Making the hood scoop functional?

[IanB]

There is a negative pressure area in the middle of the hood, so a Ram air effect CANNOT take place with our scoops.

Notice vehicles that do have functional scoops. The scoop is either way up on the front of the hood by the grill (Firebird, etc..) where there is a positive pressure area, or the scoop is so tall that it grabs air despite the negative pressure area (Subarus, etc..)

I have to disagree. 3rd gen Hilux Surf's use the same hoodscoop to feed the top mount intercooler some of them came with from the factory, so it doesn't make sense that it would not draw air in that scoop. It's a Toyota design, and from all accounts it works just fine.

That being said, I agree it's not the best place to draw cold air for an intake from, but it may cool the SC case if that's what you're after, and should help lower underhood temps.

 

[Motorcitysteel]

This topic is almost as old as the 3rd gens are and I've never seen proof of any gains from cooling the engine as it would be so minimal at best.

An open sccop just invites dirt and debris in the engine comparment and a dirty engine will run hotter and negate any cooling effect you MIGHT see anyway. I just keep mine buttoned up since I'd rather have a clean engine vs a slightly cooler engine bay.

A cooler engine bay = cooler air intake. Since the air box does not have insulation, the surrounding engine heat makes the air intake box hot. This increases the temp of the air into the engine. Hotter air is less dense and is easy to compress in the cylinder, resulting in a loss of power. In contrast, cold air is denser and more difficult for the piston to combust. Resulting to a more forceful explosion in the cylinder, which results in more power in each cylinder. This is why a cold air intake exists. It insulates the incoming air from the engine bay heat. Also it eliminates the any unnecessary bends and obstacles to the throttle body.

So opening the hood scoop to let heat out/fresh in is beneficial to the engine parts and to maintaining power. You will not gain any power unless you connect the scoop via hose to the air box. If you are searching for "cheap" power gains, open the back of the hood scoop and add a screen the filter debris. Then add a length of flexible hose from the grill to the opening on the fender for your air box. This will "Ram" air into the air box and give the engine dense cold air to combust. Or put a good front facing snorkel on!

 

[spartacus]

A cooler engine bay = cooler air intake. Since the air box does not have insulation, the surrounding engine heat makes the air intake box hot. This increases the temp of the air into the engine. Hotter air is less dense and is easy to compress in the cylinder, resulting in a loss of power. In contrast, cold air is denser and more difficult for the piston to combust. Resulting to a more forceful explosion in the cylinder, which results in more power in each cylinder. This is why a cold air intake exists. It insulates the incoming air from the engine bay heat. Also it eliminates the any unnecessary bends and obstacles to the throttle body.

So opening the hood scoop to let heat out/fresh in is beneficial to the engine parts and to maintaining power. You will not gain any power unless you connect the scoop via hose to the air box. If you are searching for "cheap" power gains, open the back of the hood scoop and add a screen the filter debris. Then add a length of flexible hose from the grill to the opening on the fender for your air box. This will "Ram" air into the air box and give the engine dense cold air to combust. Or put a good front facing snorkel on!

Way to revive an old thread
The air box is made from polypropylene which is a good insulator. It doesn't get hot inside when air is being pussed through it. The only option is the deck plate mod.

 

[HiluxSurf SSR-G]

what's the point of ramming air into the air filter? I don't think it will have a performance effect, because the air flow into the combustion chamber will still be dictated by how much air flow the filter allows. perhaps if the vehicle is traveling at a very high speed, then air flow past the filter may increase, a bit.