Raised bonnet hinges

[Beany]

I mean, if you want to make it look like you've had a low speed shunt into the back of a lorry...



I mean, what's the appeal? I believe the whole black bonnet thing is allegedly meant to emulate the old long-bonnet GT racers where the sun would reflect into the screen (hence paint it matt black) but is this meant to look like a car with a wholly inadequate cooling solution?

And presumably it's great fun when it rains, what with the main fusebox often living up near the back of the engine bay....

Maybe I'm just getting old

[Gwaredd]

I believe it's to let the hot air escape out of the engine bay. The 106 lot used to do it, but even back then I thought it looked retarded.

[NotoriousREV]

It comes from the VW scene. Tuned Beetles used to use stand-offs to let more air into the engine bay.

[Jobbo]

Is it to mimic a Nissan GTR which thinks it has hit a pedestrian?

https://jalopnik.com/5405312/nissan-gt- ... epair-bill

[Mito Man]

If I ever buy a GTR that’s the first thing that’s coming out then. What a stupid feature - imagine hitting a pheasant (other wildlife is available) and requiring a whole new front end...

[scotta]

If I ever buy a GTR that’s the first thing that’s coming out then. What a stupid feature - imagine hitting a pheasant (other wildlife is available) and requiring a whole new front end...

I hit a pheasant in my Mk1 Focus - total repair bill £15 for a new grill from Ford.Id be slightly miffed at an £11k bill.

[integrale_evo]

It's dumb and doesn't work as the base of the windscreen is a high pressure area ( the big clue being this is where most cars have their heater intake... )

Might help a little when sat stationary with the radiator fan on, but will do little to help when moving.

And yes, it always looks stupid.

[Zonda_]

It comes from the VW scene. Tuned Beetles used to use stand-offs to let more air into the engine bay.

Which would make sene with them being air cooled.

[Mito Man]

And you’d get a crap tonne more airflow with the engine at the back.

[integrale_evo]

Yes, tipping the top of a beetle boot away from the body turns it into a scoop to catch the air flowing over and down the curved rear end. Pretty handy on something aircooled probably making 50% + more power than it was designed to.

[nuttinnew]

Maybe it's for extra mph like an Abarth

[integrale_evo]

No, that was purely for cooling. Any aerodynamic improvement was purely incidental. Honest....

[NotoriousREV]

I should point out that raised hinges at the front isn’t designed to suck cooling air in from the base of the windscreen, it’s to draw air out from under the bonnet into that low pressure area and thus increase airflow. Still looks gash, though.

[Jobbo]

It's not a low pressure area though.



http://www.importatlanta.com/forums/gen ... r-car.html

[NotoriousREV]

Ah, so this is going to be this forum's tank tracks, is it?

[JLv3.0]

I was just about to post that!! Is it time for Jobbo's Annual Argueathon?

Who can forget Molegate?

[JLv3.0]

No, that was purely for cooling. Any aerodynamic improvement was purely incidental. Honest....

In fact wasn't it actually for additional cooling? If memory serves, the tactic was to love-tap the engine cover closed so they'd then overheat

[ste]

JIC though. It's a high pressure area which makes doing it really, really stupid. What it achieves is air entering the back of the bonnet and stalling the air that should be coming in the front intake and flowing through your rad.

[NotoriousREV]

Nope.

[integrale_evo]

If you want to get air out of the engine bay you need a vent just after the front curve of the bonnet but behind the radiator.

As per just about any high performance vehicle with a vented bonnet.

A small row of louvres there would be many times more effective at reducing under bonnet temperatures than sticking a spacer under the bonnet hinge.

If it was such a marvellous idea, why don't you see proper race cars do it? Or high performance variants of production cars?

As I said earlier, and as jobbos image shows, the upward slope of the screen at that point makes it a high pressure point which is why the huge majority of cars have some sort of intake there rather than try and vent engine heat out in that area.