Dealing with under hood heat

[holyford86]

@holyford86 ,

• Engine oil remote filter and cooler
• take a look at valve train components for improvements in oil circulation
• electric fan(s), pusher and puller if necessary
• raise the rear of the hood ¼", let's heated air naturally escape as it rises
• all synthetic fluids
• lower temp thermostat, even 5° F makes a HuGE difference.
• cooling system in tip top condition
• optimized timing for setup
• proper valve train adjustment

Engine oil has an oil to coolant sandwich cooler installed. Oiling system is unmodified but has excellent oil pressure and makes no noise. A pusher fan is going to happen, will be on a thermostat plus have an override for when I need it. I like the hood idea and the fact it's easily reversible. Have been running quality synthetic fluids for years now. Cooling system is never an issue, have a huge all aluminum radiator and flush the system every couple years, coolant always stays below 210 degrees. Timing and valvetrain are not adjustable at this time, but timing will be soon enough.

My truck is a driver...I don't have ac....so I drop the doors in summer generally....





Lil bob......runs hoodless.


View attachment 90112View attachment 90113




Hoods are overrated....

Two words: cop magnet. New York is fun...

Especially when your hood won't fit over your engine

It just barely fits, ish.

As a rule, for better body aerodynamics, modern vehicles are designed to channel airflow through the engine compartment (after the radiator) down under the body/frame instead of up over the windshield when in motion. This is why you now seldom see factory performance cars with big engine vents in the original hood. Just wanted to mention that, as you might have to go to extremes to get a lot of heat to vent up instead of down.

Notice that your coolant temperature is just fine despite your performance mods. That's a sign the airflow is still venting as the factory designed, under the cab and frame. That's why the cab interior stays warm.

Modifying the fender liners will do more than worrying about changing the hood.

I had always been under the impression that a high pressure area forms at the base of the windshield so this makes sense. The cowl I have was done out of necessity because a part of the engine just barely hits the hood, I've always disliked the look and may replace the hood, along with adding a lump to clear what I need to.

I've always thought it to be important to upgrade supporting systems when doing mods, I'm running 6 psi and have headers, even though the heads dont flow well, haha. Even before I did this I knew I was going to, so I added an oil cooler and larger radiator in anticipation. Coolant temp has not risen appreciably with the boost, so I figure I did a decent job.

Heat rising through the floor definetly happens but running no carpet or insulation of any kind doesn't help. That's what I've got windows for.

 

[Roert42]

That would put me in the arctic, I'm about 25 miles from the Quebec border.

Problem solved. Pretty simple too, no wiring or anything. Plus you get to keep your fender liners.

 

[cbxer55]

Yup, I've dealt with it. Works great too. Mine has a metal intake manifold that used to get hot enough to fry an egg on. Now, this time of year, after 100 miles , the manifold is tepid. Barely hot at all. The two small scoops on the side are directly over the YUGE conical Stainless steel mesh air filter, which is typically as cold to the touch after 100 miles as whatever the ambient temperature is. But, I'll admit, I was using the Ranger as a guinea pig, just to see if I could successfuly cut out holes in the hood and fit those vents into them. I did. My Mustang, which I have sold, has the same but larger in carbon fiber. Same with my Lightning.

Want to know how much pressure comes out of those vents? They were filled with snow one day. When I hit about 45 mph, the snow came flying out of them. Didn't skim the hood, stayed airborne and hit the windshield. I was impressed.

 

[cbxer55]

At first, I tried using a reinforced cardboard template. Too much flex. So, I made one out of aluminum. Funny thing is, I've been asked to do two other vehicles, and they turned out well too. Typically, all I get is thumbs up when driving the abov pictured Ranger. Only negative comments I've ever gotten are right here on this site. Funny thing about that.

 

[ekrampitzjr]

Actually, that's nice work. Nothing wrong with a hood with vents and scoops for a hot-rod look as long as you don't take "performance gains" from it too seriously. And you're correct about the high-pressure area at the base of the windshield on most vehicles. The reason drawing that air for the engine or cooling isn't much help is that the airflow is very chaotic in that area.

 

[cbxer55]

There's a small benefit, if I read the article in Motor Trend magazine correctly. It was on some exotic import. Said ue to changes in the forward underbody, they were able to increase front end down force without using hood vents." So, I did some looking around, and it appears the underside of the hood is a trap for hot high pressure air. You give that hot high pressure air somewhere to go, you eliminate that trap, and thus while maybe not increasing down force per se, you are eliminating lift on the front end. Maybe another reason I like to hustle my old Ranger around my favorite stretch of curvy road, even more so than my porky pig Lightning.

As for the hood scoop doing anything. For years I have had to run premium gas in this old gal to keep the marbles in a tin can sound away. The heater hoses to the metal intake manifold were deleted years ago. The scoop keeps the metal intake from being egg frying hot. The end result, I can run 87 octane now. It pings very lightly on full throttle, but nowhere near what it did before. I actually use 89 or 90 in it to be safe. But it's better than having to run 91 or 93. I can get 93 from a friend's Sinclair station, three miles away. It's pretty rare where I live. So he sells every drop he gets. There was a cat there one day with a very large deep V boat, that had three big outdrives, three big block Chevys with blowers and dual four barrels. He put $1000 in it and told me it wasn't full. Damn!!

 

[gaz]

As a rule, for better body aerodynamics, modern vehicles are designed to channel airflow through the engine compartment (after the radiator) down under the body/frame instead of up over the windshield when in motion. This is why you now seldom see factory performance cars with big engine vents in the original hood. Just wanted to mention that, as you might have to go to extremes to get a lot of heat to vent up instead of down.

Notice that your coolant temperature is just fine despite your performance mods. That's a sign the airflow is still venting as the factory designed, under the cab and frame. That's why the cab interior stays warm.

Modifying the fender liners will do more than worrying about changing the hood.

Do you consider a 1986 Ford Ranger a "MODERN VEHICLE"

 

[ericbphoto]

Do you consider a 1986 Ford Ranger a "MODERN VEHICLE"

More modern than some. Less modern than others.

 

[gaz]

@holyford86 ,
Sorry to counter you but the 4.0l OHV can have rocker adjustment, just a matter of call The Smith Brother's and buying an adjustable push rod set.

 

[cbxer55]

As a rule, for better body aerodynamics, modern vehicles are designed to channel airflow through the engine compartment (after the radiator) down under the body/frame instead of up over the windshield when in motion. This is why you now seldom see factory performance cars with big engine vents in the original hood. Just wanted to mention that, as you might have to go to extremes to get a lot of heat to vent up instead of down.

Notice that your coolant temperature is just fine despite your performance mods. That's a sign the airflow is still venting as the factory designed, under the cab and frame. That's why the cab interior stays warm.

Modifying the fender liners will do more than worrying about changing the hood.

Seen any modern Dodge Chargers, Challengers, Noitros, and some Jeeps. They have a large central scoop and functional vents on the sides, from the factory. Not all models, but some of the top ones. Including Mustangs and Camaros.

 

[holyford86]

More modern than some. Less modern than others.

They make new bricks every day.

@holyford86 ,
Sorry to counter you but the 4.0l OHV can have rocker adjustment, just a matter of call The Smith Brother's and buying an adjustable push rod set.

If I was going to have an adjustable valvetrain I would try using 2.8/2.9 rockers before adjustable pushrods, but I don't have the desire to do it even though I have a couple of sets of 2.9 rockers laying around.

 

[ekrampitzjr]

Seen any modern Dodge Chargers, Challengers, Noitros, and some Jeeps. They have a large central scoop and functional vents on the sides, from the factory. Not all models, but some of the top ones. Including Mustangs and Camaros.

I'll bet a lot of that stuff is for show.

 

[cbxer55]

I'll bet a lot of that stuff is for show.

My supervisor has a late model Charger. The hood scoop and vents are fully functional. I asked if he modified them, he said "Nope, just as it came from the factory."

Checked out a late model Jeep with the same. They are functional.

 

[JohnnyO]

Was at my bud's body shop a while ago and they were cutting into the hood of a brand new police car to install aftermarket louvers.
Police department was in a small town where they never go faster than 30 mph unless they're chasing someone.
That would probably work.

 

[Angie]

did this to mine .... does help cooling the engine bay ....

deleting hood supports

Getting the hood ready for louvers and want to know if anyone has deleted the center support and the 2 small angled supports before? and if you have how much did the hood bounce or move when the truck was driven? My plan is to cut those out to give the louvers a cleaner look and more spacial...

www.therangerstation.com