advice on rally vents

[RAC68]

As I see it, your choices are both reasonable and consistent with past approaches assisting the elimination of unwanted heat build-up in the compartment. Style is also a consideration to every addition and both approaches draw different points of interest for the eye. I, personally, happen to like the addition of fender vent design points on a 100-6/3000 as it accentuates an area that is uncluttered. This, in contrast to louvers installed in a bonnet area that already is sufficiently sculptured. Additionally, if you were ever to want to return to original, applying a flat patch to a fender would be no more difficult than replacing a bonnet and could be done without acquiring new.

Again, the choice is up to you,
Ray (64BJ8P1)

 

[HealeyRick]

Seems to me there are two criteria involved with the vents: "form" and "function". Whether you like hood louvers or side vents as a matter of aesthetics is really your choice. If you're looking for cooling improvement, though, it would be nice to know what really works. Certainly the Abingdon rallye cars had side vents. so someone thought they were effective. OTOH, I've read that Geofrey Healey didn't think they worked. But FAC56 and FAC57 had the side vents, and they were Warwick cars, not Abingdon cars. For appearances, I think side vents look great on a rallye replica with a hardtop, but they don't look so good on a BJ8 tourer, but that's just me. And taking a drill and saw to an original fender would just freak me out.

 

[Top Down Resto]

Here are some on a BN7 (from the net) , louvers done in a slight Vee look the best, But this looks cool because it belongs, my opinion is leave your car stock as it is pretty enough and like Rick said might just not look right on the BJ8 ... I agree

Carroll

 

[John Turney]

Another note on hood louvers - there is a high pressure zone ahead of the windshield when the car is moving. The factory first tried hood louvers as shown here on PMO 202:

They didn't work because of the high-pressure area, so they went to the side vents.

 

[maxwedge5281]

well I thought that I would update my thread. I sold the v8 bj7 and bought a v8 bn6....my preference of the two models. when I bought the bn6 it had outlandish fender flares front and rear with huge tires and wheels and lots of other unsightly things! I was able to find the aluminum fenders from another forum member and replaced the huge flared fenders with those. I am still contemplating rally vents...just because! and, I do appreciate the various points of view and the installation advice. I am driving the car regularly with no overheating problems...upgraded radiator, puller fan, and hood louvers help with that....but the rally vent look is compelling! thanks for all the help!

 

[4tecdog]

Side vents were added by previous owner after an upgraded manifold and exhaust was fitted, I did not like the look at first and was contemplating going back to standard however they do work well and although the rad has an aux electric fan it is never needed even following caravans up our steep mountain roads.

 

[Healey Nut]

The 64 I just restored had a louvered bonnet when I bought it , I was never that keen on it and it made no difference in my opinion to engine temp . Apparently the car was raced in a previous life .
If you ever washed the car with water bucket,soap sponge etc you have to put a garbage bag over the ignition/distributor (trust me on this) a dizzy full of water is no fun to fix .
Anyways when I restored it my restorer told me if I was keeping the louvered bonnet “find another painter” .
Body guys hate them as is so difficult to avoid marks in filler that show though the paint and runs are inevitable when painting .
As luck would have it he had a spare bonnet and gave it to me so he did paint the car and I much prefer the cleaner no louvers look .
Now my 62 Tri-carb rally recreation will get wing vents .
Louvered hoods should be reserved for 100Ms and the like IMHO .

 

[Bob_Spidell]

I can attest that the louvers are a major PITA to refinish. We spent days on our M's bonnet, and it still isn't perfect; the skin was wavy and there's really no way to fix it short of removing it (and I'm not sure how you'd do it even then).

 

[dougie]

I've made these improvements on my vintage racer to help with cooling.

 

[Bob_Spidell]

I really like the vents on the inner fender well ... very discrete. Do you think they help a lot; i.e. before/after comparisons?

 

[HealeyRick]

I really like the vents on the inner fender well ... very discrete. Do you think they help a lot; i.e. before/after comparisons?

Here's a good thread on fenderwell vents: https://forum.britishv8.org/read.php?8,50660

 

[pkmh]

Reid/All,

As the woman who kissed the cow said, each to his own taste. Whether you like louvers on the hood of a 100/4 or vents on the wings of a 100/6 or 3000, these elements do allow air to flow more efficiently through the engine compartment, and as a result, allows the escape of heated air from the compartment. Our Healeys are loveable but not perfect and most of our heat issues are the result of a porous radiator bulkhead and other similar engine compartment flow approaches of the period that were expeditiously addressed by cutting holes in the body panels. It would be difficult and impractical to reengineer the compartment's design to take advantage of modern techniques but louvers and vents were already found by the original designers to satisfy some of the more critical heat issues and is period correct .

Reid, your car may have been manufactured with louvers but I wonder if, at the time, there were those questioning the style and sensibility of cutting into the bonnet. Although I have added many modifications to address heat build-up in the engine compartment, all of which are as inconspicuous as I could design, it would have been easier if I had just take Donald's approach and vented through bodywork.

RAC68 (64BJ8P1)

(Yeah Ray, but to her, that had to be one "hot" looking cow!)

 

[dougie]

I really like the vents on the inner fender well ... very discrete. Do you think they help a lot; i.e. before/after comparisons?

This is a new addition I made while my race motor was out for a rebuild. I let you know after my first few races.