Engine Cover Screen

As an alternative, you could close the opening in the rear deck lid with a piece of tempered glass. I’ve seen this done by a couple of people over at the POCA e-mail forum. Later Lotus Esprit Turbo’s had a plexi spoiler attached to the top of the deck lid that would also keep rain away from the engine compartment. Mind you, not driving in the rain works best!

Rains evety day in Summer. Not driving not an option.

Curious as to the heat dissipation and air flow characteristics through the screen.

every

I don’t think heat and/or air circulation would be an issue. Most of the airflow through the engine compartment comes from under the car. You might want to talk to Larry Stock at Pantera Parts Connection. Larry is in the plexiglass business and would have lots of valuable insight into what you’re considering. Somewhere, I have a photo of a Pantera with a clear acrylic engine cover. Let me see if I can find it.

Thank you.

The early cars came with an engine cover screen that was 100% screen. If these cars were parked outdoors during a rain storm, it was possible for water to run down the air cleaner stud and actually Hydro lock the engine.

that was the reason behind the redesign of the screen for the later cars, incorporating a solid sheet metal panel directly above the air cleaner.

I am unaware of any overheating problems attributed to that redesigned engine cover

Larry

Found them !

Note tat this still has the screens on each side to allow airflow.

That not tat

@judgepaul posted:

I'm interested in the possibility of preserving that beautiful engine view

@forestg posted:

Note tat this still has the screens on each side to allow airflow.

Note that the side covers were originally solid. There have been modified to add the screens. Beautiful work!

@lf-tp2511 posted:

creating, yes, preserving, no. 😉

Personally, I love nothing better than lifting the rear deck lid on my car, no fiberglass tub unless I am on a road trip, and seeing someone’s reaction upon seeing the ZF and the Cleveland in all their full-view, glory. 😁

why give someone a view like this….

when you could give them a view like THIS….

YMMV

Larry

Or this:

Beautiful work and design! Classy and functional

@husker posted:

Note that the side covers were originally solid. There have been modified to add the screens. Beautiful work!

The solid side covers are still there. The screened area is where the original screen was, he just removed a portion in the center and replaced it with poly-carbonate. That is Jerry Brubaker's car.

Jerry's dark green Pantera has a transparent air box surrounding his quad Weber setup.

I once ran our car thru a car wash and couldn't leave for half an hour after water got in the distributor. But Ford sells a synthetic rubber 'sock' that installs over the distributor, for boat engines. Completely weatherproofs the dizzy with either small or large caps.   

@judgepaul posted:

Rains evety day in Summer. Not driving not an option.

Curious as to the heat dissipation and air flow characteristics through the screen.

The air flows from under the car, over the front of the engine and out of the opening in the rear deck. If you want to test that, just hang a piece of yarn on the rear deck opening and start driving the car. It doesn't take very much speed to see the yarn move back towards the rear of the car.

On the "eight stack", it is a very nice "design". A few comments, not negative criticisms (FYI, there can be positive criticisms).

1) It appears to be a Windsor block. At least I see the tab in the back that would be necessary to build a Clevor, which it appears to be.

2) Molding that "plexiglass" like that is no small feat. Whoever did that is a true artist in it.

3) Those can't be Weber carburetors. You can not cover the 48 IDA's like that with any kind of a fabric element air cleaner and run the engine. They will all catch fire.

They are most likely the Borla Weber "look-a-like" EFI throttle bodies. The intake is not the "Detomaso" script intake or Hall copy.

I see the ends of the fuel rails stick out but the fuel injector harness is very well hidden from those camera angles.

4) You need to leave at least 48 mm of clearance above the tops of the stacks for the air flow or it quickly becomes restrictive somewhere around 4,800 rpm.

5) If I have any negative comments then I would have to question cutting the decklid so radically. This would appear to be highly likely just a "show car" but perhaps I'm just commenting on the "designer's taste" considering that the eight stacks all originate with the Gp4 comp cars to begin with?

As far as the other two cars, I question the function of those "dog bone" sideways air cleaners. They may look "kool" but they are in fact even more restrictive then the stock Ford air cleaner assemblies are.

I am a fan of 180° headers but they don't need to be made from exotic materials. Ceramic coated, inside and out over standard steel exhaust tubing will last forever and is much lighter then the 300 series stainless is.

Great pictures though. Definitely a morning treat for me. Thanks for posting.

@panteradoug posted:

As far as the other two cars, I question the function of those "dog bone" sideways air cleaners. They may look "kool" but they are in fact even more restrictive then the stock Ford air cleaner assemblies are.

There have been several side by side dyno tests comparing the dogbone air cleaner with other air cleaners and the dogbone air cleaner had almost no effect on the dyno results, in fact, in one, the dogbone actually improved the results. So, no, they are not just "kool". The DeTomaso BB has a bunch of posts regarding this.

@husker posted:

There have been several side by side dyno tests comparing the dogbone air cleaner with other air cleaners and the dogbone air cleaner had almost no effect on the dyno results, in fact, in one, the dogbone actually improved the results. So, no, they are not just "kool". The DeTomaso BB has a bunch of posts regarding this.

If you say so but I wouldn't put any money on that bet. Enjoy.

Over the years there have been at least four different makers of "dogbone" air cleaners going all the way back to the early '80s., so when you report results, specify which ones you're using.

The main problem with dogbone air cleaners is how close to the carb throat the solid portion sits. The most free flowing came from those running a 1" spacer. If your has such, please report that, too.

If you are a POCA member you can see a writeup in Dec 2016 for an engine bay window done by one of our members from Pantera NW. He uses a fan to push or pull air from one side of the engine to the other and then out the back. I think he said that it kept the bay about 40 deg cooler than without it. That would keep the rain out and not interfere when showing off the bling in the business end of our cars.

Ken

Thank you. I am a member and I'll check it out.

My louvers themselves tend to keep the rain out. In addition, because I am running open stacks on my IDA's I mounted an additional plexiglass panel attached to the underside of the louvers.

Any additional water then would just be vapor and at worst would be water vapor injection.

Oh...something also to consider, the hinged MindTrain louvres feature won't work with the roof spoiler.