Beat the Heat

Hi guys, I wanted to share my experience with engine bay heat soak. Like you, I'm a fellow F-Chatter, that whenever possible, always try to keep my F430 engine bonnet up after a spirited drive, or after being stuck in traffic, during city driving. We all know excessive and prolonged heat to parts, no matter how well engineered, will deteriorate their reliability faster over time. Ferrari made it a point to engineer ways to push, or extract, heat from the engine bay using the following methods:

• bonnet top vents
• muffler vent
• diffuser vent
• underbody NACA ducts
• side sill scoops

All these areas help extract heat while the car is in motion, mostly effective at speed. But in reality, we drive our cars more "off" than "on-the-track". City driving is where these passive vents start to fall short of properly cooling down the engine bay. One of the reasons why the 458 Italia was redesigned for better cooling and the use of electric fans.

I have installed the Novitec carbon fiber engine panels and carbon intake system in my 430. I noticed that the parts would literally "bake" in slow traffic and more-so after shutting down the engine. I wanted to find a proactive to way to heavily reduce the amount of excessive heat in the engine bay but also:

1. not increase weight
2. easy to install
3. pull heat away from the intake system, as it's near the muffler
4. extract more heat away in slow/moderate city driving
5. extract heat after shutting down the engine
6. help with aerodynamic ground effects
7. “set it and forget it” type of installation

Just for kicks, I came up with something I call the "Cool 4RaRi" system.

Credit and inspiration of the name came from the kids that live in my block that always give me the thumbs up and say "Cool Ferrari!" whenever I drive past.

Luckily, the part of California I live-in has been in somewhat of a heatwave the past few weeks and I've had ample time for real world testing of its functionality and reliability. And as an added bonus more seat time of driving the FCar!!! I'm proud to say that the system works flawlessly!

In testing, I observed the following:

- the OEM transmission crush box is removed in place of a high volumetric efficiency fan with similar weight (aka NO weight penalty and is lighter than the 458 Italia fan)

- one wire installation from the cabin to the engine bay

- keeps the engine bay cooler as much as 100-150+ deg Fahrenheit

- system automatically stays on for up to 15 minutes after engine shutdown

- heat is extracted up to 600 cubic feet per minute!

- the extracted heat helps increase the low pressure area at the diffuser (a quasi F1-type blown diffuser) which keeps the car more planted at high speed

- I no longer have to worry about keeping the bonnet up after parking in public places

Best of all, only 1-wire is routed from the engine compartment back to the cabin. And only requires a total of 4 wires to easily hook-up and get it running! A Ferrari tech, or DIY person familiar with their Ferrari, can have this system installed and running in about an hour! If anyone is interested, I have an extra set that I offered for you in the for sale section as part of the development of system. Click below:

https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/ferrari-parts-collectibles/447520-cool-4rari-system.html
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Hi Alan, the system should be easily adaptable for the 360. And yes, it includes full installation instructions. It's a relatively easy to DIY that's the most effective in results!
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If you know how to remove the diffuser, rear underpanel, and drivers side ecu panel then that's 95% of the install difficulty level. Which isn't difficult at all. We have sold over 10 systems already and a generous 360 owner is willing to try it on his setup as well. Stay tuned!

 

Hi Ein, PM sent.

For the 360 guys, thanks for your interest but we are still trying to acquire a 360 for test fitting of the system.

We just fulfilled our 50th system. Systems have gone out to many in the USA, Australia, Asia, and many parts of Europe. Thanks for everyone's support!