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Hood Scoop Insert or no?

35K views 116 replies 24 participants last post by  mycologist 
#1 ·
Hey guys. i just bought my 2014 WRX hatch and realized that the scoop has nothing stopping debris from flying in and smoking my intercooler when i'm enjoying the beauty and speed of my wonderful new car... is this a legitimate concern? should i get a scoop insert? I live in Wisconsin right now where its cold and full of snow and salt, but i'm going to be moving to Arizona in the spring, where its sandy and rocky..

So let me know what everyone thinks.. and if an insert is the way to go, weather it for function or just for looks. i'd love your input.. also any good websites you would recommend that i use when purchasing such an item.

Thanks guys in advance! God Speed!
 
#68 ·
I have the grill on ours, but I do a lot of highway driving and it has saved a few birds from going in, a newspaper, and some other variable trash.... It also kept the snow from filling the scoop during one of the big snow storms in PA this Spring. I would think if air flow was an issue and the air to the turbo was warmer it would show in the temp gauge for the engine. I was in Kansas this past year in Aug/Sept in 100+ degree temps and the temp gauge was still in the same place it was at home in NY during the summer before the grill and before I left.
 
#69 ·
Temp gauge in the engine? Do you mean the IAT sensor that is located in the INTAKE on the OTHER SIDE of the engine? Or are you referring to the temp gauge on the dash, which is the ECT sensor and has literally nothing to do with any of this discussion.

You are cutting off flow the intercooler, one of the primary components the cooling the charge entering your cylinders. If you don't understand any of this, I would remove that screen as soon as possible.
 
#102 ·
I already did. Plus your typos and lack of proper punctuation don't help your case. Great post, God bless. :)
 
#85 ·
This is an example of the type of rock salt being pushed into my intake, my boot in the picture is a size 11.
Congratulations...you have the same salt used on your roads as virtually everyone else that lives in a climate subject to winter. I've been driving in this same **** for over 8 years with 3 Subarus...and never had this issue.
 
#79 · (Edited)
Side question, does anyone know what happens to metal when it heats up?
Metals tend to have low ionization energies and low electronegativity...so they are excellent conductors. However, because of this, they can also give heat away just as well (lose entropy). Hence why metals always feel cold. And on something like a heat sink, such as an intercooler, it won't get very "hot" in traffic unless you have removed all your exhaust/turbo heat shields and it's 100 deg outside.

While driving or revving the engine most heat transferred to the intercooler comes from the air compressed by the turbo (willing to bet this is true, Ideal gas law, if not someone is welcome to correct me). It's possible that the intercooler absorbed 'large' amounts of heat from you revving the engine and driving the turbo, although I'm fairly certain the amount of energy needed to make the intercooler malleable is greater than could ever be transferred to the intercooler by compressed air from the turbo or radiant heat from the engine. Unless there was a very 'hot' fire underneath it; hot as the combustion chamber of your engine or the inside of the compressor housing of the turbo or something I don't see the intercooler getting 'softer.'

But the catcher; the fins are already malleable, I highly doubt the heat made the fins any softer than they already were.

I want pics of the hood and front bumper. If road salt was getting all the way up there, I would expect the front of the car to be extremely knicked up.
 
#80 ·
Metals tend to have low ionization energies and low electronegativity...so they are excellent conductors. However, because of this, they can also give heat away just as well (lose entropy). Hence why metals always feel cold. And on something like a heat sink, such as an intercooler, it won't get very "hot" in traffic unless you have removed all your exhaust/turbo heat shields and it's 100 deg outside.

Most heat transferred to the intercooler comes from the air compressed by the turbo (willing to bet this is true, Ideal gas law, if not someone is welcome to correct me). It's possible that the intercooler absorbed 'large' amounts of heat from you revving the engine and driving the turbo, although the amount of energy needed to make the intercooler malleable is greater than could ever be transferred to the intercooler unless there was a very 'hot' fire underneath it; hot as the combustion chamber of your engine or the inside of the compressor housing of the turbo or something.

But the catcher; the fins are already malleable, I highly doubt the heat made the fins any softer than they already were.

I want pics of the hood and front bumper. If road salt was getting all the way up there, I would expect the front of the car to be extremely knicked up.
:rolleyes:

Just answer the question.
 
#96 ·
I can no way back this up Quantitatively, but I would suspect for a short ram intake it would be better on intake temps to leave it open than to put a big metal box around it...remember, metals are conductors.

Who knows how much radiant heat that box is actually absorbing and transferring to the intake. Heat soak is not a factor for short ram intakes, unless of course again you are sitting in traffic for long periods at 100deg temps. On the track or moving they are absolutely no problem, just like a radiator; as long as it's moving and there's airflow.
 
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