FFR Coupe 65 in Sydney

[SydneyChris]

Was looking for a better solution to dragging warm or even hot air in from the engine bay for the intake by running the 4" tubing as per the pic, enclosing it in an insulated filter box and drawing air in from outside via a louvered bonnet vent (mustang style, 11" x 3.5").

Questions.

Rain and water issues.. will an outlet / drain in the filter box resolve that risk.
Sizing (id assume equivalent cross sectional area of 4" tube, plus 25% for friction loss), vent type (as proposed or..??) and viability of the solution..??

Look forward to any thoughts.

With thanks

Chris

[Gav]

Why duct it out?
The hot air from the radiator gets ducted out over the bonnet so the only hot air is from the exhaust.
If your intake was in front or on top of your engine it should be ok.
You could open up the back of the bonnet bulge like an original to introduce cool air in the upper portion of the engine bay if you need.
I'd wait until you have been running it and see how big an issue you have before re engineering it.

[Aussie Mike]

I agree with Gav. For an easy solution just put an intake / filter at the front of the motor. Should be plenty of cold air and positive air pressure there just from the air running under the car.

I made up an intake in this style for mine and planned to shroud it so it took cool air from under the car.



With your setup the hot air from the radiator is already shrouded away from the intake.

As for water, with the filter in this position water won't drain into the intake. Any water/spray drawn in from under the car will go through the motor but that's no problem. Motors don't mind a bit of moisture in with the intake charge. It's actually beneficial in turbo charged motors.

Cheers

Mike

[Modena]

If you box your filter in like an OE style, you're going to reduce induction noise hugely. That's a bad thing

[SydneyChris]

Thanks gents..

I had considered that a few feet back and to the side of the radiator duct the air would be sufficiently mixed to be relatively close to the ambient temp.

Mike.. I cant get the filter anywhere near that close to the underside of the radiator.. its sitting almost directly behind the upper lip at the back of the radiator ducting in a known hot spot on a Coupe as I moved the battery into the engine bay, blocking the path for an inlet of that type. It would also be feeding on air from the cooling system pipe directly underneath.

Noted re opening the back of the bonnet hump... that air is directly in the path of the radiator outlet, rather than to the side as a bonnet vent would be. Regardless, its a high pressure zone at the bottom of the windscreen, that would force air into the engine bay then out, either under the car or via the bonnet vents which is all positive.

I had already made up an insulated air box (aka OEM).. was thinking I could give plan A a go, easily revert to some sort of a scoop behind the radiator ducting if required and maintain the bonnet vents for cooling / engine bay air flow if one was not used as an intake.

The other benefit of the bonnet inlet was the slightly longer induction tube from the MAF to the throttle body, which improves the accuracy of the reading for the ECU. I cant get this extension of the inlet tube with the filter behind the radiator.

Option C...!! duct air in from the side of the bonnet.. aka Clubman style side draft intake.. !

Heading to a performance tuner in a few weeks... will get their 26c worth and update..

[Bender]

Great photos Chris. The car looks like it is really moving on. Depending on room. Could you split the intake in front of the throttle body and mount some flat airfilters in the sides of the radiator inlet duct. Cool air and maybe a bit of pressure at speed.
Bender

[SydneyChris]

Thanks Bender.... dont have that kind of space with the wheel well liners too close to the cheek plates on the radiator.

Was considering using the bonnet bulge to create a duct to the airbox, either by cutting an opening in the front of or along the sides of the bulge or using the HP zone along the trailing edge of the bonnet lip... again.. unsure re rain / water ingress and whether it would be an issue... the Phase III Falcons (and others) have the shaker which bolts to the air filter... no drains or outlets.... so you'd expect it would work.

If I was to use the front of the bonnet budge it would be taking in the exhaust air from the radiator... so not the coolest, although you'd expect it would mix relatively quickly as it discharges..??

Build update...

Just delivered the car to the electrician for final fit off and termination, tidy up and full check, next is the tuners for a cam and sump swap (C6 Corvette sump on an LS3 to get that additional clearance) then to the tuners and Liverpool Exhaust for a couple of tweaks to the pipes, fit the heat shields and ceramic coat from the headers down.

After that............... finalise doors (have been fitted with inner and outer locks plus regs).. just need to get the template right and cut the glass then make some sort of internal trim before fitting the rear hatch and front screen.

Am intending to do a few shakedown runs at Wakefield Park with the crew at Gears then see how it goes for final trim and paint.

Still dont have my seats sorted.. had my heart set on a bucket type, but none with ADR compliance will fit, anyone out there at present with a set of compliant Pace buckets...?

Cheers

Chris

[guye]

Yep. I have a pair Chris. PM sent.

[SydneyChris]

cheers Guy.. much appreciated.. Chris

[SydneyChris]

Sparkie finishing off the wiring of the cruise, Motec PDM, keypad and immobiliser early next week, then to the tuners before getting the exhaust ceramic coated.

Looking into an intake plenum.. not dissimilar to a turkey pan set up to feed from the rear of the bonnet bulge to the airbox... wont be able to commence until I get it back.

Started it at the electricians on Friday for the first time with the high flow cats and side pipes fitted, has a lovely V8 rumble, although Im not confident it will meet the noise limits for a Wakefield, which is 100db.. would also make it a noisy 'cruiser' despite all of the attention to noise and heat insulation. Will see how it goes when it comes back as it was running in the back of a workshop and reverberating. Have seen solenoid controlled exhausts on US examples, with side pipes feeding into an under car system with a secondary muffler and rear discharge.. again, one to look into when it comes back..

Cheers

Chris

[SydneyChris]

Been fiddling with the hood while I the tuner does his thing.

Am conscious of time (elapsed) and wondering just how many Nats I will be able to miss at this rate.. ! Had a go at a NACA duct 6.5" x 2.5" for a cross sectional area which exceeds the 12 sq in of the 4" intake tube. To fit and finish this part its a lot less work than the plenum that would be required to run from the rear of the bonnet bulge to the intake.

A couple of the US guys have installed an intake duct in the fender, but by my calcs they wouldn't get the required air flow. While the NACA duct has the volume in theory I'll also check manifold pressure at speed when its going as a final validation. There is also the option to add a small hood at the rear of the NACA duct to capture more than the surface layer of air, although I wasnt keen on this because of the uneven disturbance it would also create. Second mod is to recess the area leading into the duct slightly to increase the flow.

Also made a couple of buckets with the 3D printer for the Pajero indicators (with thanks Ron F) to semi recess them, not dissimilar to the Superformance set up.

Will update when I have a car to fit the bonnet too..

[SydneyChris]

Originally Posted by Gav

Why duct it out?
The hot air from the radiator gets ducted out over the bonnet so the only hot air is from the exhaust.
If your intake was in front or on top of your engine it should be ok.
You could open up the back of the bonnet bulge like an original to introduce cool air in the upper portion of the engine bay if you need.
I'd wait until you have been running it and see how big an issue you have before re engineering it.

hi Gav.. apologies.. I missed your reply.

Two reasons... firstly I have a significant and overwhelming personality defect, which means I have to stuff around with things... usually making it worse before its finally resolved or put back to the original configuration..

Second, its a known hot spot behind the radiator on these versions of the Coupe. The most common solution is to drill a few 1" holes in the rear face of the radiator duct to positively pressurize this portion on the engine bay. That said, its still warm air at best you'd be using for the induction, which will cost on both economy and performance.

Am going to run the car for a bit before painting.. will be simple enough to cut and patch the glass until I get something the aforementioned personality defect will eventually be satisfied with..

Hope you are going well.. will look forward to news on your build..

Cheers

Chris

[spookypt]

Chris here's what mine look like fyi

[SydneyChris]

thanks Spooky.. Is a gorgeous machine..

The radiator is in a reclined position in this version of the Coupe.. (rather that leaning towards the front of the car as yours, the Harrison versions that were build some years back now and the FFR Gen III). This makes an OTR style intake impossible without visible mods to the bonnet.

Chris

[spookypt]

I dont run the 2nd set of lower lights either.. Maybe one day but it helps keep it nice and cool in summer as well with the added air flow.

[SydneyChris]

Cheers Spooky.. on the FFR the lower lights sit in the bucket that the hinges for the hood mount on.. so there is little point in not installing them.

Indicator lights fitted in the ABS plastic buckets for the moment.. final trim and finish when it goes to paint.

[Gav]

Are you going to use the supplied fog lights Chris?

[SydneyChris]

hi Gav.. yes mate.. installed these, these are the only lights on mine that are no LED as I couldnt find a suitable replacement in the 100mm dia. They are attached with M5 SS bolts into a threaded clip fitted thats to the bracket for the light.

Will grab a pic if you needed one, can unbolt these from the back to remove as required. I also added a 75mm x 3mm AL plate to the front of the bucket to increase the strength as the glass was only 3 mm or so thick at this point.

[Gav]

I have a picture in my office of an original Daytona with Lucas 576 style driving lights.
They would look great with tripod headlights.

[SydneyChris]

they would.. you could even do stone guards. Have seen the Lucas replicas on a few sites in the UK.