Cab 11 Engine Cover Panels

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Owen

That's a new one on me, not seen on my Pat 12. If I have the orientation of the panel correct I strongly suspect that it is to direct the air flow from the fan, along the side of the engine box instead of out to the gap along the fender well.

From working on my Pattern 12 to improve driver comfort I have really studied the engine compartment looking for how the hot air gets to the driver. Things like if the side panels under the fenders on either side of the radiator are necessary to guide the air down along the sides of the engine. Any leaks in the sheet metal of the doghouse let hot air at the driver. The gap at the back of the hood if the rubber is missing lets a nice blast of hot air in on the driver if the windscreen is opened just a little. The gab between the panel I thing you are talking about and the fender is another source of hot air. Which if you open the doors on the hooks just comes right into the cab. So I guessing that this may have been an attempt to keep the air more down along the side of the engine.

I've played with this panel gap to see if how much air and heat was coming through it, each time I try to close up any air leaks in the engine compartment it seems to improve the cooling of the engine but it also increases the air pressure in the engine box so that it just finds another loosely fitted panel.

Your discovery will be an interesting concept to follow up on. Would a simple panel extending from the outer panel to the inner foot well really change much. Little cardboard, masking tap, IR gun and a hot day might yield some information.

Wonder if what you found was a running modification that was tried and not yield enough of an improvement to warrant the steel use.

One other thought occurs might it have been part of wireless spark suppression for radio trucks. They tried some interesting things to shield the ignition systems.

Cheers Phil