Title pretty much says it all.
Is the hood scoop on the F56 MCS completely sealed and cosmetic?

Is it any different than the R56?

 

Yes it's completely cosmetic unfortunately. Black plastic blocking it off.

 

The R56 is open which scared the hell out of me the first cold rainy day I had it, had steam coming from it.

 

The R56 is a semi-functional hood scoop where half the holes are blocked off in the grid pattern, but it does allow some cool air to come in and hot air to escape. (at least mine is)
With a completely sealed F56 hood scoop, would taking a dremel to the grid pattern and opening up some holes do any good?

Just seems odd that the F56 would have the hood scoop completely sealed off. Then again, with the new engine, maybe it's less of an issue?

 

Because of the redesign and the required space needed under the hood to satisfy the European pedestrian safety laws the heat buildup doesn't occur and the need for a functional hood scoop is gone.

 

Call me the old guy, but I recall something similar being said in 2007 with the launch of the R56. Two melted hood scoops later those of us who were early adopters got smart and dremeled them out...right before MINI recalled it and supplied new ones that were actually vented.

 

The scoop is designed to be permanently cosmetic. No way to make it functional without cutting the second sub layer of bonnet metal....

 

Recall? I am not familiar with this at all. Is there any documentation?

There was a service bulletin that if the customer complained about hood scoop deformation due to excessive heat, the dealer would install a replacement hood scoop and retrofit a heat shield under the bonnet to prevent the new scoop from deforming.

 

There is nothing functional about R56 hood scope - the last functional hood scoop was on R53 cars where the air was fed into the air intake filter box.

On R56 it just blows air into the engine compartment for no particularly good reason, other than to look pretty and warp with age and heat. The solution for warping was to insulate the R56 hood scoop from the engine bay heat with a thermal blanket. Enough said

F56 scoop is 100% cosmetic, which is perfectly fine.
The air intake in both R56 and F56 scoops fresh cold air into the engine through the air ducts in the grill, making overhead scoop superfluous.

a

 

I disagree with this.
There are others here that would disagree as well.

As I said, the R56 doesn't have a "true" hood scoop, but it does allow some cool air to come in and hot air to escape, making it "semi-functional", "quasi-functional" etc. But it's not 100% cosmetic and "there is nothing functional about R56 hood scoop" is not a true statement, sorry.

 

Allow me to clarify:
- there is nothing functional about R56 (2nd gen MCS) hood scoop from the cold air intake perspective.

Which to me, is the only reason to have a hood scoop, other than for looks.
There are plenty of other openings in the noose of the car to circulate air through the engine bay: grill and under-body area, to name but a few.

For the same reason, you can punch a few holes in F56 hood scoop and the blanket behind it, but it wont make it any more functional and any less cosmetic.

The only reason R53 had an air scoop that I consider functional, is that it directed air straight into the air intake filter box. That served a clear and useful function.

a

 

Actually it feeds air to the intercooler for the supercharger

 

Potato/Potatoe

 

The only "function" of the holes in the R56 hood scoop is to help keep the scoop from melting! The hood scoop provides no function for the engine. The Rolls-Royce Goodwood Edition is an R56 S but uses a hood from the diesel model, with no scoop.

 

beat me to the correction

 

Some aftermarket intakes (like that from AEM) make use of the scoop to route air to the intake ...

 

Per my MA, the melting of the R56 intake was due to its close proximity to the turbo.

Also, it is doubtful that much under-hood hot air escapes through the R56 intake holes. Outside air definitely gets in, but the design of that intake does much more to allow air in rather than out. If there were hood ducts added to the hood, those would allow some hot air to escape. Having had a 2003 Cobra with hood ducts, I am very familiar with how they work. Many of us used a cold air intake with the intake mounted in the fender-well to bring cooler outside air into the supercharger. And we modified our hood ducts to allow more under-hood hot air to escape. Very effective mod.

 

Given the choice, I would have preferred no scoop or a functional one. Over the years, cars with fake scoops and such were often frowned on by enthusiasts. It should have been functional with the hot air able to escape just ahead of the windshield.

 

Torpeau I agree!- so the R56 and F56 rear spoliers are for what? Besides getting the rear window dirty (because of turbulence back there). Doubt they hold the rear wheels down - even at speeds over 100mph.


So things on the F56 that are for ornamental purposes only:
Hood Air Scoop
Rear Spoiler
Disco circle around the center instrument cluster

 

Thanks to your both for the correction - my MINI adventure started with R56.
It will continue with F56, but not until the JCW model comes out.

a

 

The R53 S had a true functional hood scoop, it's purpose was to increase performance. The R56 S (post launch) had some holes punched in it to keep the Prince from cooking its bonnet. The term "functional" and "hood scoop" has a generally accepted meaning on performance oriented cars, and a patch to keep the R56 from blistering its bonnet is not one of them, though I'm sure an R56 fanatic will be along any time now to stretch this definition to include such.

As for the F56, I suspect engine cooling was properly engineered to begin with, and will not have to rely on a "functional scoop" to keep itself from burning up.

 

One would hope so, but then again you would have expected it also for the R56...

 

The difference is French (Peugeot) R56 engineering vs. German (BMW) engineering. I think the Germans, especially BMW, know how to build engines. As for the French, well the R56 stands as a testament to their engineering prowess.

 

BMW had a hand in the engineering of the Prince engine, specifically with the variable valve system.

 

I've long wondered if the N14 engine was long delayed revenge for events of the mid-20th century... :-)