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Re: hood seal at rear of engine compartment
I got to thinking about rising engine compartment temps and so on, and my
mind wandered to the strip of rubber that goes the width of the car in the
back of the engine compartment that seals the hood to the body of the car.
Is this thing really needed? I would imagine that the space opened up by
removing it would do wonders in the summertime(but should be replaced in
the winter.) At a standstill, it would improve circulation because of
convection...right now, there's no way for hot air to escape from the top
of a 5000 or 200 engine compartment...
Possibly many benefits:
-improved flow of air after engine is shut off due to natural rise of hot air
-lower underhood temps for starting up when car is hot+standing still
-better exit of air from compartment at speed, resulting in better flow
through intercooler?
With no real side effects I can think of, with the exception of water
possibly entering engine compartment... Thoughts, anyone?
Based on the design of my '83 UrQ, which may or may not have any
bearing on whatever vehicle you are describing, the major effect of
course will be to exhaust engine-compartment air to the plenum on
"the other side of" the rubber gasket -- which is the air *source*
for passenger compartment "fresh air".
Now having "pre-heated" air for the UrQ in winter is a nice thing (the
heater is pretty wimpy, overall); but having gas/oil/exhaust/
/pentosin/"engine"-tainted air feeding the passenger compartment is
probably a lose. Having pre-heated fresh-air in summer is definitely a
lose.
On the other hand, Audi does (used to, anyways...) like to run its
engines damn hot, and could use all the extra cooling it can get. My
solution is to run lower-temp thermostat to keep the whole system much
cooler.
I can't imagine the delta in water-accessiblity would make any dif-
ference, given the turbulence of water at highway speeds . . .
My $0.02's worth.
-RDH