Mod idea - good or bad???

[Paladine71]

This spring, I installed the pcmforless efan. Now that I've ran it all summer, I have some observations, good and bad.

The good:
- It rapidly cools the engine when engaged if the temperatures are below 90 degrees
- In conjuction with a tuned PCM/TCM, Air Doc intake, K&N filter and Magnaflow Dual Catback, I'm getting gas mileage that rivals a stock truck. That's great when you consider that I carry a lot of gear, heavy brush guard, roof rack, winch, etc. running on 35" Mudders.

The bad:
- It's noisy! When you're driving at speeds above 20mph, you really can't hear it above the regular wind noise. When you going slow, wheeling, or stopped at a red light, it sounds like a leaf blower.
- The engine runs hotter than it should. At temps above 90 degrees, it runs hotter than with the stock fan. At 100 degrees, you can't run the AC without the vehicle getting dangerously hot. Part of this problem may be my Warn PowerPlant. On CBphoto's High Winch Mount, it rides so high that it blocks a lot of the grill and is undoubtedly reducing air flow into the engine.

So.... I had this crazy idea that you folks need to talk me out of...

Here is a picture of my RealWheels steel hood louver/overlay from the side and rear:

You'll notice that, unlike the stock louver, it is ridged and spaced, exposing some of the hood beneath it. The hood below is not normally noticable because from the front, side and top, it looks like one solid piece. Only the flash clears away the shadow enough to notice it here.

So, my curious mind reflected on the HMMWVs that I've been around and how their hood louver functions with the thick screen that allows the vehicle to breathe even under extreme conditions. Why could this same setup not be done with my louver on my H3? It would require cutting through the hood and placing in one or more screens which would then be covered by the hood louver. That would allow more airflow to the engine, but water access as well from rain/snow/ice. The screens would be protected from large debris by the louver since the spaces are small between the louver's fins. Thoughts???

 

[08SolarFlareH3]

Someone with a CE did what you are talking about. Let me see if I can find pics.......

 

[erdlen65]

Cutting a large section of your hood will probably weaken it, so you'll need to add some bracing. Also make sure you get good paint coverage anywhere you cut so you don't get any rust. But I think its a great idea grab a few beers a cut off wheel and post some pics!!!

 

[08SolarFlareH3]

ok, found the pics.

 

[SolidusJ]

Paladine71 I'm having the same thoughts, only thing is I'm thinking of cut every other fine on my hood louver and putting the same wire mesh as the 998. Three things come to mind when I planed this out, one my wife sent in my T for the louver recall and they crazy gule the hell out of it, two the louver wouldn't be able to clip in so I was just going to blot thing down just like the M988 and the last thought was if I'm going to bolt it down why not just get the the whole wire mesh and bracket kit and just cut it down to size? So I say GO ALL THE WAY and make it happen!!!!!!!

 

[f5moab]

Will it allow more airflow, yes. Will it help with a hot radiator? Try and keep detailed records to let us know.

However, it might cause problem with an I5 engine and rain falling directly on the head and into the plug/coil wells. There has already been a bulletin about rain in cylinder 1's plug well. So, not sure how this will affect that area.

CB photos winch plate with a large winch will drop airflow into the engine but not by much. But airflow was one reason why I didn't opt for the humongous power plant with the built in air compressor. I found that just doing away with the Ramsey winch cover (right photo) and replacing it with just a synthetic winch rope cover made an improvement. That cover covered a large area of the grille.

So, do it and let us know if it helps or not.

 

[theBroken]

Your not going to decrease the engine temp much by cutting that hole in the hood with the Efan. But it's free to find out.

I would ditch the Efan till you figure it out. The aluminum block can't handle being over heated like the cast iron blocks can.

Check for dry mud in your radiator. This could be keeping air from drawing through the radiator. You might notice it sooner with the winch on the front.

 

[HUMMER INVESTMENTS]

Id defenitaly be interested in the results! KKeep us post Paladine!:thumbs::corn:

 

[Paladine71]

Those pics are perfect. Exactly what I was looking to do. :thumbs:

Since my louver is already bolted down, and with leaving the hood supports as they are, I don't think that the hood would be weakened. I have an Alpha, so I don't think water will be an issue either. I'll look again tomorrow with better light to see where the water would come in. Great points about painting. I plan on keeping this rig for as long as I can keep it running; there is no possibility of trading it in for me. I need to find some good wire screens for this, but I think that I'm going to give it a try.

 

[Paladine71]

ok, found the pics.

View attachment 1418View attachment 1419View attachment 1420

Any idea of whose rig this is? I'd like to ask them about it.

 

[HUMMER INVESTMENTS]

Any idea of whose rig this is? I'd like to ask them about it.

Thought it was Hunners at first. I remember browsing *** at the time and found something like this in the 3 section and was wondering what the hell it was/did:wink:

 

[3Hummers]

Interesting. Curious to know how well this works.

 

[HUMMER INVESTMENTS]

:agree:

 

[Hunner]

That's not mine but I did have an idea I never did. That was to leave that bracing like that and cut outs in between. I found a double electric fan that would just fit where the louvers are but leave room around the edge to use the now defunct clips. I was going to make the louver removable with dutz clips or pins so when idling along in low range on steep winding trails which I do a lot I could exhaust heat upward. It would look crazy with the louver off but I would only run it offroad in summer and unless it had enough air flow to blow rain away I would cover it. I have all that info somewhere but was hoarding it. ha ha
I sometimes was guiding at the offroad park and coming up out of some of those deep valleys leading a slow group would sometimes overheat in the I-5. I had to roll down the windows and open the sun roof and run the heater wide open to cool it down. Funny image huh, me stripped down to my shorts and head out the window sweat rolling off my body running the heater in 100+ temps and 100% humidity.
Fall came and I never did that.
Then the new Alpha with just enough miles to get to MOAB on it blew a heater hose, F5 and Neo will remember that only leaked out pressure and then slid back on so it was hard to find. F5 pulled on it and said that's loose. How loose I said? Found out it was not clamped fully.
I ran the heater, removed the PowerPlant in case that was part of the problem and drove in limp mode for a ways but had to stop. A hood fan would have been great. We finally had to add water and Dex thru the radiator cap because it could not take it from the overflow tank. I drove the rest of the week with the PowerPlant off and did not have temps lower than I normally do. It's been on there since 08 and no serious heating problems, but it does climb up there some sitting in traffic and 100+. So I avoid traffic.
I remember the era of hood scoops and most injested wind driven rain and bugs and leaves. I have a scooped hood on my diesel but I blocked them off. I have a side scoop for the turbo after it sucked in the air cleaner box top but it has a baffle to drop water and leaves before the air cleaner.
I will watch, you mod, mod on!

 

[JonBishop]

i would love to have one of those hood louvers, where do they sell them? but dont think itd work very well wit my I5 :/

 

[Ron B]

So, my curious mind reflected on the HMMWVs that I've been around and how their hood louver functions with the thick screen that allows the vehicle to breathe even under extreme conditions.

wasn't sure if you ever looked at a humvee/hummer closely to see why there is a big vent in the hood -- the radiators are mounted at 45 deg to keep the ground clearance and overall height down.

 

[ReconH3]

I had the same idea as Hunner with two small fans. Even is it doesn't make a huge difference in cooling, it does help with under hood temps. High temps under the hood isn't the best friend of all the plastic parts. I was even contemplating another set of grills on the side like the H2s.


"Ex Umbris Venimus"

Sent from my iPhone

 

[Steve #1]

Are you using the dash guage to determine how hot you are running or an OBDII reader? Did the issue with the temp guage reading high effect the V8 or Just the I5?

My I5 runs hot in the summer when moving slow, but the guage on the dash makes it look worse than it is.

 

[JoshuaL]

Any idea of whose rig this is? I'd like to ask them about it.

That is drkhunter's H3. A guy from the old forum I don't think he is on this one

 

[Paladine71]

i would love to have one of those hood louvers, where do they sell them? but dont think itd work very well wit my I5 :/

It's by RealWheels. Mine came with the brush guard. I'm sure that you can buy them separately. I picked mine up from http://www.hummerpartsclub.com.

 

[Paladine71]

wasn't sure if you ever looked at a humvee/hummer closely to see why there is a big vent in the hood -- the radiators are mounted at 45 deg to keep the ground clearance and overall height down.

I'm no mechanic and haven't worked on the engine of a HMMWV, just noticed the top vent in passing. Still, it would allow a lot of that hot air to escape since heat rises.

 

[Paladine71]

Are you using the dash guage to determine how hot you are running or an OBDII reader? Did the issue with the temp guage reading high effect the V8 or Just the I5?

My I5 runs hot in the summer when moving slow, but the guage on the dash makes it look worse than it is.

I have an Alpha, so I can't speak to the efan's effect on an I5. I'm going off of the temp gauge on the dash.

 

[SolidusJ]

The Efan on the I5 keeps my engine temp no lower then 188 and no higher then 199. I'm going off my bullydog which dog system, I never thought about the rain and snow part :-/....

 

[erdlen65]

You could always get crazy and make some type of insert that's removable for summer use but keeps snow out in the winter time

 

[H3slate]

It's by RealWheels. Mine came with the brush guard. I'm sure that you can buy them separately. I picked mine up from http://www.hummerpartsclub.com.

Man there is a lot of chrome on that site!! :whaa: