I'm new to the whole rotary forum but the love goes way back. I just wanted to know soemthing that Rotaries are prone to getting hot under the hood and some mods use bigger radiators and vented hoods. I was wondering if there is any damage driving a vented hood in the rain. Since the hood is there to prevent water from getting in wouldn't having vented hoods be bad in rain or it wouldn't make a difference. Hopefully, I can get a good answr from you knowlegable people.

 

I run the scoot hood with no rain guard.....no trouble yet

 

Thats cool never heard much out of amemiya mods maybe i'll look into that in the future. but my concern is that when you have a turbo it gets hot in the bay and isn't it harmful? i don't know just want to be careful since my s2000 friend told me he wanted to get a vented hood but then he wouldn't be able to go out into the rain so just interested in peoples opinions or any concreate facts out there.

 

Hmmm...aren't all rotaries watercooled, not air cooled? So vents wouldn't really do much? Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

 

You're wrong......lol....underhood temps dropped dramatically when i put the hood on.

 

Yes its water cooled, but removing the hot air under the hood will also help. Think about it this way, would it be easier to keep something cool when it is setting in a 200deg room or in a 100deg room??? When I get hot I cool off better when its 40deg outside opposed to 90deg, not to mention it takes longer to get hot.

 

Honestly I don't think a vented hood should cause much problems in the rain, and to not be able to drive a car in the rain with vented hood is just dumb. Really I mean if there is something that would get dammaged/cracked by rain such as the turbo hotside. As long as you don't have the vent right above the hotside how would the water effect the turbo any different than all the water thats bieng kicked up and into the engine bay by the wheels or your car and the mist created by other cars?

If a vented hood does cause an issue of too much rain getting into the engine bay then your not driving fast enough!

 

what about something like a cowl style just not as large and shaped differently

 

I see you're from California. There's not enough rain to even begin to worry about. I have a vented and I run it in the rain with no problem. I just did an Auto-X in the rain this past weekend.

 

What I did with my 87TII was build an aluminum cover that I bilted on the underside that I installed during rainy days. I used it for purposes other than getting rain in there for the sake of affecting the engines performance, my engine bay was immaculate and I wanted to keep water from getting on top of the engine to keep it from getting the thing dirty. It was an easy install and took just four screws that took about two minutes to put on.

 

would you happen to have pictures or anything to show how this setup might be useful for me when it gets rainy. and yes it does rain on occassion and in some places it even snows so yeah help would be nice

 

I don't have a photo, and the car has since had the hood replaced by an aluminum N/A hood. What you need to do is go down to the local hardware store and by a thin sheet of aluminum. Then go to the hood and remove the rubber gasket around the opening. Trace out a template of the opening pluse the screw holes around it. (4 would be fine and they are 6mm) Then trace the aluminum and cut it with tin snips or razor knife. Drill the holes and you are good to go.

BTW I am assuming you have an fmic..