zeintop owners ...
 

i'm one too. you may have seen my other post regarding custom engine covers for cars w/ roof deletes. on a similar note i've got another idea, and looking for input ...

i am thinking about removing the rear glass on my zeintop and replacing it with louvers. this will lose a lot of weight (along with a complete roof delete). if i can find a fabricator to add a vertical rear plexi window like this, then I can open up the engine by removing the carpet and cover. again, reduced weight, along with better engine ventilation and tone (and maintenance access). further, it leaves lots of room for fun things like intercoolers. rear quarter windows would most likely have to be deleted (they would interfere with the vertical rear window) most likely replaced with vents feeding additional air into the engine compartment (and intercoolers?).

any thoughts? am i crazy?

Just a note on cooling. Usually the airflow through the engine compartment is carefully designed and managed. Opening up the top cover will not necessarily improve engine cooling. It could more likely reduce cooling of the engine because the airflow paths are altered.

Imagine you have a tube with an inlet and outlet and air flowing through it to cool the walls of the tube. Then you cut a hole into the middle of that tube. Now a good part of the air leaves through the middle of the tube and the end of the tube is getting warmer than it was before.

dunno about that. the boxster engine is in a closed-top compartment that is open at the bottom. heat rises, and will hang around the engine unless moved. the fan in the side vent does just that - it tries to push the hot air out the bottom. i would call it a compromise more than an engineered solution. if you want to talk heat transfer, having a fan on only one side of the engine will cool one side more than the other; even with perfectly engineered airflow around the engine, the air will have heated by the time it reaches the intake side of the compartment.

open the top and the hot air can get out on it's own, especially given the low pressure area back there.

The car's motion provides part of the airflow solution. Flow through the engine compartment is studied as thoroughly as the flow over the body.

Wouldn't then all the heat from the engine emanate into the passenger cabin, making your interior feel like a sauna? :D Have you ever taken your engine cover off after driving the car for a bit?....the metal cover itself is hot (and that's even with the honeycomb heat shield underneath it). Not to mention you will probably lose hearing after a while as there's no more sound deadening carpeting either. This isn't another stir the pot kinda post of yours for amusement is it, cause if it is, I think you should also remove the heat shield behind your seats for some extra sound and heat ventilation enjoyment. ;)

Have fun with the project, and let us know how you make out! :D

not stirring the pot, just trying to let the heat out and make more room back there. the front bulkhead and sound deadening carpet would remain, just the top of the engine compartment would be gone. the passenger cabin would be separated from it by by a vertical plexi rear window sealed against the bulkhead at the bottom and the roof at the top and sides.

ps, it worked ok for porsche's other mid-engined cars; the 904:

904

and the 914:

914

note the rear window design in both cases - easily incorporated into the zeintop. keep the hatch and replace the rear glass w/ louvers so that you don't have to fab a new engine cover. can't have rear quarter windows with the new back window design, so put some vents in there to fill the space and move more air away from the engine.

personally, i love the old 50's and 60's-era porsches and feel that their styling is timeless. once the 70's hit, the only porsche that had any aesthetic value for me was the 911 (i'm certain that the 924/944 and 928 were excellent performance machines, but for me they are not 'timeless' and feel that they are very stylistically tied to the 70's and 80's).

the boxster was supposed to be a return to the 550, etc.. by the time that exercise was complete, however, most of the visual cues and ties to the old porsches were lost. in fact, i often feel that porsche tried to hide the mid-engine aspect of the car as much as possible - the unneccessary volume in the front, the efforts to reduce volume in the rear, the complete encapsulation and hiding of the engine compartment.

now that old boxsters are affordable to slack-jawed yokels like me, i'm looking at simple ways to modify the car to bring back some of these styling, performance and audio cues.

ps ps, without an engine cover, i ** think ** a 996 engine swap would be a lot easier - no need to lower the engine or reverse the intakes in order to fit under the cover. less messing w/ coolant, fuel and vacuum lines. i'm still looking into than one.

and as i noted earlier, a lot more room for intercoolers in that dead space above the engine ...

I like the creative ideas. I'm sure you've seen the clear engine cover made for Caymans. I installed the rear glass on my DIY Zeintop, and it wasn't very heavy at all, maybe 5 pounds. The vertical glass could work.

You might consider louvers in the side quarter glass instead. Look at the Z-art website, where there is a mock-up of that using a Zeintop.

Without hijacking your thread, I mention that I'm about to put my 986 Arctic Silver Zeintop [and the Boxster too] up for sale. I just agreed to buy a Cayman. :cheers: Offers welcome. It's in White Plains, NY. I'll do a separate topic when I have the new car.

zeintop/engine cover
 

Hi Guy,

I have a 2000 boxster S with a zeintop. I have removed my entire soft-top with all its arms and motors, thus saving me weight. I have looked into buying a ''Adrenilizer'' engine cover, but seems they don't make them anymore and can't find anyone selling them. For those of you who don't know, the adrenilzer is a standard boxster plastic engine cover with its clips but has a lexan(polycarbonate) window and 'vent' on the one side. The vent can be opened or closed to increase engine sound inside the car.

I drive my car without an engine cover. The sound is something out of this world! This is obviously not for every one. I have taken my car on the track since I have taken it off and have had no problem with heat or anything else.

Having said that, this only works with the windows closed. When the windows are closed the heat and dust is vacuum sucked out the bottom of the engine towards the road. When the windows are open, the inside becomes hot from the engine heat and it also becomes dirty from the dust/dirt from the road.

This is my experience, the boxster is not my daily car and I never drive it in the rain. I have a cone air filter and a porsche sports exhaust system. The sound I use to get at 7000 RPM is what I am getting at 3000 RPM now, so im sure you guys can imagine what 7000 RPM sounds like now.

hope I was of some help.

Rob.

thanks man, that's good info - even open to the cockpit, heat and sound are ok (a subjective thing that will vary from person to person, i presume).

i've done some more searching, and i'm not the only guy with similar thoughts:

stola boxster

and

stola cayman

too bad you can't get individual pieces and not the whole $1/4 million goulash.

holy :eek:

another idea for a zeintop
 

Early Cayman prototype? No, just poor photoshopping by me. :D

Old post but hope many of you are still into modding your Boxster. I have one of these Zeintops but my lawn guy managed to bust rear glass while weed whacking (I should have parked inside). In any case do you guys know if Cayman glass will work or where to get a replacement? I'd be interested in yours if you have removed. Thanks