I dont detail mine as much, but I wouldnt mind cleaning it each time if needed just to be able to have a vented hood/colder engine bay.

Do you have any recomendations for engine bay claening products?

 

A damp rag used very frequently is enough to do the trick for me. I try to stay away from Chemical cleaners because I fear their effects on all the plastics. Of course, my car only has 8400 miles on it in 18 months, so it's pretty easy to keep clean right now. As far as anything I can't reach by hand....I don't worry about it because you probably can't see it anyway.

 

I have a seibon TS hood and the flow is pretty amazing just by noticing how much dirt gets on teh hood after two weeks of driving it right behind the vents. It sat in the rain all day a week ago. The only parts that were even wet were the outside painyted portions of the engine bay and a little on the battery cover. The TS is also very tasteful as far as vented hoods go. I like it alot but to each their own. Fitment was perfect which was a happy surprise.

 

here you go:

 

mines a daily driver and don't have much time to clean it. But I drive about 2 miles a day just to the train station and back. Last weekend, it pissed outside. So much rain and I wondered what that does to anyone's engine. I can imagine some grease running down the engine and possibly going into places it shouldn't. Anyone here drive in heavy rain with vented hoods?

 

Z boy : thanks for the pics. You used velcro for a quick installation of vents. Can you comment on how the velcro is affected by the heat in the engine?

 

if anything, it made the glue stick better.
i used to run my hood in the rain. then jason from performance nissan, who has the same hood, mentioned he was getting rid of the hood cuz the elements were affecting his engine (he lost his liner). after that, i decided to carry the liner in the trunk for rainy days.

 

Yes I have but like i said the water doesnt get on the engine at all. My engine is no more wet than normal when it rains but my filter gets a little moist. Everytime it rains i pop the hood to check it out and the moisture really doesnt get anywhere. Just pick a hood with vents on the outise not in the center of the hood. Also having only exit vents really helps since your not ramming water into your engine compartment.

 

Please excuse my ignorance. What is an exit vent? I'll assume that it's a vent that is angled to make air come out instead of a flat open space. Have any pics or examples of the difference between and exit vent and "the other"?

 

entrance vent:

 

exit vent:

 

btw hot hood Z BOY, thats one of my favorites. I might have changed my mind and bought that one if i had known it came with a vent seal like that.

 

hehe. thanx. i saw one on jason's z long ago, and i was like "oh yes, you will be mine".

 

I'm guessing that the Veilside hoods don't come with any sort of cover. Oh well, I don't plan on driving in the rain much anyway.

 

all you guys without covers should request that the vendors start including liners with their vented hoods.

 

honestly, seeing several hundred porsches run in the rain at Clash (watkins glen) a few years back... well, they all have vented "hoods" (rear bonnet, whatever) and nobody complained stuff's not hot enough to be damaged, you are getting free cooling from the "intercooler sprayer in the sky" if you get my meaning... worst i could see is maybe cosmetic waterspotting the aluminum?

 

if ur engine can't handle a little bit of rain splash.. you shouldnt be driving it.. its not like it's an electric motor...everything's covered and clipped in with layers and layers of plastic.. we get more splash UP from under the car that we'll ever see from up top imho... even with a few little holes in the hood, there shouldnt be an issue..