Top Secret Bonnet - Water Channels

Howdy folks,

Does this count as 'technical', I'm not too sure?

So I've had my TS2 CF bonnet on the car for quite some time (I guess 4+ years, maybe more), but it's never had any water channels, mesh, or anything to stop 'stuff' from going in.

Has anyone ever made any form of custom water channel etc to fit this bonnet. To be honest, it's never caused any problems over the years (I don't think!), but it's one of those things that I just wanted to do. It's annoying having the whole engine covered in water-spots constantly, and it makes me flinch everytime I wash it, and have to hose the bonnet down.

Just looking for ideas, or solutions, to deal with water ingression, but without losing the functionality of the vents.

Cheers, J

p.s. Also, has anyone ever attached the standard bonnet catch to a TS2 CF hood? I don't trust the bonnet with just the 2 botched-job bonnet pins that I have. The wobble at 70+ is a scary thing to see!

The wobble at 70 that you see I'd guess is at the sides as you can't see the front so fitting the proper latches will do nothing. imo

what are the holes in the bonnet doing??? Letting heat out from under the bonnet? So the stock water cooling and fan system isn't sufficient?

If it was me and the water marks bothered me, I think I'd junk the bonnet or seal off the holes, lets face it, they're not really doing anything are they.

I am sure the stock cooling setup is fine, although the car isn't exactly standard under the bonnet, so I am sure there is more heat being generated than originally intended by Toyota.

When the car is hot, you can visibly see the amount of heat pumping out of the vents in the form of 'haze', so they are obviously serving some purpose (as I am sure Top Secret intended). Whether it makes the slightest difference/benefit to the car, I don't know..but they are certainly 'functional'.

I merely wanted to know what other people have done (it's a popular bonnet) with regards to water channeling, as mine has none at all right now.

And yes, you are right about the wobble being at the sides mostly. Just not too sure how I can stop it, or at least increase stability at motorway speeds.

Cheers, J

its not as reinforced as the original bonnet i think in the sides hence the wobble its not a problem as long as you have latched it correctly and made sure it wont fly up on the windscreen when you hit higher speeds (seen a video of an expensive bonnet doing just this a about 300 KM/h at autobahn germany).

you could fix this by putting rubber stops under the sides of the bonnet it would make it wobble less.

thats my 2 pence :-)

Ps if you look at racers with quick locks on them they most of the time have steel wires as extra precaution against windscreen smashers Ds

Sorry James, I'm not meaning to rain on your bonnet as it it is, I'm just saying if you want to channel the water collected away you would have to funnel the water into some pipes and doing so narrow the bonnet vents into collectors, thus ruining the heat extraction that the bonnet is giving you.

So you either keep the vents open and functional or not. But isn't cold rain landing on your engine helping with cooling?

Heheh, yah, this is true. Although mine is a copy made by some company who's name I can't remember (Autmodellista, something like that). Got it in group buy from Paul E @ Miami-GT (I think it was still Miami-Rice back then) in about 2006.

I am fairly sure that the genuine article has water channels though, so I was just wondering how they do it, and if it's something I can replicate on mine

Cheers, J

i made my own modified bonnet and put rain chanels in, they divert the water off the engine and down the sides, from memory they are just 1mm sheet ally, very easy to do

i made my own modified bonnet and put rain chanels in, they divert the water off the engine and down the sides, from memory they are just 1mm sheet ally, very easy to do

The original top secret bonnet has a rain guard that screws underneath the width of the front two rows of slots.

(if that makes sense:) )

Ah cool .. thanks peeps. Yah, I just saw a post from you from a few years back Foodfreak on the same subject. Was going to ask if you have any 'under-bonnet' shots

I found this post on a G35 forum .. is this what you mean?

http://g35driver.com/forums/1581107-post24.html

I wonder if these are sold separately at all, and if they will fit a non-original copy. But it seems to close the vents off totally, which I guess negates any cooling benefits?

Cheers, J

In theory it shouldn't be hard to make a run off.

I think if I was going to make a run off I'd do it like roof guttering, you could even fix a wide girth rubber hose in place in the engine bay that the gutter would drain into when the bonnet was shut.

if I can find time I'll take some pictures tomorrow for you,

Stupidly busy at the moment

Here you go