I just remembered something I said I'd do at last meting but forgot about. I have a short write up on Heat Soak which sometimes takes place on my car when my hood is up. I try to put the hood up most times after a drive as well as once I get home. I learned of this many many years ago during the early ownership of my Citroen SM. Its Maserati engine stays quite warm under the hood due to a dual layer hood which acts like an insulator. As such, rubber components, diaphragms of the front suspension spheres are at risk. Once I keep hood up for cool down, they last much longer as do many other components, avoiding premature replacement needs. OK, seems I could not attach my word.dox, so here's a cut and paste which you can C& P as well.

Heat soak
Under-hood temperature rises dramatically when the engine is shut down. This is due to the mass of the engine having a high thermal capacity. It is known as heat soak and is defined as the excursion in temperature after the engine is shut off.

Heat Kills Parts
Heat is the enemy of everything under the hood and results as a shorter service life. Rubber hoses and belts, engine gaskets, wires, sensors, electronics, seals, alternator, battery, radiator, the emissions system, and air-conditioning components are all degraded during heat soak. Even the engine block, cylinder head, and turbocharger are impacted. The good news is that it’s quite simple to reduce this effect. Simply idle the engine for one minute before shutting it down and then open the hood.
Letting the engine run for just one minute will allow the cooling system to work and limit the thermal excursion. Since heat rises, opening the hood will allow it to travel into the atmosphere instead of being absorbed. When you are done for the day or are stopping work for some reason, just open the hood and let the heat escape. It may take a sticky note on the dashboard to get you into the habit, but this little effort will pay huge dividends over time.
Be prepared to enjoy longer gasket, hose, electronics, and belt life, and not have all the connections and wires become brittle. It will make the difference between a simple task turning into a nightmare because a connection broke when you touched it.

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'87 Z31 5 spd N/A in Red Pearl (~stock)
'90 Z32 5 spd N/A in Azure Blue Pearl (~stock)
'91 Z32 TT 5 spd in White Pearlglow (enhanced)
'03 Z33 Touring 6 spd Chrome Silver (~stock)
'09 GT-R Super Silver... Lusty Enough As Is!

Great advice Gary.

I've been opening my hood after running the '71Z for quite a while now. This really does reduce the breakdown of the under hood components. I must confess though that I started doing this mainly to disconnect the battery using a quick disconnect terminal and always left the hood open until I reconnected it.

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John Kish
1971 240Z - original owner

I usually leave my hood popped open onto the safety catch when possible. I had ONE hood release cable snap and come out in my hand, and I sure don't want to go thru THAT replacement again.

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1970 240Z

Thanks for sharing Gary, I’m going to start letting mine air out so to speak after running. Good idea !

Frank I had a similar scenario with my cable snapping , was a little eager at checking out what was under the hood . Then I added a little red and tacky grease from Lucas with a zip tie in the mechanism, made the world of a difference . I’m always learning with this car.

Around 2008 I bought a very original 1970 Dodge Dart custom, complete with the original slant 6 and column shifted automatic. It had 50k original miles and was in really nice shape, other than needing a new vinyl top and a front fender. Anyway, lots I could say about this project but in the end I swapped in a big block V8 and 727 trans, a modified 8 3/4 axle, etc. It ran great and sounded fantastic, but heat soak was a real thing with that car (see? I stayed on topic )

I started opening the hood anytime I stopped for gas (constantly), or any other stop that was under 15 minutes in duration. If I didn't the fuel would vaporize in the lines and the car would take a lot of cranking to get started again. Traffic was another issue as the cooling system just didn't move enough air to cool the antifreeze at idle.

Interestingly I never experienced that with my 260z. Always started easy, especially when warm, and after going with the champion radiator she stayed cool in traffic too. Never thought about the longevity of the components under hood though, that's a good insight.

Jay