I have an old car that may or may not be an American, Pre-64 era car. Its a front engine, rear wheel drive automobile with the manifolds on the driverside of the engine bay. I want to add louvers to the hood as I plan on vintage racing it, and was told by the American hero, Peter Brock, that these particular cars have a problem with heat cooking the carbs under the hood. Its a counterflow motor of unknown origin, but the carbs sit on top of the exhaust with only a thin heatshield separating the two. Id like to post pictures, but Im having certain issues doing that, but basically Im wondering where the best places would be to add the louvers to extract heat from the engine bay.
For that particular hood, I'm thinking louvers on both sides from the front to the cowl would most likely work well, or at least on the manifold side. High pressure air from the bottom of the windshield/cowl area should create good flow into the engine compartment at speed. The louvers at the forward part of the hood, being in a lower pressure area, would allow the higher pressure air at the cowl to circulate under the hood and vent out. There I go thinking again...