Vented hoods

[CorvallisBMW]

In my never-ending quest to keep the beast cool, I'm looking at reducing underhood temps as much as possible. I'm thinking about adding vents or louvers to the hood, but I have yet to see an e30 with a vented hood that I actually like. Anyone have some pics or photos of e30s with vented or louvered hoods that they care to share? Looking for some ideas/inspiration.

[ELVA164]

Here's a tip I gleaned from vintage sedan racers: instead of louvering the hood, prop the rear of it up as much as possible. This helps the hot air flow out in a pretty direct path and doesn't require any cutting. It helped our customer's Cortina immensely, and that car came to us with hood louvers.

[Farbin Kaiber]

Honda kids would space their hinges with washers and longer bolts. On an e30, spacers between the roller catch brackets and hood would be the way to go, also its M6 hardware.

[CorvallisBMW]

Yes I've heard of shimming the hood, but I see 2 downsides: All that hot air immediately gets sucked into the HVAC system via the cowl vents, and the rear of the hood will sit above the fenders and skew the fitment/body lines.

But hey maybe I'm just being picky :P

[ThatOneEuroE30]

Yes I've heard of shimming the hood, but I see 2 downsides: All that hot air immediately gets sucked into the HVAC system via the cowl vents, and the rear of the hood will sit above the fenders and skew the fitment/body lines.

But hey maybe I'm just being picky :P

I mean its a convertible so you kinda got that alll natural AC haha so it would just make your heater kick ass in the winter. Imo hood vents should stay on the race cars as far as the e30 goes. Then its function over form cause nothing looks appealing really like you said

[ELVA164]

Yes I've heard of shimming the hood, but I see 2 downsides: All that hot air immediately gets sucked into the HVAC system via the cowl vents, and the rear of the hood will sit above the fenders and skew the fitment/body lines.

But hey maybe I'm just being picky :P

A. Engine overheats
B. Weird fitment/body lines
C. Big holes in hood, silly louvers

Is this an engine swap or something? Why's it running hot?
Edit: Just saw your sig. Yeah, I mean you have to choose one of those, or get some extra air in/out with tubing.

[ThatOneEuroE30]

A. Engine overheats
B. Weird fitment/body lines
C. Big holes in hood, silly louvers

Is this an engine swap or something? Why's it running hot?

M30 swap with m106 turbo setup. Its one busy bay with lots of heat producing parts.

[CorvallisBMW]

I mean its a convertible so you kinda got that alll natural AC haha so it would just make your heater kick ass in the winter. Imo hood vents should stay on the race cars as far as the e30 goes. Then its function over form cause nothing looks appealing really like you said

Haha well considering it lives in the garage in the winter I don't need any more heat. In fact since it's a summer-only car I really live the fact that my good ol' R12 system pumps out frigid cold air still. I've already removed the rubber seal that sits at the top of the engine bay (at the base of the cowl) and you can really feel the hot air coming out. Unfortunately, as I said, when sitting still (like in traffic) it gets sucked straight into the vents and blown in to my face. It's not a problem when I'm moving, but then again neither is the ambient temp since I've got all that wind in my hair . It's when I'm stopped in traffic, and the sun is beating down on me and I really want the A/C to work, that suddenly it falls on it's face because it's trying to cool down 180F air from the engine bay :p

A. Engine overheats
B. Weird fitment/body lines
C. Big holes in hood, silly louvers

Is this an engine swap or something? Why's it running hot?
Edit: Just saw your sig. Yeah, I mean you have to choose one of those, or get some extra air in/out with tubing.

I'd love to git a huge mechanical puller fan, or find a bigger electric pusher, but I have yet to find any options that will fit :/