"Wheel house" vents for exhaust heat

[FredG]

So the purpose of these is to theoretically vent heat away from the engine?? Interesting but are they really needed on a street driven car?

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by FredG

So the purpose of these is to theoretically vent heat away from the engine?? Interesting but are they really needed on a street driven car?

They're as needed as my six pin hubs.

[FredG]

Are they needed because your engine creates a lot of heat or do they have another purpose?

Originally Posted by patrickt

They're as needed as my six pin hubs.

[patrickt]

Well it's hard to say. Since I've always had them, I don't know what's it like not to have them. But I measure the temperature of places like my intake manifold, heads, etc. and I keep a consistent temperature of 165 in the IM and carb area. Heads are warmer than that, coolant and oil temps are at 195 or so. When my fans kick on, you can feel the heat blow out of the wheel wells and it seems to be considerable, but so is the heat off my charcoal grill, so it's really hard to say.

[FredG]

I am installing an oil thermostat this winter as the oil never gets near hot enough so I am expecting a rise in engine compartment temp. Water temp never gets over 180 even on the hottest days. They will give me an option if I think it gets to high and affects cabin temp.

[patrickt]

Now, on a good day I can get my primaries well over 400 degrees. So there's some serious heat there. That under hood heat contributes to fuel percolation and plays havoc with your fuel/air ratio -- especially at idle. Getting the heat out from under your hood when tooling around town at slow speeds, and sitting at stop lights, is really helpful.

[xb-60]

The mesh in the vent panels - is it aluminium or SS?

Cheers,
Glen

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by xb-60

The mesh in the vent panels - is it aluminium or SS?

Cheers,
Glen

A small magnet readily sticks to the mesh. So it must be some sort of very unique paramagnetic aluminum alloy available only to ERA and the space industry. Either that or it's stainless steel.

[1985 CCX]

I know that many comp cars did this, I also followed suit in my old CCX. I did notice with the vents that the footboxes heated up as the heat now was passing through to the box where your feet are. If you have a battery in the normal "street" place this may be a concern depending on your normal temps in your geographic area.
I dont recall ever seeing this vent on street cars, considering even the side pipe convresions, only S/C and comp cars which carry the battery in the interior of the car versus in the space between the wheelwell and footbox.
Just a two cents thought.