Fender Vents (etbadger mod)

[saline]

As we all know, our 6.0L vans don't have much airflow through the engine compartment. This is especially true when going slow off road. After seeing Erik's (etbadger) project viewtopic.php?f=13&t=4465 I decided to copy at least part of his idea to help with heat management. I installed fender/cheek vents on my SMB that are identical to badgers. They are from a 70's era snowmobile and I was able to find them on ebay.
The hood vents will come next spring but I figured that this would get me started.
I must say it's a bit intimidating cutting into the sheetmetal of the SMB. If you screw up, you'll need a new fender. The good thing is that it really wasn't all that hard to do.

A couple of pics:

[scatter]

Glad to see someone else take the plunge saline. Now the big question.... Notice any difference in engine/water temps???

[BroncoHauler]

Really nice look. Fits the fender profile well. Did you cutout the inner fenderwell as well, or just use it as is?


Herb

[saline]

Originally Posted by scatter

Glad to see someone else take the plunge saline. Now the big question.... Notice any difference in engine/water temps???

I don't have a scangauge yet so no really sure. It would be easy to cover them up and do a test run.
[quote="BroncoHauler"]Really nice look. Fits the fender profile well. Did you cutout the inner fenderwell as well, or just use it as is?

Thanks, I left the inner fender as is. There is a pretty good size hole on both sides in that area along with several other openings. I drove it today and even at idle with the engine fan running heat pours out of the vents, enough to make it uncomfortable to leave your hand in front of it.

[pjpvi]

Nice installation! Did you find them on ebay?

Phil

[BroncoHauler]

Originally Posted by saline

Thanks, I left the inner fender as is. There is a pretty good size hole on both sides in that area along with several other openings. I drove it today and even at idle with the engine fan running heat pours out of the vents, enough to make it uncomfortable to leave your hand in front of it.

That's what I was hoping to hear, and would have been my test method. I bet your cooldown time just decreased. If only you had a ScanGuage... Are the vents attached with nuts/bolts, or with sheet metal screws?


Herb

P.S. Any electronics in the area behind the vents?

[saline]

Originally Posted by BroncoHauler

That's what I was hoping to hear, and would have been my test method. I bet your cooldown time just decreased. If only you had a ScanGuage... Are the vents attached with nuts/bolts, or with sheet metal screws?


Herb

P.S. Any electronics in the area behind the vents?

The vents are riveted in place. Difficult to remove but at least they won't rattle loose and fall off on the Saline Valley washboard.
As far as electronics: Drivers side inboard of the vent is the FICM (fuel ignition control module) Pass. side just has the radio antenna wire.

Phil,
Found them here, you just need a RH and LH vent.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... _500wt_928

[BroncoHauler]

Are the vents metal or plastic? In the part description on eBay, they talk about plastic pins.


thanks,
Herb

[saline]

They are plastic, it would be even better if they were billet aluminum though.

[BroncoHauler]

Saline,

Are the vents you used curved to fit the profile of the fender, or does the plastic bend enough to fit the profile of the fender, or is the location essentially flat?


thanks,
Herb

[EDIT: Oh, and about what size are those vents?}