UK Bonnet on a J spec.. pros and cons

[JS2004]

I have a UK bonnet that I bought many years ago, with the intention of swapping them over on my j spec NA.

It got 'parked' as I ended up doing other things and ended up doing a full respray back in 2018 which kept the original J-spec bonnet.

 

I was considering looking at using the UK bonnet, but have a couple of concerns.

The cons / concerns:

1 - I'm not sure if the full scoop kit is intact (it's in a lockup so I can't just check), but if it is, I'm not sure if it fouls the NA engine in any way?

2 - Water - I'm guessing water can get in through the vent, and this sounds like it could be a problem.

3 - The sound deadening / lining was removed as it deteriorated during storage in a shed before moving it to a garage.

4 - Dust - As with water, I've seen posts about this being an issue.

5 - It's not a UK TT and this may make it appear as one (which ends up with 'nah, its not a TT' conversations).

6 - Id have to get it to a bodyshop, sprayed and fitted (I had started prepping it, so  part of it is back to metal).

 

The pros:

1 - I like the look.

2 - I really like the look.

3 - Could be useful / practical if I do look at turbo (although this isn't a priority at the moment).

 

Any thoughts to help sway my mind? there are a lot of cons here, and I guess I'm trying to put myself off and perhaps look at selling it.. but that comes with its own issues as I would not want to try shipping it and looking at a few posts about their value it seems to have a wide range. 

 

Cheers

[bradleyh_15]

keep it and sell me your original other than that it’s completely up to you what you do with your car. I can’t however say if it will foul on the anything on the NA as I’ve never had one sorry. 
 

but if you do fit the uk I will take the non vented bonnet off you so let me know as you can then put that money towards getting it painted

[Noz]

I doubt it'd hit anything, an NA can use a TT engine brace. However it does need to be rotated 180 degrees, meaning there's definitely a shift in the components from one side to another. But that vent looks fairly central, I think it would be okay.

If you're worried about water, block it up. Cover the read of it, and use sealant. Kinda lot of hassle for a tiny vent for visual purposes.

I don't think anyone would assume its a TT just from the vent. They may ask about where are the turbski's though

Con's

It'll never be useful for going turbo in my opinion.

[jim_supra]

The metal undertray for the scoop will foul on the manifold and so needs trimming to clear the NA inlet manifold. Back when mine was NA I had this issue (TT now) and as for water ingress/ dust, it never caused loads of additional dust/ water for me, pretty much everything metal was polished in my engine bay back then, and I'd have been constantly cleaning/ polishing.

If you do have the undertray, my advice would be not to trim it, get a copy made and sell it instead (or not run the undertray as I now do, will fetch a bit I imagine given the prices I've seen genuine scoop parts go for over the years.

 

 

[Dnk]

Remove the underside of the scoop that directs airflow to the snorkel

Never had any water problems with either of my UK cars 

[JS2004]

Thanks guys, appreciate the feedback.

I'm leaning much further over to just keeping it with the Jspec bonnet on. I'll sort out the UK bonnet and might look to get it sold, although they're not exactly easy to post . I'll get proper pictures and work out what part of the scoop is on it and whether it's fully intact. 

Edited November 2, 2022 by JS2004
typo (see edit history)

[96sz]

If you do decide to sell I could be interested. Could you give me a shout if you do please. Thanks