Acrylic Engine cover vent insert: Updated
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Hey guys,
Still playing around with a few ideas and doing some rough photoshops of how acrylic engine slats/louvers would look.
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Not really a fan of the current plastic vents and really like what MaineLotus did with his Elise. Granted, there's not much to show off under the hood, so I made sure to tint the acrylic in my photoshopped picture. Using gloss black (non-transparent) acrylic is an option too. Instead of having layered pieces like MaineLotus that would require pretty extensive cutting and cover modification, these would just be inserts that would set in place of the current vents. The horizontal slats would be open cuts in the acrylic. Planning on drafting these up in solidworks and doing some test fits with paper in the next few days! It's kind of an odd shape so it will require a few tries to fit.
Let me know what you guys think!
**Also, for whatever reason on threads pertaining to engine cover/vent modification there's always someone who states that open slats would allow water entry or doesn't realize that the slats are open and asks about water pooling/ lack of ability of heat from the engine to exit. Just to clarify, there are open slats in my design which would allow heat to rise and yes, just like the OEM Elise and Exige slats and mesh, they will not stop water from entering the engine bay.
Still playing around with a few ideas and doing some rough photoshops of how acrylic engine slats/louvers would look.
Not really a fan of the current plastic vents and really like what MaineLotus did with his Elise. Granted, there's not much to show off under the hood, so I made sure to tint the acrylic in my photoshopped picture. Using gloss black (non-transparent) acrylic is an option too. Instead of having layered pieces like MaineLotus that would require pretty extensive cutting and cover modification, these would just be inserts that would set in place of the current vents. The horizontal slats would be open cuts in the acrylic. Planning on drafting these up in solidworks and doing some test fits with paper in the next few days! It's kind of an odd shape so it will require a few tries to fit.
Let me know what you guys think!
**Also, for whatever reason on threads pertaining to engine cover/vent modification there's always someone who states that open slats would allow water entry or doesn't realize that the slats are open and asks about water pooling/ lack of ability of heat from the engine to exit. Just to clarify, there are open slats in my design which would allow heat to rise and yes, just like the OEM Elise and Exige slats and mesh, they will not stop water from entering the engine bay.
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Wait, yours doesn't do that already?
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That looks pretty good. Id like to see it in person.
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374 Posts
Haha I guess i was asking for that. For whatever reason though someone comments about that every time. You'd think some owners have never opened the boot before. TADTS
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374 Posts
I'll try to have something mocked up on the car in a few days. I'm really just between deciding what shape vents I should use. It's all going to be cut from a waterjet so the shape of the vents is really just whatever cosmetically looks nice/works well.
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374 Posts
Updated the design with holes instead of the slats. The hard part really is drafting up the dimensions of the borders of the inserts. Once that is done, any vent design can be added as I would have them cut with a waterjet that just reads off my models
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4,148 Posts
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Do you think I could get away with solid pieces with no vents? Is there sufficient venting in the bay already to allow for that?Go for vac form clear polycarbonate
Only need 4pcs zinc molds, water or laser cutter shop.
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MaineLotus (member here) has this setup...
here are more pics http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/298272-post1.html
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374 Posts
Yup, I mentioned him in my original post. I drew inspiration from his setup but didn't want to cut/modify the engine cover like he did with his![]()
MaineLotus (member here) has this setup...
here are more pics http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/298272-post1.html
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1,031 Posts
We need to bring this back. I really want to do something with our lids. Yes although it's a Toyota \ Yamaha engine- so what, if it looks clean and nice it's worth showing.
if we can make a lid that has vents like this on the side and glass in the middle that would look pretty nice.
Shoot, what if we make a two piece lid? one for the boot and one clear for the engine bay?
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if we can make a lid that has vents like this on the side and glass in the middle that would look pretty nice.
Shoot, what if we make a two piece lid? one for the boot and one clear for the engine bay?
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905 Posts
one thing that would prevent me would be the asymmetry of the engine bay. In the ferrari picture you posted above, it's symmetrical under the glass (mostly because of the longitudinal engine mounting) and thus is naturally more appealing to look at. Ours being transversely mounted just isn't as appealing. It's not ugly, but it's meh... You're going to have a brightly painted valve cover on the right side and black rubber hoses on the left side.
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