Inner hood scoop grill

Does anyone with 2nd gen MINIs had the grill inside the hood scoop removed for better airflow, better cooling of the engine bay or else?

Stefano

Why don't the links work like links?

Ok but does anyone took it off? Does it make any difference? I feel like that engine bay is super hot..

Thanks Pat! Yeah, I mean I feel I can bake pizzas inside my engine bay

The '07's were sealed/closed and then the hood started warping. The '08's had holes punched out in some of the grid. This gave people the impression that the closed scoop was a very bad idea and a design flaw. When the '08s started warping the idea of removing the thing completely was talked about. From what I remember here are the pros cons of each solution:

Remove it:
Best air flow but you risk getting all kinds of junk into the engine bay.

Punch more holes in it:
Some people punched out all the holes but left the grid in place. This provided better airflow but still provided some benefit in keeping larger bits from being sucked into the scoop. Time consuming process though.

Go aftermarket:
Most of the better aftermarket solutions, like the one Sixate pointed out, transform the completely non-functional scoop to probably functional. I say "probably" because only a few of the aftermarket solutions actually have any data to back-up their claims of better air into the box. Con is the fact some of these aftermarket solutions can be a bit expensive.

My personal opinion is that modifying the scoop will not help in keeping the engine bay cool while moving. The MINI does a pretty decent job of that itself and that little gap won't help where it counts like the intercooler. Where it does seriously help is when you've stopped moving. Lot's of heat rising off the turbo with nowhere to go. If I've been running hard I just pop the hood and problem solved.