Chief Engineer Says Supra's Blocked-Off Air Vents Can Be Made Functional / Functional vents possible?

[2JZ-No-Sh*t]

To those that are complaining about all the fake vents. You guys should take a look at the 2nd gen R8. Especially the facelift model.

The areas in the red boxes are the only functioning vents, and that's just on the front. But where is the outcry from internet?

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[dgh]

I Just Don't Believe What the Toyota Supra's Chief Engineer Says About the Fake Vents

https://jalopnik.com/i-just-dont-believe-what-the-toyota-supras-chief-engine-1831838527

Look, I’m not trying to be a jackass here or anything, and I fully realize that I’m just some drooling simpleton that writes about indicator lamps and Tetsuya Tada is an incredibly smart and skilled Chief Engineer for one of the largest carmakers in the world. But I can’t change what I saw. So when our good pals at Road & Track reported that “The Toyota Supra’s Blocked-Off Air Vents Can Be Made Functional, Says the Chief Engineer,” I had to re-examine my Supra fake vent take and see what was really going on. What I found was that I’m in the awkward spot of disagreeing with the Chief Engineer about his own project.

Where do I get balls like that, you may be wondering, quite justifiably? Well, it’s not so much about balls as it is holes, specifically the lack thereof. Here’s what the Road & Track story said:

“If you look at the vehicle today, there’s holes all over the body,” Tada said. “They’re just capped on the production car. Those are for the racing model. When the customer goes and converts it to a racing car, or adds those necessary components, those caps come off very easily. So, it’s already pre-made, ready to accommodate.

Okay, so, based on what I saw on the car itself, these statements are simply not accurate at all. There are no easy-to-remove “block-off plates” on any of the fake vents. The plastic covers that mimic the look of a vent can be pried off, sure, but you’re just going to have some sheet metal behind them.

Here, let’s look at two of the vents, the ones on the hood:

...and here’s a shot of the hood from the underside:

Image cropped from larger picture
Photo: Motor Trend Canada (https://www.motortrend.ca/en/news/six-secrets-2020-toyota-supra/)
There are no easy-to-remove block-off plates. If you were to pry off the plastic covers on those hood vents, you’d just find yourself with a way to allow air into a shallow volume surrounded by the sheet metal that forms the under hood structural supports. That’s it. It has no use as an engine vent.

Sure, I suppose you could Sawzall a lot of that material under there and carve yourself out a heat-extraction vent or whatever you want, but you could do that on literally any car, ever.

The same goes for pretty much every other fake vent on the car. Like these vents on the doors

Here’s what’s behind those doors, which you can see in this, um, Schmee video walkaround:

Behind those door vents is just a normal doorjamb. There’s no air intakes or holes, covered by knock-out plates or not. That door vent does absolutely nothing, and even if you were to punch that whole vent open, it would still do effectively nothing beyond, I guess, keeping your door latch nice and cool.

The blocked off panels on the side front grille areas (not the little teardrop below the headlamp; that still appears to be fake even on the racing one) are the exception here; you could likely pull off that whole plastic grille part and replace it with an open mesh, like in the racing edition did:

Also, when they do need more airflow, like at the rear to give an exhaust for air trapped in the wheel well, the racing version of the Supra uses a completely unique rear bumper skin to accommodate it:

The point is, the fake vents on the production car are in no way just useful and ready-to-go by just popping off some covers, as R&T reported Tada said. Maybe there were translation issues? I don’t really understand why the engineer would say something so counter to what reality appears to be, so I reached out to Toyota about this, too.

Here’s what they told me:

“In speaking with our Sr. Product Planner, there are some vents that could likely be altered for airflow, but others are probably best left as they are.”

I think that’s about as close as a major automaker can come to saying that something their engineer said to the press isn’t really true.

So, to all of those who commented on the original story and pointed me to the Road & Track piece, I’d just like to say that I took what you said seriously, and looked into it.

And I found that these vents are still fake.

Am I the only one who's seen/wondered about the black plastic cover on the upper half of the door jamb, directly behind where the door vent would vent? The picture in this thread actually shows it clearly, it isn't mentioned, and the whole thing is chalked up to being a fake vent, because there is no where to vent the air. I've written about this on a couple of threads here, but no one has made a comment, or replied, everyone just seems to (want to?) accept that the side vents are purely cosmetic. But what is behind the black plastic covering on the door jamb?

Does anyone know why that would be there? I have never seen this on other cars, there seems to be no need for it, bare painted metal over the whole jamb would seem to be logical. This makes me think the holes to vent that side/door vent may have already been cut into the jamb, and the black plastic piece is covering it.

 

[HKz]

Am I the only one who's seen/wondered about the black plastic cover on the upper half of the door jamb, directly behind where the door vent would vent? The picture in this thread actually shows it clearly, it isn't mentioned, and the whole thing is chalked up to being a fake vent, because there is no where to vent the air. I've written about this on a couple of threads here, but no one has made a comment, or replied, everyone just seems to (want to?) accept that the side vents are purely cosmetic. But what is behind the black plastic covering on the door jamb?

Does anyone know why that would be there? I have never seen this on other cars, there seems to be no need for it, bare painted metal over the whole jamb would seem to be logical. This makes me think the holes to vent that side/door vent may have already been cut into the jamb, and the black plastic piece is covering it.

no you are not the only one, it has been brought up countless times here. that plastic piece probably just has something to do with NVH control...but the main concern is why care? even if you were able to create a hole, where are you pushing the air through to? maybe you want to convert the car into a rear-mid engine platform?

 

[dgh]

no you are not the only one, it has been brought up countless times here. that plastic piece probably just has something to do with NVH control...but the main concern is why care? even if you were able to create a hole, where are you pushing the air through to? maybe you want to convert the car into a rear-mid engine platform?

Rear brakes and/or differential. I've searched it and only found my own posts.

 

[Bryster]

To those that are complaining about all the fake vents. You guys should take a look at the 2nd gen R8. Especially the facelift model.

Doesn't look bad in person

 

[zakira]

I always thought that these side panels in the doors were there to accommodate wide bodies. Since the door cuts right into the rear haunch.

 

[Louis110]

Am I the only one who's seen/wondered about the black plastic cover on the upper half of the door jamb, directly behind where the door vent would vent? The picture in this thread actually shows it clearly, it isn't mentioned, and the whole thing is chalked up to being a fake vent, because there is no where to vent the air. I've written about this on a couple of threads here, but no one has made a comment, or replied, everyone just seems to (want to?) accept that the side vents are purely cosmetic. But what is behind the black plastic covering on the door jamb?

Does anyone know why that would be there? I have never seen this on other cars, there seems to be no need for it, bare painted metal over the whole jamb would seem to be logical. This makes me think the holes to vent that side/door vent may have already been cut into the jamb, and the black plastic piece is covering it.

huh? which piece are you talking about? You mean the weather seal for the door??

 

[dgh]

huh? which piece are you talking about? You mean the weather seal for the door??

No. The weather seal is on the inside of the door jamb, closer to the driver. Search pictures of the door open where it shows the door jamb. At top half, on the outside portion of the door jamb there is a rather large black rubber or plastic strip, covering something. I noticed this the first time I saw a picture of the door jamb, but have never seen anyone else mention it..... you can see it in my original reply to "captain kirk", but it's a side picture, doesn't show it well.

 

[HKz]

Rear brakes and/or differential. I've searched it and only found my own posts.

lol so again how & where would you direct the air.....way too high man

compare it to every single car with functional rear vents, whether for a FR or MR/RR chassis, even if you open a hole you ain't cooling any brakes or differential..

Doesn't look bad in person
View attachment 12766

bryster plz man, you're like a forum slot machine!

 

[Louis110]

No. The weather seal is on the inside of the door jamb, closer to the driver. Search pictures of the door open where it shows the door jamb. At top half, on the outside portion of the door jamb there is a rather large black rubber or plastic strip, covering something. I noticed this the first time I saw a picture of the door jamb, but have never seen anyone else mention it..... you can see it in my original reply to "captain kirk", but it's a side picture, doesn't show it well.

dude, it's literally a weather seal for the "door garnish". you're getting excited over nothing.

 

[Bryster]

lol so again how & where would you direct the air.....way too high man

compare it to every single car with functional rear vents, whether for a FR or MR/RR chassis, even if you open a hole you ain't cooling any brakes or differential..

bryster plz man, you're like a forum slot machine!

Thanks, i appreciate the compliment

 

[kona61]

lol so again how & where would you direct the air.....way too high man

compare it to every single car with functional rear vents, whether for a FR or MR/RR chassis, even if you open a hole you ain't cooling any brakes or differential..

bryster plz man, you're like a forum slot machine!

The Corvette has vents on the very top of the rear fender that cools the rear diff, so not necessarily true.

 

[dgh]

The Corvette has vents on the very top of the rear fender that cools the rear diff, so not necessarily true.

Yeah, and air is a gas.....which means it bends and conforms to whatever shape its contained in or moved through. The location of the side vent would have no impact on where the air was directed.

 

[dgh]

dude, it's literally a weather seal for the "door garnish". you're getting excited over nothing.

What makes you so sure about this? And if this is true, why does it only span about 1/2 of the "door garnish"? Also, it is completely flat, it literally only raises above the surface of the surrounding metal by 2-3 mm or so. So, I don't see how or what it would be sealing.

I'm not saying I know what it is, but (as far as I have read) no one seems to be paying any attention to this, nor able to explain its purpose.

 

[Louis110]

What makes you so sure about this? And if this is true, why does it only span about 1/2 of the "door garnish"? Also, it is completely flat, it literally only raises above the surface of the surrounding metal by 2-3 mm or so. So, I don't see how or what it would be sealing.

I'm not saying I know what it is, but (as far as I have read) no one seems to be paying any attention to this, nor able to explain its purpose.

You are seriously overthinking this. The inside of the door has a seal, yes. But see how much gap there is between the inner seal and the outer surface of the door garnish? If that secondary seal wasn't there in the door jam there it would constantly be caked in grime.

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