Vent in fenders/cladding

[mattw]

I'm in the process of body-working my fiberglass fenders and I'm throwing around the idea of cutting this area out and making a duct up to the top of the fender. My thoughts are that this is an area of strong negative pressure it it will suck (hot)air from the engine compartment out of this opening.

I told Renz about my idea and he thinks that this area may have positive pressure and it my force air into the compartment. This would be bad as it would fight against the air that is supposed to pass through the radiator.

I wanted to post a poll but either I'm not smart enough to find the option or I'm not allowed to.. Please post your thoughts in this reply..

 

[Captain Morgan]

Re: Vent in fenders/cladding

the hardest part will be finding a way to run any ducting to that area from the engine compartment, once the wheel house is in place, there is hardly any room in there, especially on the passenger side.

 

[mattw]

Re: Vent in fenders/cladding

the hardest part will be finding a way to run any ducting to that area from the engine compartment, once the wheel house is in place, there is hardly any room in there, especially on the passenger side.

There is room to glass a duct right to the back side of the fender. What are your thoughts? Would that area pull air out or push it it?

 

[Poconojoe]

Re: Vent in fenders/cladding

Why guess just use a manometer and measure it. Put one tube of it inside the engine compartment and the other at the point you want to check. Since you only want to know if its negative or positive and only need a crude value, take a long piece of clear tubing (maybe 10 or so feet), 1/4" or 3/16" or so, put 2 feet of water in it. Droop the water in a loop in the middle, inside the vehicle. Personally I'd just crack one of the windows and run the 2 ends out the window with one going in to the engine compartment and the other going to the place I want to test. Drive it and see which way the water pushes. If you measure how far the water moves, it will tell you in inches of water, the pressure differential, if you want to get an accurate reading make sure the part of the tubing where the water goes down in to the loop is verticle.

 

[mattw]

Re: Vent in fenders/cladding

Or just cut it open, and wonder if it works or not. Still a cool feature no one else has.:tup:

LOL, I like that answer, I already have the fenders removed and I'm just about to prime them. I'm not going to put them back on just to test air flow in this area so this sounds like the best answer.. Once they are reinstalled I'll test airflow, if the are pushing air in I'll cap them off inside the fender where you can't see the cap..

 

[mattw]

Re: Vent in fenders/cladding

While I was working on them I took the time to smooth out all surfaces of these fenders.

For now I just sprayed them with Rustoleum.. Jose didn't do the greatest job laying them up and there are lots of voids behind the gelcoat. I've had many areas chip away. I didn't want to take the time/money to put proper paint on just to have an area chip away. If they still look good in a year I'll spray them properly to match the truck. If more areas chip away I'll fix those areas and shoot them again with Rustoleum...

 

[fauXGT]

Re: Vent in fenders/cladding

If it doesn't draw out air naturally, put in electric fans. That way when you aren't moving, it will still pull out hot engine bay air.

 

[fauXGT]

Re: Vent in fenders/cladding

Very cool, BTW.:tup: