Heat in 360 engine bay. Mods to help?

Hi all,
I have a 2001 360 coupe with the Capristo exhaust, runs hotter than hell. A) Does the challenge grille really make a big difference? B) In Forza the Imola 360 had heat shields placed over the cats & they claim the engine bay near the gas tanks runs 200F cooler. Has anyone done this mod? Any & all experiences and suggestions welcome. Thanks.

 

Not totally answering your question, after driving mine with Tubi in the summer I sometimes raise the back lid to help the heat dissapear quicker.

 

The challenge grill was designed to lower the temperature. I'm putting one on mine soon. I think the heat shields won't work, since they only re-direct the heat.

Art

 

Imola Racing also introduced a ventilated lexan bonnet for the F360 to assist in heat dissipation.
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The challenge grill will absolutely help dissipate heat. I was also interested in the heat shields from Imola but at the time the article was written there was no stock available. Matt at Meridian Automotive in LA also has a few mods that I believe work in conjunction with the Gruppe M Intake and will help keep the motor running cooler.

 

Yes, it runs hot. But, with a challenge grill and the car moving the temp never gets too high. What I do after a run is raise the rear lid and put a fan on the engine and it cools it down quickly.

 

heat shields, insulation, and challenge grills all help.

 

That looks awesome! really like that rear shield with the F40 style vents...think it would look goon on a 'normal' 360 (not one with a silly spoiler like that).

Can anyone with the skills pls photochop that onto a norm ross 360?

Thanks!!

 

One little piece of advice. If you look carefully, the holes in the "Challenge Grill" of the CS are larger (about twice) than those in the standard Challenge grill. If you can, you should buy the CS part.

 

Has anyone come up with some new ideas that seem to work since this thread was started over 2 years ago?
Nathan

 

This is true but the CS grille for some reason is nearly 3X's the cost of the standard Challenge grille.

And, yes, the grille makes a huge difference.

I think what Imola offers for heat shields is very clever, but they are available only as part of a very expensive package.

 

I have a 2001 f360 same as yours.....Ansa Sport Eahaust and test pipes...The cats are 900 degree heat monsters with short ride over to Starbucks for a coffee.....Take the cats off and hear the scream save your electronics in the engine bay from heat demage.......The story in the future about 360 problems will be electronics failure from heat....The test pipes keep the bay so cool!!!No need for lifting the lid after runs.......Please no crap from the AL GORE CREW....JUST EXPLAINING THE FACTS...WITH TEMP IN THE BAY....PS DID THE SAME THING WITH MY 355..... OH YEA THE SOUND.....!#@@$

 

Makes a great deal of sense but it's too difficult to do here in Calif!

I agree with you on the Al Gore crap. My back yard was 24 degrees Wednesday AM, and this is N. Calif!!!

Global warming my A**!!!

Here's the Imola price sheet I had. It's a few years old but you'll get the picture!
View attachment F360-MSRP-070104.pdf

 

Imola is very proud of their stuff, it's nice, but Christ, should I throw in my left arm also?

Definitley go with a challenge grill. It adds value to the car and it's a relatively inexpensive add.

 

Can you believe those prices, and that's an older price sheet?

Challenge grille is a definite.

 

the rear challenge grill on the 360 helps, but not as much as it helps on the 355 I don't think. The engine bay on the 360 seems to keep heat in it more so than the 355 ever did. I have the challenge grill on my 360 and frankly, I didn't notice much temp change when I installed it.

I have the hyper flow cats and a tubi and the engine compartment seems to get pretty hot. It just doesn't seem like there is much air flow across the motor. I actually was looking into adding some ducts that might re-direct a little extra air up from below the car and blow it into the engine compartment a bit more.

The CS rear grill does have larger holes, but then it also has a spot where the CS badge goes too. I think one option might be to take a normal 360 rear challenge grill and drill out each hole slightly, then have it repainted or lightly powder coated. That might help with getting the heat out. The other option would be to get the CS grill and weld up those couple of spots where the CS badge goes.

That rear window with the vents in it looks terrible if you ask me.

Ray

 

I have responded to this before on some previous threads, but always happy to do so again.
We have a product that really does solve the problem, the secret is in the larger holes.
The problem with the Challenge and the CS grilles are that the perforations work very much like a fly screen they let some air through but it dramatically slows down the flow, for that you simply need bigger holes.
We have some experience here, summer temps around 100 and track temps upto 130.
To add to the bad press for Ferrari, the problem hasn't been resolved on the 430.
The 430 Challenge cars racing here in our GT series, are melting inner guards and wiring looms in the longer races.
Anyway, the product looks pretty good too.
Good Luck

 

A grill of some sort is a must. But is there a way to keep the air cooler once it gets into the air box. The air box sits right next to the muffler (as was noted) and heats up the air and that air goes into the engine. Does the air pass through there at such a high speed that it doesn’t have that much time to heat up before it goes into the engine? Maybe some one here has installed heat shields, coatings, tape, etc… with some luck to try and keep the WHOLE air box and the covers cooler. I say whole because it seems that most people are only putting new covers on the air boxes…but you still have that approximately. 3’x8”x8” 900-degree sheet of aluminum underneath the carbon fiber covers

 

The challenge grill is a must IMO. Replacing the exhaust was a step in the right direction. Replacing the headers and cats with higher flowing aftermarket units will make a night and day difference in the engine bay temp. The OEM equipment tends to retain heat and cause heat soak in the engine bay.

 

You can always take a page out of the Mclaren F1 book and cover the engine walls with gold leaf...

 

Would it be possible to coat the inside of the large air box with whatever the "gold leaf" material is?

 

The gold film reflects radiant heat, it will not lower the engine bay temp. It would be a good idea to cover the exterior of the intake box. You can buy it from http://www.motorsportsspares.com/parts.htm#.

 

Since you have worked with it, do you think it would be possible for me to install it myself and make it look acceptable or is this stuff more for racecar type applications where looks don't matter? The website says it is self-adhesive, so do you think it would stick to the large air box? More importantly do you think it would help make more horse-power under hot conditions?

 

You will have to remove the air box and flip it over to get full access to cover the unit, then punch the drain holes. As for power gains, im positive you wont see any. You will prevent the intake air from being heated by the exhaust before it enters the motor. Anything you can do to cut heat down in the engine bay is beneficial to the cars performance in one way or another

 

Wow, I posted the golf leaf thing more as a joke than anything. Though I guess it could work, as it did in the F1...