osugasman

OK, Getting ready to do some maintenance and just noticed a rather large hole in my air duct (part # 993 106 403 00). Part runs around $55 out of Atlanta. Do I need to worry about it? Should I slap some black duct tape over the hole or spend some more money and replace it?

Photo below. Thanks, Brian

linen grey ghost

if the 60 odd bones are not a problem, I'd fix it once, fix it right and then not lose sleep over it.

PNogC2S

Check with Sunset... I just bought one for quite a bit less.

No rush to fix it, but you may as well... it's cheap and a pretty easy DIY.

kjr914

This is cheap. Fix it. The fan blows air in over the engine and this hole is allowing some of that forced air for cooling to escape. No its not a "omg I'm going to destroy my engine-rush" to fix it, but don't skip it. Desert area or track use would add to the urgency to fix it.

Don't bother duct taping....I'm guessing the engine heat will make a mess of the tape and it probably won't hold the air pressure generated by the fan.

pcarrera993

Mine split right down the seam in the middle. Replace, dont tape.

Quadcammer

this tube/vent thingie goes into the blower motor. I don't think it has any effect on engine cooling or at least I couldn't tell any difference.

kjr914

Less "I think" and more "I am sure" please. "I couldn't tell a difference"....You did experiments and kept track of data, to reach this conclusion, right?

I'll step thru it so its clearer:
1. The 993 has an air cooled motor.
2. Static air isn't as good as moving air for cooling.
3. The big belt-driven fan in the back sucks air in, pushes it across the engine and out the bottom of the engine.
4. The "tube/vent thingie" is right behind said fan and part of the shrouding that directs the air onto the engine.
5. Ever notice the reasonably tight tolerence of the fan to the metal fan housing? This allows the fan to build air pressure and force air out the bottom.
6. A hole negates the effects in #s 4 & 5.

Yes, "tube/vent thingie" connects to the blower motor. Which forces air in when the engine fan isn't doing that (after you turn the car off), so yes it does have an "effect on engine cooling" in several ways.

Perhaps you should spend some time working on your car and less on the Internet.

osugasman

I'll check with Sunset tomorrow. Thanks, guys.

Quadcammer

lol, you're kidding right?

1. Since you like to talk about experiments and data, where is yours? Since you are "sure", this should be easy for you to present.

2. How many psi of air pressure is under the shroud (you tested this right?)

3. I drove cross country (3,100 miles) with a big *** chunk missing from the duct. Given the massive importance of this piece, I'm amazed I made it.

Look here chief, I do plenty of work on my car as many members can personally attest, while I don't recommend that you leave this gaping hole for very long, I'll argue that it has only a minor effect on engine cooling.

Perhaps i'm wrong...I'll just wait for your data to corroborate that.

CeeTwoS

But how do you replace this part? I have looked and searched, no luck. Looked at p-car dot com and no luck.

Anyone willing to tell me?

ToreB

It's a simple 10-15 minute job. Open two or three bolts, you see a couple of them on the photo above, and snap on the duct on the fan housing. As far as I remember, one of the bolts is a bit tricky to get to, but not a big problem. The biggest challenge in this job is not to drop any of the bolts into the air duct opening.
Cheers,
Tore

Raleigh993

Here we go.

Mr Know It All to the rescue.

Is there anything he doesn't know?

Allen

ok...so in the interest of providing another data point...I will post my fan shroud data. Like everyone else, mine has a hole in the same spot. I gotta tell ya though...when I first looked at it, I was extremely concerned. At least to me...it wasn't clear that the entire shroud wasn't a single large piece that went way down itn the bowels of the engine. Imagine my delight when I saw on here that the part with the hole in it, is a small, easy replaceable piece

Anyway...I took the shroud off of my '97, varioram, 11/96 build, car, and here is the part number: 993 106 403 00

Also, someone had asked about why this hole appears. I really think it's simply time and heat. Mine was really kinda brittle around the area where the hole was.

I'm off now to order a new one from Sunset...

osugasman

Thanks Allen. Replaced it last month along with a bunch of other maintenance items. Was easy to do.

tribaltech

Funny the timing of these posts, mine just cracked at the seam last week. I was wondering the same things as posted here. I guess I'll be ordering from Sunset too.