Couple of questions about our functional hood scoop:
1. Looking at the underside of the hood scoop (the housing) from the under side of the hood, it appears that it is closed off except for a small opening in the front of it. It appears that this opening allows air to flow in and/or out from under the hood, but it is not sealed off when the hood is closed--I think. Am I correct?
2. Which way does the air flow, or does it flow both ways?
2. Has anyone here taken the housing off to clean it? How is that done? If I remove the six pop rivets from the frame of the housing, does the housing come off from the under side of the hood? Once removed from the under side of the hood, is the housing open on the top side and can it then be cleaned?
3. Is it even necessary to clean the inside of the housing? If debris gets into the housing will it make any difference unless it clogs the opening referenced in #1 above? Will any small debris find its way out of the scoop housing from the flow of air?
Thanks in advance.

 

1) It is not closed off.

2) Supposedly out from that very small hole.

3) Remove 6 clips and housing comes off.. Grill doesn't need to be removed for cleaning.

4) If any large debris does make it in there, I would clean it out.


My observation is when it rains the water runs out of it on to the coolant bottle cap.
Making things dirty in that area.


Joe Z

 

I haven't looked into this yet, but is it possible to remove the plastic housing and do you think this would be beneficial to run it his way at the track, on a non rainy day?

 

When I last tracked my RC-F several racers there thought the hood vent cover should be remove along with the rubber 4ft gasket at the back of the hood to allow hot air to flow out and over the windshield.

 

FWIW, I always pop my hood open after pulling into the garage and noticed how much less heat there is under the RC-F hood compared to the IS-F. I can literally touch some of the parts, which I couldn't with the IS-F. The hood vent may be sucking air in during normal/high speed driving and could be letting hot air out when the car is stopped. That's just my guess.

 

That hood vent is as functional as a movie based on 'true events' is. To be truly functional, it'd have to have a much larger opening inside the hood. That minuscule hole only allows a minimal amount of heat to vent out. But it's better than nothing.

 

Been reading on Camaros and Hellcats. Camaros have a rain catch tray but with more vents (about 1/3 of the total vented area). Their owners manual says to remove the cover for the track. I’m inclined to believe this cover is really a practical solution to catch debris (lot of junk falling out of trees in spring and fall) and prevent it from falling into the engine bay for those who park outside or use their vehicles as DDs. One Hellcat driver remarked his hood bulges less with the rain tray removed when he reaches 120-130mph. The fact they are easily removable suggests the intent to remove them for driving at high speeds. Makes me wonder if it’s more about pressure reduction under the hood over temperature reduction?

 

The front grill is a pretty big opening, so getting actual air out of the engine bay via top and side vents would provide some aero benefit. I've always assumed the vents were to extract air from the engine bay, heat coming with that air was just a side benefit.

Thanks for bumping this old thread as it appears guys noticed the benefit of opening the vent and removing the rear rubber gasket on the track way back in 2015 and I only figured that last part out this spring.