Hey, Anybody know if the small gap between the top of the grill and the hood has a purpose? It almost looks like it would allow air to get to the intake that attaches to the hood. I see that many aftermarket grilles don't have this gap. Any issues?

 

This also feeds the under hood intake scoop.

 

Thanks for the pic. Do you think if this gap is filled (aftermarket grille) there would be enough air for that intake? Or is most of the air coming through where the holes pictured in the radiator cover?

 

I just looked at mine. As my personal guess it looks like a considerable amount of air comes through the front gap (of course only at high speeds). Without proper testing though is can only be a guess. Would you lose performance from a aftermarket grille? Probably not but who knows how much homework Honda put into the design of the stock grille and under hood scoop. All I can say you know they probably put a lot more homework than any aftermarket shop did.

 

if they did their hw then why the hell did they put such an awkward intake on this car? why not have the inlet up front? why the hell is the car pulling air from the heat of the motor?

 

I'm not justifying Honda's design. I'm just guessing Honda R&D designed it a certain way for a reason. You would think they want the best mpg they can get out of a car. One key feature for the best mpg usually come from well designed engine / high output intake. I do not know their reasoning so I cannot speak for Honda but I believe there is a reason they chose to design it to pull air from the right side (looking at the front of the car) and having a under hood scoop (which has cold air forced into it) feed the intake inlet.

P.S. Remember Honda has to please a wide variety of customers. Meaning they have to have an intake that performs well plus that is relatively quiet and doesn't risk water ingestion in a variety of conditions.

 

i think they did it so the engine isnt loud and the scoop was just thrown in. some1 should dyno with a fan in front of the car. then do a run with the scoop and 1 with out the scoop