Hood scoops for a van.

[Shlaytim]

I recently purchased a 2006 E-350 with the 6.0 stroke. I have been trying to figure a way to get more air flow under the hood not because its getting to hot or over heating, but because I live in Arizona, Phoenix to be exact, and just want more air moving around the engine. I've seen the vents that Ujoint did on V4 and I like them, and think that they work better to let hot air out rather then draw cold air in. I saw that Steelheadbum has scoop on his van, not sure if it is a functioning scoop or not but it sure looks cool. My thoughts are to do something similar to force cool air in and to to install the fender vents, I believe they are snowmobile screens, to let hot air out. I am hoping that by adding the scoop it would help with egt's and with trans temps as well, my only concern is if at highway speeds would it force to much air in against the dog house and cause the heat to enter inside the van around the seal. I figured if anyone would know, it would be someone here! Love all the vans on this site and have followed all the build threads. Thanks to everyone for the inspiration to start on my own van and thank you in advance for your input.

 

[inter]

http://www.autospeed.com/A_2159/cms/article.html

 

[bknudtsen]

That is a very good article. The reason the hood vents on V4 were developed were to help keep emergency vehicles from overheating in the Southwest. There is nothing that is going to "force" air into your engine compartment, shy of a giant fan strapped to the front of your van. Like the article says, you need to let air out, to get air in. If I lived in a drier climate, such as yours, I would install the exact vents on V4's hood. If you look at the vents on the sides of the fenders, there is just not as much direct surface area for the air to escape.

And, welcome to Expo! Have a look around and feel free to ask any questions that pop up.

Brad

 

[inter]

There is one place on the side of the fender

 

[Betarocker]

Check out JC Whitney

 

[ZukiCAMPER]

http://www.hoodlouvers.com/

Theses are the hood louvers that are on V4 and MegAmbo. They worked great with the 6.0 in the Ambo. Getting the hot air out l is definitely the problem as the 6.0 is so shoehorned into the engine bay there really is nowhere for the the air to go as it leaves the back of the radiator

 

[hobietony]

http://www.hoodlouvers.com/

Theses are the hood louvers that are on V4 and MegAmbo. They worked great with the 6.0 in the Ambo. Getting the hot air out l is definitely the problem as the 6.0 is so shoehorned into the engine bay there really is nowhere for the the air to go as it leaves the back of the radiator

Ambovan too, I like 'em. They are pretty proud of them but who has a louver press in their garage?

 

[Shlaytim]

Wow, some great info in that article, thanks for the link and thanks for the warm welcome! I like the louvers, not a fan of the price. I guess when you look at everything else you have invested in the van, the louvers are a drop in the bucket. I wounder if I did both the hood scoop and the louvers if it would help or hurt. According to the article, if i read it correctly, adding both would in my mind bring in more air but also let more air out. So like at highway speed more air moving in would force hot air out and under the van and at slow speeds/idle let more hot air up and out. Probably not a practical application, but one I think i'm willing to try. I have an extra hood that I think I will add both too and try it out. I found a fiberglass bolt on scoop for $28(plus shipping) and I will fab up some of the louver panels myself - buddy has a die for making louvers-its a old school hot rod style contraption but it works! This way I don't ruin my perfectly good color matched hood on something foolish. I will post pics and try to figure out a away to gauge temp changes as I experiment with the old hood. I hope this works, if not it will be a fun way to spend time in the shop with my kids making Daddy's van look cool. My 5yr old son tells everyone about the van and how cool it is and that he wants one when he gets "big". He also told my brother that his truck is not a real truck(a F-150) because real trucks whistle while they work! He loves to hear the turbo spool up! Got to love the things kids say.

 

[inter]

Shlaytim, dont hurry, please
cut holes in the fenders and install side vents at first,
maybe it will enough for your car
(side vents dont create noise, dont swallow water...)
and its important - side vents will work both on highway and on driveway too,

hood vents is more difficult,
because you have to make under- and over-bonnet pressure measurements,

http://www.autospeed.com/cms/article.html?&A=2162
and only then cut van`s hood

 

[Sheep Shagger]

Wow, some great info in that article, thanks for the link and thanks for the warm welcome! I like the louvers, not a fan of the price. I guess when you look at everything else you have invested in the van, the louvers are a drop in the bucket. I wounder if I did both the hood scoop and the louvers if it would help or hurt. According to the article, if i read it correctly, adding both would in my mind bring in more air but also let more air out.

If you study pictures of vehicles with fender removed, you can see the side vents really won't do doing anything, they are for show only. The inner fender runs all the way to the front of the vehicle, so the only air exiting at the back of the fender has come in from the front of the engine bay by the headlight. Obviously to cool, you need the air to exit at the back of the engine bay and actually pass over the engine / radiators. I have seen a few people that have cut sections out of the inner fender to help with this, but there are other issues with doing that.
If you actually want it for engine cooling rather than looks, I would use some form of lower bumper scoop to force air up from the bottom, and *maybe* use hood vents as an exit as far back as possible.

I say maybe on the hood scoops due to placement of the engine in the engine bay. If you pulled the hood completely, the only extra air you would get is over the radiators not the actual engine, which helps in cooling, but from your posts is seems you want air flow over the engine as well. So id your desire is to get airflow over the whole engine, the best way would be to remove the doghouse. (air in at front out doghouse). Since that isn't piratical option, leaving everything in place (no extra vents) and forcing more air in, might net you better results as at least that way you are forcing more air to circulate over the engine rather than exiting before it hits the engine. With such a short engine bay and engine that doesn't really even start until the windshield the van is very different to venting a normal vehicle.

 

[chadlanc]

we've got the hood louvers on our 7.3, definitely helps..you can see the heat waves coming out of the vents.

 

[cowboy4x4]

I had/have a Toyota FJ cruiser as well as the van, The FJ has a scoop but it was not functional. I drilled out all the diamond holes and cut a hole behind the vent in the scoop so it "became" a functional scoop. Before doing so I took some temp readings of the engine bay. After the mod to the scoop the amount of heat exiting the engine compartment made a 12 degree drop in engine compartment temps. I will be adding side vents and a scoop to the mini mod as well. 12 degrees is alot when you are sitting in the desert in triple digit temps.

 

[derjack]

I think- but have not measured- it depends on what your goal is and obviously it not as simple as it seams.

I think first you need to see WHAT temperatures are too high [Water, Oil, cylinder head, air in the intake, turbo, egt].
The missing Air cooler (in Vans 6.0´s) has an influence for the hole burning process and the every department that´s passed. Sadly an air inter-cooler is very expensive. Oil temperature is very important to keep in its limits.

If you look at the water temperatures the different engines in the Vans get, the Ford Motor Comp. did a lot of different "Versions" of water coolers. For an motor engineer this is the best- because cheapest way- to get the temps down.
There are some documents from Ford that show that Oils cooler have got bigger from early 7.3 to later ones to the 6.0. But more interestingly the water cooler fans have improved with with more wing fans!

I mead some guys who measured a huge difference in water temps when traveling through the Sahara with the same rig like mine. The water temps dropped 10-15 degrees Celsius after adding a switch that keeps the fan in a nonstop modus.

Having this in mind I would ad the question: WHEN are your temps too high and are you driving or in a stop and go drive, like City? Scoops will of course not help if you aren´t on highway speed.

Finally:
Nobody mentioned and it isn´t either in the interesting articles, that modern cars have a more or less closed motor room due to aerodynamics. Vans/Trucks don´t. So when you are driving with ventilations in the side there is probably more hot air getting out through the bottom that the side!

 

[ZukiCAMPER]

I think first you need to see WHAT temperatures are too high [Water, Oil, cylinder head, air in the intake, turbo, egt].
The missing Air cooler (in Vans 6.0´s) has an influence for the hole burning process and the every department that´s passed. Sadly an air inter-cooler is very expensive. Oil temperature is very important to keep in its limits.

6.0's are intercooled in vans.. 7.3's are not.

 

[cowboy4x4]

derjack... I disagree with a part of your statement. Hood scoops "do" work at slow speed, instead of allowing cool air in, at slow speeds or stopped they allow hot air to escape backwards through the vent. A definite benefit when sitting at an idle on a trail or in stop and go traffic....