was the case the past time out). Even NA engines can use a little more airflow through the radiator if they can get it, when doing track events in the TX summer heat. Radiator airflow correlates with oil cooler airflow too, since it's all in the same air path.

[GaleForce]

Originally Posted by DIGItonium

Thanks, all. I'm not sure I even need a thermal camera since it's easy to test with the cooling fans running. The front most vent doesn't flow much air at all, but the one in the middle vents lots of air. That should give you guys a ball park.

Overall, I'm liking these vents especially the middle one. If you guys have Aero Jacket cut them out for you, be prepared for lots of prep work to make it look clean. The tech at the body shop did an excellent job cleaning things up and adding additional reinforcements. It should be further improved once grills are added.

( Click to show/hide )

I wouldn't get Aero Jacket to make the hood for me after seeing what they gave you to work with. Your tech did a great job cleaning up their work. Looks great!

[DIGItonium]

Originally Posted by GaleForce

I wouldn't get Aero Jacket to make the hood for me after seeing what they gave you to work with. Your tech did a great job cleaning up their work. Looks great!

It's a one off kind of thing. I ended up spend way too much on this hood after all is said and done. Issues keep piling up... now my DVD HU is dead after picking up the car. No guarantee the shop is going to cover it.

[wstar]

Originally Posted by DIGItonium

I'm not sure I even need a thermal camera since it's easy to test with the cooling fans running. The front most vent doesn't flow much air at all, but the one in the middle vents lots of air. That should give you guys a ball park.

Yeah but I assume you mean you're looking at the coolant fan flow with the car sitting at a stop. Everything can change pretty dramatically once the aero effects come into play at speed (80mph wind hitting the front grill, flowing over the car in some unknown shape, bouncing off the windshield, etc).

Ideally we'd wind-tunnel this stuff, but that's pretty unlikely to happen given the costs. The yarn thing is really the way to go for at least understanding the airflow on the outside skin of the hood. Differential pressure gauges can tell us for sure where the pressure buildups happen both under and over the hood. Between those two we can probably make some pretty good approximate design choices.

To me, the real tragedy is that the community will have to eventually do this itself instead of some manufacturer doing it with their own resources and time. The ratio of vented hoods being sold by vendors to vendors actually doing research to make sure they're effective is sad.

[Chuck33079]

Originally Posted by wstar

The ratio of vented hoods being sold by vendors to vendors actually doing research to make sure they're effective is sad.

That ratio is directly in line with the ratio of people who want a vented hood because it looks cool to people who want a correctly designed vented hood. Digi's is one of the few I've seen where the vents look like they're in the right place and shaped right.

[wstar]

Originally Posted by Chuck33079

That ratio is directly in line with the ratio of people who want a vented hood because it looks cool to people who want a correctly designed vented hood. Digi's is one of the few I've seen where the vents look like they're in the right place and shaped right.

Well, sure, I could've restated my opinion as a statement about ratios of types of owners too, and I might've done it with sharper words than that, but then the whole forums would come down on top of my head There's nothing wrong with owning/driving a sportscar just for the look-and-feel, but it starts bugging when people throw so many hours and dollars into modding the hell out it with very functional-sounding parts any have no idea whether they're functional or counter-productive...

[DIGItonium]

I'm pretty happy with the results. It's definitely better than nothing, and it doesn't look too ricey either. I still prefer this over a CF hood, unless it's a true composite (super crazy expensive). My car is stuck in the garage to let the paint fully cure before getting the rock guard installed. I'll keep you guys posted once the car is back on the road.

[DarkJak]

That finished hood looks absolutey excellent! Surprising after I saw the way it arrived to you. Looks like it'll be very functional unlike the hoods where the vents are out at the sides, instead of the middle where they would extract hot air after the radiator.

[synolimit]

Originally Posted by wstar

Yeah you can use Torque on android. My RaceKeeper datalogger tracks coolant temps throughout my track sessions, too (well, when I don't have a bad SD card or some other tech issue holding it up, as was the case the past time out). Even NA engines can use a little more airflow through the radiator if they can get it, when doing track events in the TX summer heat. Radiator airflow correlates with oil cooler airflow too, since it's all in the same air path.

I wanna hook my iPad up. What's the best program and cable and easy plug and play?