8 replies to this topic

[brivinci]

Im never on that side of the car but the other day I noticed 2 things. 
 

1: The airflow was far less than that then on the right side. I assume this has to do with the fact that the intake up front in smaller. Same on your cars?

2: The air is much warmer than on the right. Obviously, the rad is on that side and I was thinking the hot air gets trapped in the wing. Again, is this the same on your cars or is something up?

 

Thanks!

[Compdoc]

I had a similar problem, the left hand pipe has a foam insert, which was saturated with mud. This reduced the airflow considerably. I pulled out the inner foam insert and washed it 5 seperate times before I could get all the mud out.

I also had plastic under wing liners which cuts accross the left hand inner wing and allows hot air to accumilate in the upper half of the wing. I cured this by adding two wing vents, (the drivers side is just to balance the design), or you can vent ths "A" panel.

[brivinci]

Wing vents..I'd like to see those! I have seen A-panel vents before but plan to keep the shell as-is

I have removed the foam before...but you have me thinking. A few years back, I hopped in the car and after a mile or so, I noticed a few little "seeds" collecting on the pass floor. The vent was closed (as it was cold out) but when I went to open, a pile of seeds poured out!! A little rascal was using my car has its winter food storage. It was almost entirely seeds and no house material, ie there was no gross smell. I am going to have to pull the pipe tonight to check it and will clean the foam again. Cant hurt, right?

[Compdoc]

Absolutely. When I managed to get the foam back into the trunking, I sealed the ends with a piece of bicycle inner tube, turned inside out, so that the foam could not get wet and pushed a piece of 45mm flexible aluminium tubing up the centre. This sealed off the foam completely and reduces drag on the airflow to the vent. I also put a piece of 1mm plastic mesh over both left and right air intakes whic doesn't seem to impede the flow at all.

I'm not really shure what the foam does, but at a guess, maybe insulates from the heat under the wing or makes it quieter.

If you don't want to cut any holes in the bodywork, then vents are a no-no. I fortunately, had two front wings from a crashed R53 Mini complete with chrome vents and marker lights, so I cut around thrm and welded them into my car.

[brivinci]

I always thought the foam was there to act as a sponge/filter. Tramping any moisture or dust before it reaches the interior of the car. 

[Compdoc]

You could be right, in which case I have totally destroyed the reason for having foam. Perhaps another member could enlighten us?

[brivinci]

Yes, would love to hear from anyone else with any knowledge on this.

[MikeRotherham]

I was under the impression the foam was added when the 'quieter minis' were introduced at the end of the 70s/beginning of the 80s.

 

It was supposed to cut down the noise coming in from the outside.

[Compdoc]

Thanks Mike that makes sense.