[KeithO]

There are two black inserts at the front of my Firehawk hood. I looked under the hood and saw that three plastic "bolts" and nuts hold this on. It appears that the piece that comes out is the black part and a part that is body color.

It appears that I remove this, the airflow could be improved across the front of the motor.

Has anyone removed this for tracking/road racing? Is there any reason that I wouldn't want to remove this? More underhood cooling = good. Especially with my car.

[94bird]

To give you an idea one of the durability tests we do at work is to run our engine for 625 hours from peak TQ rpm to peak HP rpm with 230 deg. coolant and 290-300 deg. F oil temp. We run Mobil 1 0W40 and have absolutely no problems. The same durability schedule is used for other engines that use 5W20 mineral oil. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/blink.gif) They all have to pass before they are allowed into production.

Now, I'm not going to tell you to take a mineral based oil above 280 deg. F for long periods of time, but it wouldn't stress me at all to see 280 deg. F oil temp for hours on end, like in an enduro. Add synthetic to the mix and it shouldn't break down until 320 deg. F or slightly above.

However, the cooler you can get the oil (at least above 220 deg. F though) and the coolant (near 200 deg. F is good) the better your engine will like you.