So as everyone of us knows how TL's always have crazy heatsoak after some driving,I decided to do something to fix it.

I know most people always do the cowl stuffs & whatnot that Innacurate did,but i just couldnt do that.

One reason is cuz it deletes the windshield washer nozzles & i just dont like that section being all exposed.

So i did some research & found "defconskylude" on the 2G TSX side did the e9x m3 hood vents.

Took a while but i finally found the part number to the stuffs i needed via google,

purchased the vents ( was expecting it to be super expensive being an OEM BMW part but it wasnt).

I had received the vents over 3weeks ago but was too busy & kinda putting it off,so this past weekend

I decided to install them.Enough jibber jab,heres a pic i took yesterday.



I'll try to get dslr pics later when im less busy,i know it might not be everyones style

but its fully functional and oh if you wanna do this mod i'd suggest you

also get the hood painted when done cuz you might get paint chips from the cuts.

I wanna say thanks to Marcba89,my neighbor over there with the blue Legacy (in pic)

for letting me borrow his badass dremel. Any questions? feel free to ask. C&C welcomed

 

Awesome mod

 

Looks sweet! and im sure it works well too! nice work!!

 

I need to be more modded to pull this off.

 

Thanks Daniel
Thanks Zach,yea its fully functional. After I drove to my aunts last night & stopped the engine.

I went outside & placed my hand over the vents & could feel all the heat dispersing.
You already have that going on at the rear

But seriously,since you care about performance too i say consider it.

 

Well the cowl-mod doesn't delete the washer nozzles. It fully exposes them though.

Love the mod, remember seeing it on defcon's TSX.
Only thing I don't like is how it doesn't suit the TL's lines as much.

Good job though! Any more pics, and at dif angles?

 

Looks great.

 

Looks clean. The fact that your car is black definitely helps a lot. Curious to see pics from underneath. What about water/rain? Would it just drip straight into the engine bay?

 

+1 to the above, but just on aesthetics, it looks like it was pulled off nicely.

 

Acutally, we were just discussing that. I implemented the use of a custom plate that can be attach and unattach. However, he said he got something to prevent that.

 

Im interested in some pics with the hood up

 

I'm interested in more pictures too...and Justin was there, but given no credit. I can take a guess as to what he was doing while everyone else was busy helping out.

 

I had brought over a bottle of vodka..and when I got there, a jello shot was waiting for me.

 

Well yea thats what i meant,just dont like that exposed look.

I couldnt think of any better location to install them thats why i went with that side.

It just looks "off" to you cuz youve seen how defcons car looks & our hoods are not the same.

I just took some pics,gonna convert from RAW to JPEG then upload
Thanks Ross
Yea the black helps with it but i also spray painted the vents trims NBP.

I have some pics showing how water enters in there (currently editing),but if i ever have

water problems i could just put the side engine bay covers & water wont

drop directly on my P/S pulley (drivers side will drop on the intake/slight fuse box area)
Thanks man,it have both aesthetic look to it & function.
Haha i forgot to include a couple of ppl,even tho they didnt really do the work but they gave the confidence.

Evilvirus,ScottyHiFIve,jp_ua6,justnspace (slept) & my other friends who arent on here.

We were also working on Evilviruses suspension.

 

I guess it would depend on the amount of water that would get through during a heavy rain...especially if the car was parked somewhere.

 

Well, I DO dig how it came out...is the hole slightly smaller than the vent? So you could tape and hopefully not fk up the paint visibly? Or maybe use a heat gun to soften it up?

 

I usually dont park my car outside anyway,only time it stays out is when im at work or say i go out to a bar/restaurant/gfs.
What hole? I did tape the hood to cut but i just didnt heat up the paint,

so i got paint chips (ill fix that cuz my whole front end is getting painted)

 

Yeah, the lines on our hoods curve a bit while his tsx is more straight.

 

Notice it sticks up at the back,you'll see why in another pic









See those 2 bracket looking things,the grille of the vents slides into them thats why it sticks up. I did it for added support




Fronts & sides are flush





Heres the back sticking up,doesnt bother me



Exposed P/S pulley



chipped paint






Sorry for my dirty ass car,havent washed it since i finished yesterday..damn swirls too

 

damn it does look good and looks like you beat me to it....

I was looking at the EVO hood vents....but now I really like how this looks....

the only question/hiccup I had was: does water get in there? how does the vent act when you are driving in rain? I see one of the vent locations is right above the fuse box...any issues with that?

 

The holes in the hood is what I meant...but you answered my question, looks good, man...way to be an innovator. That's what I texted sleeyhead Justin too...

Very useful, I think I'd not be too worried about water leaking in...if you bend the tabs for added support, or dremel in some lower ones (in the side), could you make it sit flush?

 

holy swirls batman

 

since you are getting your hood repainted u should build up the hood in the back to make it flush with how its sticking up like that.

 

I would be....

imagine that thing sitting in rain....you have the fuse box exposed to the water...

I was thinking of cutting the hood (for the vents) where only the manifold is exposed....

wanted to mention it but he said, he is getting the front repainted....I hope the side and rears dont have them swirls !!!

 

I thought about the EVO VIII/IX ones but they looked kinda too big.

Not what id want for a DD car,if you know what i mean.
If i knew how to weld,id weld up some brackets in replacement of the tabs i made.

The vents actually fit snug into the hole on the hood,im gonna use clear nail polish to touch up the edges pending paint time.
fix it then
I actually thought about doing that honestly,like have em use bondo (i hate bondo) to fill it up.
Well the vent is not directly above the fuse box. its like 1/4 of the fuse box,

more on on the intake than the fuse box besides i powerwash my car alot &

water hits that fuse box but everything is sill fine. Like i said the oem engine bay

covers actually goes over the fuse box & P/S pulley,so if i know its gonna rain heavy & my cars outside i can just put the covers on.

 

^^^ thanks for the honest reply

yeah water on top of the fuse box is a big no no for me....I dont think the OEM covers, cover up the fuse box...the intake and the fuse box do not have a cover, only the battery and the brake/clutch reservoirs get covered on the right hand side (please correct me if am wrong but it has been almost (around) 4 years my car has seen engine covers...

See if you can mock up a cover for the fuse box....you dont wanna run that kind of risk bro....and yes a little water from wand/pressure washing is ok....but the fuse box being open to water from rain/etc I think is bad....

please dont take my comment(s) negatively....I really like this mod....

 

I havent had my covers for 2yrs either ,so youre probably right haha. I only tried the P/S side cover last night.

I'll think of something to cover up just that side,but nah im not taking your comment negatively.

I already said C&C are welcome in my OP,im not even gonna get butthurt if someone says it looks like shit

 

^ It looks like shit

 

Thanks,i like the way the shit looks and what it does

 

i have all the oem covers for my engine bay but i still would be iffy on hitting that are of were the fuse box is with water even with my fuse box cover

i like the vents though....and i was gonna say i drove my car for hours straight the other day and i realized how bad i had like no power and then realized how bad the engine had gotten heat soaked (cali weather).

has anybody put a thicker core radiator and other thicker core coolers that are attached to the front of the radiator (i think its the AT tranny cooler, and a/c cooler???)

 

Like i said im gonna fab up something to cover up the fuse box part this wknd,

besides i dont really drive my car out anymore if i know its gonna rain hard

 

has anybody done a thicker core radiator and tranny cooler?

 

The temperature of the engine is regulated by the thermostat not the radiator. The thicker radiator core would be a waste of money unless you are making big horsepower numbers and are having overheating problems. A larger more efficient radiator will cause the car to be slower to warm up to operating temperature and may cause it to run too cool in the winter. This is not good. The ECM needs to see cerrian engine temps or it will not be happy.

 

^^^ THIS !!!

I am running a transmission cooler but I have not been monitoring the fluid temps...from reading the cooler thread, I did see that peeps have noticed a drop of 25-30degs in transmission fluid temps....

About the coolant, I did see a drop of ~5 degs in coolant temps when I switched to OBX radiator hoses....now I dont know if to account this drop to the coolant flush which I just did or it was the hoses....

I am looking to do couple more cooling mods and this time I shall have some concrete temp data....

 

Props for trying something new but personally I'm not digging it. I've seen people use Z34 louvers on other hoods and it can look good, probably too big for the TL hood though. They have drip trays built in to redirect the water, might not be a bad idea to rig up something like that.

 

Thanks for your input,im gonna try to fab something up this wknd.

It rained today(not heavy) and i checked the fuse box area,there

was lil to no water around that fuse box area after i got home.

The drip trays is gonna be mostly for when parked under the rain.

 

Route the water back to the radiator overflow container...win win! !

 

haha thats not a bad idea or the windshield washer reservoir

 

^ funnels and hoses............BAM problem solve

 

Nooo...it's boats and hos