Tunnel cooling Mod Complete!!

Tunnel cooling Mod Complete!!

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Urbalizer

Original Poster:

481 posts

174 months

Tuesday 13th October 2009
quotequote all
Here are a few pics of the tunnel cooling mod being carried out, few awkward screws to get to, while the hell they put the screws to remove the tunnel access panel behind the steering rack bolts is beyond me, but apart from that it was quite an easy and very effective cooling mod.

Pic showing the four intake pipes from the front going into the airbox.



I removed the middle two because these were longer and route to the tunnel perfectly with a few inches spare.



A pic showing the modified tunnel access plate, with a dummy run of the two air hoses attcahed.



Below is a pic of the tunnel access plate back in place with the air intake pipes firmy fed through and locked into place.



At 15k miles the silicone sealant Noble has applied had done its job, once the silicone was removed the chassis was in perfect condition, for once they had sealed something correctly.



The underpan as always had shown signs of oxidization, local to all the rivets, but was not too bad.



Below is the underpan with lashings of fresh silicone sealant ready to go back into place.



Below is the undepan back in place, i decided to fix with S/S screws so that you do not have to drill out rivets everytime you want access.



Then finally fans and heat shield back into place and job done, this modification takes the air ram effect of air from the front of the car, and pushes it through the tunnel and into the engine bay.



This is a great cooling mod, as it can gets stinking hot in the tunnel, the vents under the car do not work very well, all the pipes in the tunnel lay on top of the underpan, almost blocking air from getting in from the unerpan vents, anybody who has felt the hand brake or gear lever get hot, must know the benefits of this mod, the fact the handbrake can be hot to the touch can only mean there is a build of of really hot air in the tunnel, in fact Hoover reported finding heat damage to materials and pipes running through the tunnel, he said everything looked scorched.
This air that comes out the engine side of the tunnel also helps remove a lot of the stagnant hot air around the front turbo, more air in, so we need to let more air out hence the Adrians aero mods to the rear clamshell, better air flow in and out. it can also be argued that opening up the rear clamshell helps reduce drag, as the whale tail acts like a big parachute internally and traps hot air.



JLSELAN

405 posts

233 months

Tuesday 13th October 2009
quotequote all
Looks good.
But it will also help if the vents cut into the removable plates that seal off the bottom of the tunnel are directed towards the rear of the car so that the air you are forcing into the front of the tunnel has another way to exhaust out of the tunnel and into the low pressure area under the car.

Urbalizer

Original Poster:

481 posts

174 months

Tuesday 13th October 2009
quotequote all
JLSELAN said:
Looks good.
But it will also help if the vents cut into the removable plates that seal off the bottom of the tunnel are directed towards the rear of the car so that the air you are forcing into the front of the tunnel has another way to exhaust out of the tunnel and into the low pressure area under the car.
I have thought about this myself, but i am waiting for somebody else to do the testing, i tend to follow what other people have tried and tested, the vents can easily be reversed.
Our US counterparts seem to be leading the way on cooling mods as they race them in the Californian desert, Hoover has not mentioned any benefit of reversing the vents and he is heavily into development with mods, so i am just going to follow suit.

Gadgeroonie

5,362 posts

236 months

Tuesday 13th October 2009
quotequote all
great write up urbiliser

have you made mods to the actual scoops at the front of the car ?

could they be opened up for more airflow ?

jamescmr2

713 posts

179 months

Tuesday 13th October 2009
quotequote all
your exhausts look really good. def getting quad pipes myself

James

paulcundy

1,896 posts

265 months

Tuesday 13th October 2009
quotequote all
JLSELAN said:
Looks good.

another way to exhaust out of the tunnel and into the low pressure area under the car.
Low pressure under the car helps it stick to the road. Don't go reducing it.

The front collectors can be opened out by removing the baffle plate.

If you carefully remove the redundant collar that the re-directed pipes used to clamp onto, you can then bond or rivet them to the tunnel blanking plate with it in situ which means you can do the job without having to remove it.

see http://paulcundy.smugmug.com/gallery/359222#336603...

Regards
Paul C

Urbalizer

Original Poster:

481 posts

174 months

Tuesday 13th October 2009
quotequote all
paulcundy said:
JLSELAN said:
Looks good.

another way to exhaust out of the tunnel and into the low pressure area under the car.
Low pressure under the car helps it stick to the road. Don't go reducing it.

The front collectors can be opened out by removing the baffle plate.

If you carefully remove the redundant collar that the re-directed pipes used to clamp onto, you can then bond or rivet them to the tunnel blanking plate with it in situ which means you can do the job without having to remove it.

see http://paulcundy.smugmug.com/gallery/359222#336603...

Regards
Paul C
Now you tell me smile lol, in situ would have been musch easier i must admit.

Gadgeroonie

5,362 posts

236 months

Tuesday 13th October 2009
quotequote all
paul i see you have one pipe to the brake and one to the tunnel

what is happening on the other side

have you removed the heater from your car for good ?

paulcundy

1,896 posts

265 months

Tuesday 13th October 2009
quotequote all
Gadgeroonie said:
paul i see you have one pipe to the brake and one to the tunnel

what is happening on the other side

have you removed the heater from your car for good ?
yep. unnecessary weight.
Paul C

Urbalizer

Original Poster:

481 posts

174 months

Tuesday 13th October 2009
quotequote all
Gadgeroonie said:
great write up urbiliser

have you made mods to the actual scoops at the front of the car ?

could they be opened up for more airflow ?
lol, you may have noticed i have fog lamps fitted in front of my front air scoops smile, kind of messing up the ram effect, but the front mesh was modified to suit, still gets a lot of air forced in through these front intakes, the below pic you will see the fogs with the clam in place and the modified mesh to the intakes at either side, it looks worse than what it is, there is loads of room around the fog lamps with regards to the front air scoops.
these fog lamps were actually factory fitted from new, customer request, as were the air horns, seems all he wanted by better night vision and a louder horn, lol, i bought it 1 year old.




RobP

2,097 posts

241 months

Wednesday 14th October 2009
quotequote all
Urbalizer said:
these fog lamps were actually factory fitted from new, customer request, as were the air horns, seems all he wanted by better night vision and a louder horn, lol, i bought it 1 year old.
Lol - was gonna ask why you needed fog lamps in Cyprus!
Tunnel cooling is just another of the many things that the original car (or a Mk II, III or IV version), should have had.

MadMacMcMad

1,266 posts

254 months

Saturday 17th October 2009
quotequote all
Could you comfirm the size of self tappers you used to re-fix the tray.

Thanks

Urbalizer

Original Poster:

481 posts

174 months

Saturday 17th October 2009
quotequote all
MadMacMcMad said:
Could you comfirm the size of self tappers you used to re-fix the tray.

Thanks
The holes are all 3.5 mm so 4mm self tappers bite into the hole perfect.

MadMacMcMad

1,266 posts

254 months

Thursday 29th October 2009
quotequote all
This has inspired me to get on and do it.
Started last Thursday and now, a week on it's all done. Took my time, but I had to remove the middle section and drop the sides of the cabin section too.
All done, re-sealed, tunnel mod and back in one piece. After removing a bucket load of grit and muck from under the car, It is now cleaner than it has been in 5 years. All that is needed now is buy some Optrex to try and get the the other bucket load from my eyes.

Urbalizer

Original Poster:

481 posts

174 months

Thursday 29th October 2009
quotequote all
MadMacMcMad said:
This has inspired me to get on and do it.
Started last Thursday and now, a week on it's all done. Took my time, but I had to remove the middle section and drop the sides of the cabin section too.
All done, re-sealed, tunnel mod and back in one piece. After removing a bucket load of grit and muck from under the car, It is now cleaner than it has been in 5 years. All that is needed now is buy some Optrex to try and get the the other bucket load from my eyes.
lol, i think i emptied about a kg of stones out of my front underpan, so did you refix it all with S/S screws then?

MadMacMcMad

1,266 posts

254 months

Thursday 29th October 2009
quotequote all
yep, hopefully never have to do it again tho.