Just curious as to how many people still have their engine cover on. I just seems to make more sense to take the plastic cover off since the rotary powerplant produces quite a bit of heat. To me I would think removing the plastic engine cover would at least help air circulate under the hood. Do you guys agree, disagree?

 

i took my engine cover off the day i got the car, and i dont even know where it is, to me its just a usless piece of plastic, and i would figure that taking the cover off would help w/ heat alittle bit, but i doubt it would make a huge difference. when i open the hood i like seeing the motor instead of a big piece of plastic...

 

It was designed to flow air to the transmission

 

O.o? How?

I never got the idea behind engine covers personally. Can't c the engine X.x and is more weight and constriction. Mine hangs on my wall in my room ^.^

 

It doesn't heat up the engine compartment if the hood is closed as even if the cover was off the heat would still be trapped by the hood. However, the cover serves as a duct that keeps the airflow where it most needs it (close to the hot engine) rather than let it disperse into the rest of the engine bay where flowing air is not as effective.

Having said that, my cover is currently sitting in my closet. I have the Mazdaspeed strut tower brace and so it currently doesn't fit on it. Someday I'll get around to modifying it so that it fits, but there are a lot of things that are higher priority for me such as a gas pedal extension.

 

i took mine off cause i have the cusco strut and im too lazy to cut the cover to fit it!

 

I took mine off when I installed my Mazdaspeed intake.

 

For some reason, the RENESIS seems to be even hotter than my old FC NA 8K Motor

 

I disagree—I leave my cover on and never even considered leaving it off. I think Mazda engineers, when designing the car, had to be aware of engine temperature, and I don't happen to believe they would design a cover that has the effect of making the engine run hotter than it should. But, for argument's sake, let's say they goofed, and the cover had the unintended effect of making the engine run too hot. Well the car's been out over three years now; if this was a real problem Mazda could have redesigned the cover or, better yet, simply "left it off" it by now—not only lowering the engine temperature, but also saving them a few pennies on the cost of making the cover.

Mazda has traditionally had no problem "breaking the rules" and going against "conventional wisdom" when designing their cars. So even though most cars have engine covers these days, logically speaking, why would Mazda go to the added expense of designing—and then manufacturing—an engine cover that serves no purpose? Doesn't make sense. I'm inclined to believe the cover is there for a small but good reason.

 

I'd be interested to see the state of the paint on RX8 hoods in 5-10 years' time, dependent on whether the cover was removed or not. If the cover serves the simple purpose of protecting the hood from excessive heat, that's good enough reason for me to leave it on.

 

I have removed mine since I installed the turbo.

 

Keep mine off in the summer, on in the winter (florida)

My engine coolant light was comming on at 5.5k rpms at long lengths, took it off and had no problems with it

 

What is the purpose of the cover, anyway? Cooling? Noise reduction? Looks??

 

I tend to think it's simply cosmetic, to clean up the looks of the engine bay. I personally like to look at the engine more than a bunch of plastic panels. Obviously no one but the engineers that designed the car know for sure.....but one thing is for certain.... it's not completely necessary or they wouldn't have made a Mazdaspeed strut tower brace that requires it to be removed.

 

I have mine on. I think the cover is cosmetic, whether or not the cover was designed to actually affect air flow in a positive manner would have to be researched internally. Anyone?

 

(Old picture) But I learned to make the best of it :D

I think it makes the engine look hot.....

.... no, litterally, go ahead and touch it!! Its HOT!!

No, but yeah, I really dont think its all that bad.

-RoMeO

 

Its been tested to keep the engine bay cooler with it on. Someone here did a test with a temperator sensor.

 

Temperature....

 

yeah, thats the word. Long day at work and ive only been here for an hour..

edit: wow how the hell did i even **** that word up lol

 

Never seen that test. I've had mine off for more than a year and have tracked the car in 100degree temps and the car has been fine.

If it was that beneficial, SpeedSource and other race teams would be retaining it, imo.

 

It makes sense you havent seen the test, according to some more threads it was posted in the canzoomer forum, which no longer exists. Some reliable sources said it will keep the engine up to ten degrees cooler with it on..

https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...ine+cover+test
https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...ine+cover+test post5

 

All I know is.

IF I leave it on, my fan stays on much much longer (15 minutes compare to 2)

So I took it out. No problems

 

Links to speculation with nothing concrete to support. I also don't hear Mazsport or MM mentioning a need from their forced induction efforts. To each his own, I'll leave mine off.

 

i keep mine on.