No Engine Cover?
- Thread starter RNbuilt
- Start date
You can't do that! PUT IT BACK! I throws off the sematic stabilizers!!! Then the input shaft to the diplick strain will giggle in circles... Oh and the worst part it will throw your headlights off alignment because the rubber molding won't circulate correctly.. So, you tell me if it's worth it!
My has been out for a while and I love the exposed of the midengine look, people love to look at it as well no matter if I'm on the road or park :smile:, so far is good no issues(NSX is not my DD). I like to keep my engine clean, it has CF Intake Manifold Acura plate from SOS and JDM Coolant Tank cover is on the way to me from Japan (SOS)....definitely need to cover the coolant tank or paint it. it looks cheap to me.
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Just make sure your motor don't look like this :tongue:
The only downside that I see is if you drive your car everyday the vacuum hoses might get beat down by the sun to much and cause them to become brittle. Next thing your engine light will come on and you have to check all your hoses.
The only downside that I see is if you drive your car everyday the vacuum hoses might get beat down by the sun to much and cause them to become brittle. Next thing your engine light will come on and you have to check all your hoses.
Have to put my top in the trunk!
- Bad for the plastic coolant bottle (will crack after sometimes)
- Bad for the rubber coolant hoses (may burst)
- Might be bad for some rubber gaskets
- Water stain under the glass hatch from wet belt
If you look at the Ferrari almost anything other than the valve cover and the air intakes are covered. I had coolant hoses replaced, and now on my 3rd coolant bottle. Since then I had put back my engine cover on.
The down side: UV exposure to hoses and OEM coolant reservoir. I think your engine hatch/bonnet may rattle because the cover is missing. The inside of the hatch will get dirt quickly and will require cleaning more often.
The up side: when you have a radiator hose burst, you will know instantly.
The up side: when you have a radiator hose burst, you will know instantly.
Having it off sucks.Gotta keep it clean all the time and the sun beats down on the engine compartment pretty bad. The ONLY upside is the ability to spot a busted coolant hose. It saved my ass once before because it allowed me to see the green gyser gushing against the partion and hatch glass.
You need UV protection for all rubber and plastic parts.
Audi R8 engine bay. Nicely covered.
My nsx didnt come with an engine cover, so i run mine daily without it, I did replace all the hoses with a stronger material so they didnt crack. So far the only downside I have noticed is when I hit a wet spot on the road i get a spray on the hatch glass from the belts throwing the water around.
I have the cantrell wire mesh cover and have not noticed any UV damage to hoses. Then again I leave my car in the garage.
The main difference you will notice without the OEM an engine bay cover is the added noise in the cabin. The bottom of the factory engine cover is sound insulation. But it doesn't seem overwhelmingly loud without it.
The main difference you will notice without the OEM an engine bay cover is the added noise in the cabin. The bottom of the factory engine cover is sound insulation. But it doesn't seem overwhelmingly loud without it.
I have a stupid question. will the tint on my rear glass hatch get damaged if I took the cover off?
My engine cover has been off for years. The car is always parked in the garage. I drive it a few times a month. Never been driven in the rain. No problems.
More heat will hit the tint film, so that could cause potential issues. Then again, tint tends to pop off the glass over time anyway. Hard to say for sure.
I also forgot to mention, without the cover you may get reflections from shiny parts in your engine bay in your rear view mirror.
If a vendor out there made specific cover pieces (almost like a CF dash setup) then i'd consider exposing the engine. Showing all the vacuum lines, hoses, clamps, and general ugliness makes it look like I forgot to put the engine cover on. Now if I had a supercharger - THAT WOULD BE A DIFFERENT STORY!!!
When I have time i'm going to experiment using the OEM engine cover and some creative fiberglass work. I would probably only expose 60% of the engine. Too bad when all is said and done.. i'm probably going to end up with an "open" cover that will weigh a lot more.
Something like this would be cool... but more NSX flavored of course.
Wait... I still have to change out my Master Brake Cylinder
, fix my amps, lower with Bilsteins, install headers and exhaust...
When I have time i'm going to experiment using the OEM engine cover and some creative fiberglass work. I would probably only expose 60% of the engine. Too bad when all is said and done.. i'm probably going to end up with an "open" cover that will weigh a lot more.
Something like this would be cool... but more NSX flavored of course.
Wait... I still have to change out my Master Brake Cylinder
, fix my amps, lower with Bilsteins, install headers and exhaust...
The down side: UV exposure to hoses and OEM coolant reservoir. I think your engine hatch/bonnet may rattle because the cover is missing. The inside of the hatch will get dirt quickly and will require cleaning more often.
The up side: when you have a radiator hose burst, you will know instantly.
Yes, when the body flexes, I hear a creaking sound coming from the engine hatch because it no longer rests on the lip of the engine cover. I've wanted to add rubber stops to help, but haven't found a way to integrate that as of yet. It does not bother me at all.
I've also noticed some of the black hoses that came with the Comptech Supercharge kit starting to turn gray on top because of the UV. They are the type of hoses that have a cloth outer layer. The car's not in the sun that much either. I plan to cover those hoses with some corrugated split tubing.
I have not seen any changes in the color of the OEM hoses, but the UV has to take a toll on rubber. The question I would pose is, how long does it take for the UV to effect the type of material we have in our cars, and does heat, out gassing, and ozone effect it in the same timeframe. Rubber hoses go bad... period. The question is; does the UV accelerate it significantly? Additionally, I would not use Italian sports cars as a measure of longevity. It has always seemed (to me) that the material in Euro cars breaks down rather rapidly... UV or not.
I changed the coolant tank to a polished stainless steel billet version... looks a LOT better. No issues with that.
I don't notice the inside of the hatch getting dirtier faster, but that may be because I clean both sides of all the glass every time I wash the car... which is often.
If a radiate hose bursts in the engine bay, I don't think it matters if you have the engine cover is there or not... the engine bay will instantly fill with steam and the engine cover will not prevent the steam from rising above the engine cover. The engine cover does not form an air tight seal. The steam will be billowing out of the Rear Window Garnish in either case, so you will definitely see it and have poor visibility out the back.
I question the "more heat will hit the hatch" idea. Here's my thinking... Most, if not all the heat from the engine and exhaust headers are transferred through "convection". The heated air definitely gets to the top side of the engine cover where there is no vent for ambient air to enter like what the engine bay has. I also can't imagine that "radiant" heat (mainly from the exhaust headers) would be that great since there is not a direct line of sight to the hatch (perhaps a little reflection off the firewall though.) To me, the Sun would be a much larger factor when it comes to radiation, and, of course, the engine cover doesn't matter there.
I definitely get glaring sunlight reflected to my rear view mirror at certain times when the sun is high. It mainly comes from the Comptech strut bar and reflects off the underside of the hatch glass.
I took my engine cover off because 1) I have some nice goodies to show off, and 2) reduced weight by 25lbs.
My second coolant bottle only lasted one year when the engine cover was removed and the car driven daily. The rubber coolant hoses burst once but this could be due to aging. I see the coolant bottle yellowing faster with the cover off. My third one is still white after six months of use with engine cover on.
The same for me, so I can't honestly give you a downside.
Same cover as you, and my car is garaged too, so no UV damage. I suspect there is UV protection in the glass as well, since I can see the polarization.
The one downside I have found may be limited to CTSC NSX's like mine; The SC belt throws a bit of road/ belt mung through the mesh and onto the inside of the glass hatch. Not much, but enough that I take the time to clean it off specially every month or so.
BBSC and tint, no engine cover, I was thinking about removing the tint before I bought the car then decided I liked it. I would imagine it will help quite a bit with blocking the UV's. I guess if my tint bubbles then I'm taking it off, oh well how can you cover that up!
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