12 replies to this topic

[andrewinlondon]

Hi,

I'm interested in hearing what performance improvement might come from adding a front air vent to my mini? (1997 Mini Cooper)

(A good example is the "Vermin" mini shown in the gallery: see link below).

I understand the cooler air would improve the efficiency of the engine, and corresp. power output.

Any ideas on what the best options are, and whether they are worth it?

How can you set them up so water, bugs etc aren't flooding into the engine all the time?

My motivation behind this is to try and get some extra power etc out of my mini without upsetting the engine "ecosystem" (much).

Thanks in advance for the feedback.

Cheers,

Andrew.


Mini Vent

[Bluemini]

I had a vent in Blue, but I also had the rear of the bonet raised slightly to alow plenty of cold air in and no bugs or water. I also had no inner wings either.

Attached Files

•  Clubman_Blue_13.jpg   0bytes   9 downloads

[YoungUn]

to prevent bugs/ water getting in .. have the vent at an angle so it doesnt give the water/bugs chance to get in. the faster you drive the faster the air is going to rush in, so a big vent isnt needed. a good vent to have would be on on the nearside wing to allow cold air onto the radiator. but for performance, i would suggest a slit in the bonnet no wider than 2 inches... possibly using a grill behind, and for the top of the vent have it so the top extends further than the grill - providing a lip that rain will hit instead of getting into the engine bay... all you really need to pretect is the coil and the plugs... as your air filter should protect from bugs entering into the engines workings

[andrewinlondon]

Thanks for the comments guys.

What performance uplift did you notice after you installed the air vents? Was it noticeable?

Bottom line: is it worth doing?

And if so, can you recommend anyone who would be best able to instal a vent for me?

Cheers,

[YoungUn]

I haven't actually got a vent... (i avn't got a mini) so i dunno about the perfomance uplift.... yet in theory, it provides more cold air - therefore denser, containing more oxygen per volume unit, therefore resulting in a brighteer burn which results in More power

[sandfly]

probably easier to install a ram pipe from behind the front grill to force cool air to the filter than go to the body work extreme only really needed if you have an intercooler or turbo/supercahrger which need cooling themselves

[joe90gt]

i think you can get kits to duct cold air to the filter, i'm just going to extend the trunk from the filter box to just behind the grill, but then a clubbie has a lot more room under the bonnet to do that, we need as much power as possible to overcome the brick outhouse front

[Dan]

In theory it works, in practice it gives you a little bit more power in high summer and a car which can be almost undriveable in the depths of winter due to carb icing and a poor mixture especially if the carb is sealed into the ducting so it can only get cold air. The first prototype Mini's had the engine the other way around with the carb at the front to get nice clean air. It iced up and the price we pay for having cars which don't need heated carbs is that damn idler gear in the drivetrain.
If you use corrugated tubing like the K&N type kits supply then it gets mixed results as the rigded tubing walls mean there is a lot of turbulence in the pipe so reducing the amount of air which can be drawn through it and almost negating the effect of the denser charge. All these kits do really is give the carb access to colder air, any suggestion that they force air into the carb is extremely dubious. The ram charging effect cannot work in a reciprocating piston engine until the car is doing in the region of 150 MPH or more.

[sandfly]

sorry i wasn't trying to suggest that you could get a ram effect just liked the sound of it

but yeah make sure its removable for the winter

[mini90]

Don't know if it helps but when I used to play with Anglia's we used to have a vent at the rear of the bonnet cut too allow the hot air from under the bonnet out , can't remember if it helped a lot or not but the theory is good, cold air entering from the grille area forced out the hot air at the rear, may work on a Mini never really tried it.

[Purple Tom]

i read somewhere that the engine bay of a mini was possibly the most hostile environment for any engine to exist in, so I guess anything that could remove as much hot air as possible would be good.

[TimS]

your really looking for a flow of air rather than turbulance which is what i think it mean by "hostile"

[roberts]

it wont improve ya performance that much........yeah more air will get in! but u have to do other stuff other than a k&n to get performance

air vents are more of an advantage on turbos......thats why standard turbo cars have air vents!!

but they look ace