You never know, it might be worse off without the scoop, its there for a reason
Of course it will be worse off if all anyone did was just remove the
shaped scoop....it's a shroud actually.
Do not view the IC 'mod' as an upgrade all of it's own.
It is part of a group of 'mods' to extract the best performance out
of as much of the existing OEM parts fitted to the car as possible.
To re-itterate...in case you missed it....the shroud directs what
little flow of air gets in through the current (designed by stylists)
opening under the indicator/foglight, as without this 'direction'
the air would loose speed, swirl about and generally not be
forced to flow through and cool down the IC effectively.
That's simple enough for anyone to understand.
But, as the existing opening under the light is small, the amount of
air that it can flow is therefore restricted. If you compare the sizes
of the standard IC against the size of the opening you will see that
the opening is about 50% smaller, and that means that the potential
of the IC is not being fully utilised.
Of course, the amount of air flowing through will increase as the speed
of the car increases, but the size of the opening is fixed, so there is only
so much air that can flow through/into it.
Ok, so that may be about enough for a standard car, but...
we are discussing here the ways of maximising the potential of the
standard parts of the car, and the only way to improve the efficiency
of the existing IC is to get more air to pass over it and thereby cool
the inlet charge that goes through it.
The 'mod' I have suggested will without any shadow of doubt allow
the maximum amount of air to pass over it, and by doing so it will
give it's full potential as part of an upgrade from standard.
I can already see what your next question would be.....
So why did MB/Smart make the IC the size it is, and then restrict it !
There are doubtless many reasons for that, some of which could be
that:-
1/ It's quite small as it is, although a smaller one could be made,
but to do so might possibly cost more to produce.
2/ The design of the car dictated that it had to fit in the position that
it does, and that more than anything dictated the dimensions.
3/ (this is the one I favour) It had to be of sufficient size/capacity
to be able to cool down sufficient enough air to fullfil it's purpose
on the standard car.
I prefer number 3/, but it could have been a combination of all 3. But....
whatever the reasons behind it, I'm not about to waste time with any
further debate on the subject.
