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I am looking for any and all ways to improve C6 GS cooling. I know the GS / Z06 front fascia scoop is functional from the factory but it seems at least half of the grille "screen" openings are blanked off (see pic). I don't see a way to readily remove the grille but would drilling out the blank sections be worth the effort? I am sure this has been covered in past posts but I will appreciate the info again.
The air filter housing does pick up air around that area so if it were to give you any benefit at all, it would probably be for cooler air ingestion not really for cooling. I also have a GS and was wishing the opening would be a bit bigger or more like a NACA duct.
I wonder what engineer decided those "blanks" needed to be there instead of just an open screen. Guess he wasn't worried about cooling or air for the intake. Or did he know something and just din't share it with us owners?
I wonder what engineer decided those "blanks" needed to be there instead of just an open screen. Guess he wasn't worried about cooling or air for the intake. Or did he know something and just din't share it with us owners?
I believe the issue was under hood air pressure, when you open that vent fully there isn’t enough venting in the engine compartment at high speed to keep the front end down. The extra under hood pressure creates lift at higher speeds so they used that plastic cover to limit how much air can fill the engine compartment.
At least that’s how I remember it was described when people first started talking about opening that vent when the C6 widebody first arrived.
I am looking for any and all ways to improve C6 GS cooling. I know the GS / Z06 front fascia scoop is functional from the factory but it seems at least half of the grille "screen" openings are blanked off (see pic). I don't see a way to readily remove the grille but would drilling out the blank sections be worth the effort? I am sure this has been covered in past posts but I will appreciate the info again.
Thanks to all for your input. I would like to clarify my request. I have a blower car so I am not trying to direct air to the intake. Also, this duct is not open to the engine compartment so I am not trying to vent heat. I am trying to direct as much air as possible to the front of the radiator in addition to sealing off the top and sides of the ECS radiator shroud to force as much air to enter the radiator. I found an old thread on the subject and it seems there is considerable controversy on the functionality of the duct from the factory and the benefits of modification to the duct. Any additional input will be appreciated.
I am trying to direct as much air as possible to the front of the radiator
This duct is above and outside of the radiator shroud. Opening it up will not provide additional cooling air to your radiator.
Also, in case you're thinking of it, putting holes in the radiator shroud wouldn't provide a path for additional air to come through this duct and into the radiator, it would actually flow the other way and take air off the radiator. Additionally, opening the radiator shroud has been found to cause surge issues. So that's a no go.
The short answer is that really there is no practical way to create additional radiator cooling using this duct.
On my GS, after adding the HX core for my supercharger inside the shroud and seeing how little space that left inside the shroud, I removed the shroud entirely and had a custom radiator cover with side “wings” (sort of like a Halltech Beehive) that blocks air from flowing around the side of the HX/A/C core/radiator/trans cooler “cooling module”. My filter sits in the same cavity as the cooling module. I also pulled off the rubber flap/cover that blocks airflow from the bottom of the nose (on the wide body “front fed” cars), thereby allowing air to flow through the bottom of the nose as well as the grill. Some said this wouldn’t work but I can tell you that even now if I drive my car without the cover over the radiator, my car doesn’t overheat in ~95* traffic. The highest water temps I saw last weekend during the 35 minute drive to the track was 196*.
The first very easy free thing to do, if you haven’t done it already, is pull the rubber flap off the bottom of the nose cavity. That takes 5 minutes tops. The other thing that helped cooling on my car was to bypass the radiator trans cooler and just use the Hayden trans cooler on its own. Since you live in Florida, that shouldn’t be a problem for you.
Improving C6 GS Cooling- Front Vent
