When I started looking for a 360 Spider one of the things on my "would be nice to have" list was a rear challenge grill. Well the 04 I bought had all the other things I wanted but not the rear grill. Now I kind of like the all red grill, and have heard that the engine compartment gets dirty faster with the challenge grill, and since I am (as my wife says) a cheap ass airline pilot, hey $800 bucks is $800 bucks. Now my dumb question is, as I really try to take care of my toys can you think of any reason not to open the engine lid when I park the car in my garage after driving it to help allow the hot air to escape quicker? I can't think of any reason and searching the forum could not find this discussed. Thanks Kim
I can't think of a reason not to open the deck lid. I do it every time with my 328. I check the oil level and have a quick look around to verify there aren't any issues that went unnoticed during the drive.
I always open it up even though I have a challenge grille. I even open it up when I get to my destination just to let the hot air out for a minute of so. I'm crazy too.
+1 open the lid every time. I also open the garage door to cool things down quicker otherwise the whole garage can get very hot.
If kids are around I either stay with the car until it safely cools or leave it closed. Otherwise I open it to cool it off.
I have a Challenge Rear Grill and I always open the rear lid to cool things down quicker. You would be surprised how much cooler the engine is with the challenge grill. Especially while moving. I was also a fan of the "all red back panel". Can't seem to sell it now that I'm sold on the Challenge Grill. Nate
I have a ch grill and always open the lid, when I get home - even just for 10 minutes, the heat really disipates quicker.
Yup open it buddy and let it cool down for a while. If its in the garage just leave it open till the next day.
Using the argument that the engine needs to be cooled. Why stop with just opening the lid when parked? Take the lid completely off & let that furnace vent all the time. Now, back to reality. It's not made of skin & bones. What "feels" hot to you is well within design limits. There’s not a long list of heat related parts failures, but if it make you feel better, open that sucker up. No harm done You every watch the EGT rise after engine shutdown on your jet? Your not gonna get maint to open your cowls on turns, are you? That……….. from a "wise ass" A&P Airline Mechanic.
Common you mean your airline isn't funneling some of their new found revenue down to the pilots. Charging more for window and isle seats WTF... Maybe next they will be charging per peanut. Thanks for letting me vent, now back to the thread.
I don't think opening the lid makes much difference to the engine. But I think it makes a whole lot of difference to the paint on the lid, across the rear fascia, etc. The metal back there gets scalding hot and that can't be good for the longevity of the paint. I open the lid after driving whenever I can.
I also think releiving all that pent up heat is good for the rubber hoses and tupes and all of that non-metal stuff in the engine bay.
Has the same concerns on the paint. As such, when I saw a heat shield installed inside a CS lid recently, I went home and did the same thing for my 360 (attached pic) Image Unavailable, Please Login
All good ideas. Do you think the heat shield will really help the paint on the aft rear center of the lid?
I did not use a temp gauge to measure the temp before and after BUT I know the paint surface on the lid side was very cool to touch after I installed the heat shield (after a hard run). In additional, Ferrari has the same thing for the CS cars so it must be working (yes?)
Your can get the heat shield material from many sources on the web. For me: I bought the Zeroclearance sheet from this place to use at various locations in my car (I cut it to size using a metal cutter) http://www.koolmat.com/zc.htm. The spec is attached. It was very easy to tape on since it has a "pre-glue" back. Image Unavailable, Please Login
If you're that worried about cooling use a fan to speed up the process. I used to do that after spirited drives.
The koolmat would be perfect for our airboxes as they reside adjacent to a hot exhaust!!! Thanks for the info.
For the airbox, I have the whole air box removed and wrapped wrapped using a different product called LAVA MAT. It looks somewhat like CF and has very high heat reflection http://www.heatshieldproducts.com/productdetail/heat-shield-and-thermal-barriers/lava-shield-mat/79/21 Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Very nice. Have you noticed any difference in performance as the air is cooler going into the engine?
To be honest with you, I "think" it is just because I am paying for it already I have no real instrument measurements to know for sure. The 360 is quite fast for me already so I am doing this to maximize the longevity of the components more than the gain for speed.
