holy shit that actually looks awesome and functional too (i hope)

--> Tim

 

A mi no me gusta the spacing on the fender, feel the same way about the hood.
but ducting to route the hot air out might be a good idea.

 

i see what you did there, you sneaky bastid

but yeah since the MDX spacer is removed, am not sporting a hood pop

am working on couple things with the cooling factor....will let you know when the time is right

 

I don't know about that fender idea. Makes it look like the body wasn't lined up correctly. It might help though, assuming there's ventilation allowing air to escape from the sides.

This might be more appropriate for the TL diet thread but since it's related to cooling I figured it wouldn't hurt to add it here. I did something a little sketchy a couple weeks ago that I wanted to wait on before I posted. I'm concerned that it may be counterproductive for reasons I'll describe below, but so far the outcome has been nothing but positive. I removed the drivers side radiator fan. I left the passenger side condensor fan in, which appears to function normally despite its brother being absent. I opted for the drivers side since the engine resides more toward the passenger half of the engine bay and my bastardized UCM has the entire passenger cowl removed which would theoretically make that fan a bit more effective since the air has somewhere to go. My rationale was that with even the bastardized version of the UCM, my fans NEVER come on except when the AC is running or if I'm idling for 2-3 minutes in 90F+ weather. I think it's stupid how the fans will kick on when the AC is switched on, even if you're going 80MPH down the highway. There's no reason for them to be on at all if you're moving even 25MPH or faster. Aside from electrical leaching, the fans probably weigh about 8lbs. each (I haven't yet weighed them BTW).

I did this strictly as an experiment and was planning on reinstalling. I figured the summer heat was the best time to try it. However, I'm starting to think it may be more than temporary. I've kept a hawks eye on engine temps (only via the dash temp guage) and my on my AC performance and everything is running as normal. I'm a bit of a nerd when it comes to AC. I routinely measure AC system pressure and keep it optimal to +/- 2 PSI of the recommended pressure. I've found that even a small difference in refrigerant (high or low) can have a significant impact on performance. I have a small stick thermometer in my center vent to monitor air temps. I'm usually at 40F or so. Yesterday was the warmest day we've had since I've removed the fan. With 89F heat yesterday on city streets, periods of up to 2 minutes of idling at lights, still 40F output from the AC and temp guage needle in the same old place as before. And although measuring heat soak is about as accurate as a butt dyno after adding a mod, I've noticed no decrease in power in the last week despite our relatively high temps here in Utah.

I think this may be crazy enough to work for those hardcore dieters that don't anticipate idling in 90F+ heat for too long with the AC on (or don't live in a very warm climate). I'd be concerned about that. But I'm so rarely in that situation that I haven't yet had the chance to see what the effect would be. I might intentionally try it at home one day to see the outcome.

Removing the fan could be counterproductive by increasing heat soak or worse, overheating the engine. That last thing I want to do is damage anything from overheating. I'm also concerned about the impact of more heat on the drivers side of the engine bay. The intake and battery are on that side, both of which would not benefit from more heat. I may try removing the drivers side cowl to counter this. However, at this point, I'll continue to monitor temps and plan on leaving it out until I see a negative impact. Any scrutiny on this other than what I've mentioned? As I said, this is totally experimental. If I had sufficient reason for reinstalling, I would in a heartbeat.

 

What do you think about this idea? Everything in white would be cut out and and backed with a mesh.

Tim, what are you takes on this BASTARDIZED CM?

 

Here let me fix your image link:


and its been done before....

PS: that was the cue to put your flame suit on

 

SWOOSH to the rescue!! Dude how did you do that??? I was wondering why it didnt work.

I didnt see anyone do that. The closest I saw were holes with a mesh.

 

^^^ when you see the pix, right click on it and click on "view image"....copy that link and put it in the IMG tags

i think Sezniko has done that before....

 

Ahh thanks! Cool il ask him. Thanks

 

he was at the KC meet....and i am very very sure (i think i am) he had the same thing....

but what you gotta ask?? pick up a dremel and do it....dont like it ?, toss the crowl out and go the unbastardized version

 

I did that exact thing you have drawn above. It worked fine but made a funny whistle, probably from the air zipping past the grilles. I ended up removing the grilles and it stopped.

Now I just have both cowles removed for the full unbastardized UCM. I placed one of my washer fluid sprayers in the groove below the windshield so I still have some washer capability. Then I plastidipped the steel under the cowl so it blended more and wasn't so ugly. I'll have to take a pic sometime. It looks pretty good and would save you all the trouble of cutting up the cowl Plus, it would work better.

 

 

^^^i agree!! Hook us up losiglow!^^^

 

LOL Yea I dont have the guts to do the full version (Sorry Tim!). Not a big fan of the full UCM. Trips to VT in the winter with no washer fluid doesnt work too well .

If Losiglow gets me pics on how his looks i'll definitely consider .

 

^^^ you can def retrofit the windshield washer outlet somewhere....

 

Before:




After: (Would look better if the car weren't dirty...)





I basically plastidipped all surfaces under the cowl including the wiper motor, cables, shafts and gutters. I think this will help weatherproof those components a little as well, though I'm sure they're designed to withstand a lot of moisture based on their placement. Although everything is visible as it was before, the black matte look tends to reduce the contrast, making it blend more with the car rather than stand out as a massive canyon in front of the windshield.

The placement of the sprayer admittedly looks a little ghetto. I positioned the hose in the gap between the windshield and steel housing and superglued it in place. However, this last picture was taken with the wiper raised. With the wiper down, you can't even see the sprayer. Which is actually a small problem because when you first use the washer it doesn't quite clear the wiper blade. So I turn on the wipers, then spray the window, and pause briefly when the wiper comes back down if I want to avoid just wasting washer fluid spraying the wiper. Yeah, a little but it's one of those small inconveniences we make for the TL diet, and the UCM

 

What grilles did you remove? Are you referring to mesh that went on the openings in the modded cowl?

 

^ No. I cut the cowl similar to what Swoosh had drawn then put some grilles from home depot in there. But for some reason it made some goofy whistling noises when I got past 40mph or so. Presumably from air whipping past them.

 

^^^ i wish i could take the credit...jpm had drawn those images, i just helped him fix the links

 

^^Swoosh helped me post. Good team work!

 

What kind of grill did you use? I was thinking of using wire mesh

 

It's a soffit grill they sell at home depot...I could have sworn it was posted earlier in this thread.

 

you did, right here, https://acurazine.com/forums/showpos...&postcount=429

i used the exact same grill and method as you. it wasn't sold at my home depot, but was able to order it online pretty cheap from ace hardware

 

I was planning on using a mesh instead so hopefully it shouldn't whistle. Thanks for the insight

 

Yup, this ^. It looked great, but I couldn't stand that noise. Again, it might have been an isolated incident with the way I installed it since I don't think anyone else who's used it made any mention of a whistling.

 

i don't have the whistling problem. i installed using the same grills and exact same spots

 

Probably just some odd piece of plastic somewhere or a small leak between the grills and cowl. Could have been anything. I tried sealing the grills with silicone and smoothing out the edges but still had the problem. The only time the noise went away was when I removed the grills. It started to piss me off So I was like - F this. Full UCM, here we come.

 

Thanks Wilz, for finding the post. I was being lazy!
Lo...did you ALSO cut out the openings in the cowl from below?! Maybe that was the difference?!? (the ones that are facing you when the cowl is in place...)

 

Yes, I did. I cut nearly that entire section away. My cowl looks like swiss cheese at this point.

 

LOLOL thats funny. I think I'm going to use something like a robust chicken wire. Someone here used it, and cut out openings from both the engine side and wiper side along with cutting out the openings below that lead into the cavity below the wipers.

 

Hey I need help! In the process of taking out the Cowl I lost the end of the windshield washer tube and I hear the fluid running through the fender well in between the passenger door and the front wheel. Has this happened to anyone? What did you do to get it back?

 

^^^ yup the same happened to me...I had to cut thro the fender and then weld/sand/repaint





am messing with ya....the tube will be sitting on the wheel well liner....pull the liner back a little bit and you will see the tube right there

 

Where does the AC pull air from otherwise?

 

^^^

the AC has 2 modes.... re-circulation and for a lack of a better word, "bring fresh air"....

when you do this mod, your cabin air filter is exposed...If i remember right, Inaccurate has closed that "vent" and hence he lost the "bring fresh air" mode of the AC....and he is always in the re-circulation mode...

 

Thanks. Thats what I figured but I didnt have time to pull back the lining.

 

^^^Swoosh I see what you mean.^^^

I think someone said it but couldn't you just use fiberglass to cover the opening and then just run a tube to an area where it wont flood?

 

^^^that's a lot of work and is getting away from the heart and soul of this mod which was supposed to be "easy and free"!

 

umm first off it wont flood....and 2nd i agree with Jeremy....

and 3rd, I have an exposed cabin filter and its doing just fine

 

Good enough for me! Thanks felas!

 

Swoosh is right the chance of flooding is low, but of getting water or other debris in there is pretty high. The reason I have mine sealed up is the introduction of heated air and other gases from the engine into the interior. I dont want my interior to smell like oil and race fuel or my occupants to breath in dangerous gases like methanol if a failure occurs. Even in stock trim I wouldn't risk having air from the engine compartment venting into the car.