Author Topic: Leaving the engine lid open?  (Read 4923 times)

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Emin

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Leaving the engine lid open?
« on: June 09, 2012, 08:45:24 PM »
Hi mates,

I am in the final decision process of buying an aircooled 126. Funding will be hard, explaining to wife is much harder but we'll see.

The car appears to be in good nick and to be cared for. The only thing stops me is that i have to drive it nearly 300 miles to bring it home. The owner says with breaks every 60 r so miles it would make it. Tinkering with this i remembered the engine lid may be kept open during the journey using VW-fashioned lid spacer thingy to run cooler and need lesser breaks. Anyone had experience?

thepuddlejumper

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Re: Leaving the engine lid open?
« Reply #1 on: June 10, 2012, 12:35:58 AM »
Emin I drove 470 miles from Glasgow to Dover with only 1 or 2 stops and had no problems with over heating. It is common on the Continent for 500's and 126's to have the boot lid open to aid cooling this is mainly for the modified ABARTH type cars.

Ralph

dajwid

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Re: Leaving the engine lid open?
« Reply #2 on: June 10, 2012, 07:32:45 AM »
Many Many 126 have been driven from Poland to the UK with no problems. there is a devise made to keep the boot open, personally I don,t know if it makes a lot of difference. One member drove from Kent to Northampton with no boot lid at all, then stripped the engine down in a field to check the cam.  ;D

Emin

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Re: Leaving the engine lid open?
« Reply #3 on: June 10, 2012, 12:31:15 PM »
Many thanks!.. The owner looks erratic about the price and wifey is not happy. I have some more hours to think. We'l see.

popik81

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Re: Leaving the engine lid open?
« Reply #4 on: June 10, 2012, 05:04:40 PM »
no!!! dont open hood!!!

bis13

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Re: Leaving the engine lid open?
« Reply #5 on: June 10, 2012, 05:38:31 PM »
and drove home on one cylinder!!

dajwid

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Re: Leaving the engine lid open?
« Reply #6 on: June 10, 2012, 07:16:10 PM »
and drove home on one cylinder!!

 ;D ;D ;D ;D

Emin

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Re: Leaving the engine lid open?
« Reply #7 on: June 10, 2012, 08:46:46 PM »
I think i'll wait for the sale season to end, then look for a car closer but a bit more expensive. The adventure would worth it anyway.
« Last Edit: June 11, 2012, 09:22:58 AM by Emin »

popik81

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Re: Leaving the engine lid open?
« Reply #8 on: June 10, 2012, 11:59:05 PM »
when open hood you are change reculkulation of air... and this is worst....

Emin

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Re: Leaving the engine lid open?
« Reply #9 on: June 11, 2012, 09:26:18 AM »
when open hood you are change reculkulation of air... and this is worst....
Have you tried it before? I think VW-type gaitor would look cool.

popik81

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Re: Leaving the engine lid open?
« Reply #10 on: June 11, 2012, 07:25:03 PM »
ni I didnt try but iwas read few newspaper article in polish papers and everyone say dont open....

Emin

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Re: Leaving the engine lid open?
« Reply #11 on: June 12, 2012, 10:32:37 AM »
ni I didnt try but iwas read few newspaper article in polish papers and everyone say dont open....
I'll keep in mind. Thank you mate.

Kent126

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Re: Leaving the engine lid open?
« Reply #12 on: June 17, 2012, 10:40:00 PM »
How can keeping the lid open be bad? Surely the more exposure to air, the better the cooling process is, therefore making the engine run more efficient?

1974 Italian Fiat 126 TA
1996 Fiat Cinquecento Sporting
2008 Fiat Panda 100HP

Pete126

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Re: Leaving the engine lid open?
« Reply #13 on: June 17, 2012, 11:36:45 PM »
The way i understand it is by keeping the engine lid open while the engines is running, the fan is pulling air from the back and the LHS of the engine bay, By closing the lid the airflow's through the vents in the lid but also across the engine compartment cooling the carb, exhaust and other ancillaries on the way. If it was necessary to make the vents bigger due to overheating problems they would have designed larger vents in the back panel. Once the engine has stopped running it would be OK to to open the lid a little to help dissipate the heat quicker :)
Pete.      il cavallo piccolo

DEYAN IYI

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Re: Leaving the engine lid open?
« Reply #14 on: June 18, 2012, 07:45:40 AM »
In my opinion it's good to be open only in a traffic jam or let's say in town at low speed. 

When the speed is higher the out coming hot air would struggle with the turbulence. Well, the open lid will make the car less aerodynamic (hm, "less", is that possible in our case).

At high speed behind the car there is plenty of vacuum that pulls out the hot air trough the vents.

Maybe the optimal upgrade is to open the upper half like that: