Perforated hood with air scoop

Claim 1

A hood assembly for use in an off-the-road vehicle having a liquid cooled internal combustion engine which hood assembly is particularly adapted for collecting ambient air above the engine and delivering the collected ambient air to an engine coolant heat exchanger with minimal thermal contact of the air with the engine comprising; hood means forming a portion of an engine compartment of the vehicle, said hood means having a portion positioned above the engine and a portion positioned above a space between the engine and the engine coolant heat exchanger, said hood means having inlet means to receive a flow of ambient air from above and outside the engine compartment, said inlet means extending above a portion of the engine, duct means rigidly coupled to said hood means to form an air passage therewith in the engine compartment in fluid communication with said inlet means, said duct means isolating said air passage from the engine mounted in the engine compartment to prevent substantially a heat exchange relationship between the air drawn into said air passage means and the engine, and fan means positioned between the engine and the engine coolant heat exchanger and mounted in fluid communication with said air passage to draw ambient air through said inlet means and create an air flow in said duct means to deliver ambient air to the engine coolant heat exchanger to be exhausted from the engine compartment through the engine coolant heat exchanger.