Yet another DIY Engine Cover

[the hunter]

Well after reading about other DIY engine covers I bought myself a jigsaw and attacked my OEM cover. After a few trial cuts I made the biggest hole possible in the cover and then bolted on a sheet of LEXAN from Home Depot. Here is the result. Took about 3 hours and cost $60. Hope this inspires others!

 

[QWKSLVR]

Nice work Ian, you're a mad man! I will tackle mine soon, now I know where to get the lexan. I'm just about done w/ my engine bay mods. I will let you know when I'm done.

-Eddie

 

[Hugh]

Very nice work!

 

[JeffShoots]

It looks great but why have a cover at all?

Can't you just take it off completely? Is there something I'm missing.
Do I need to have some rubber seal or?

This is DIY sec show me how to just get ride ot it. Free light weigh mod:smile:

 

[scorp965]

There is a noise concern, and the rear hatch will move around a bit on the freeway with no cover in place. Also, simply removing the cover leaves the engine bay looking a bit 'unfinished' - I ended up going with a carbon fiber cover from cantrell concepts/sos, and have been complimented on it several times.

 

[the hunter]

The outer part of the cover has a rubber seal which supports the glass hatch. I agree that the "no cover" option leaves the engine bay looking over exposed. My cover is now just an outer frame with a big Lexan window. I honestly cannot tell the noise difference but that's probably because I bought a K&N air filter and intake from Eddie and that baby just hisses so loud!

 

[Hugh]

I'm wondering if the heat from not having a sealed engine cover might adversely affect a tinted rear hatch glass.

 

[scorp965]

I doubt heat would become an issue, although there might be some kind of a condensation problem?

When I had no cover on my nsx the two main things I ran into were a slightly louder engine noise (not really a bad thing, but perhaps a bit annoying on long drives), and the rear hatch glass would move around in the wind when driving on the freeway, not to the point where you would notice during normal driving, but when you checked your blind spots prior to making a lane change you could see a bit of movement. The engine cover, of course, has a rubber edge to eliminate this issue.

 

[DocL]

I'm wondering if the heat from not having a sealed engine cover might adversely affect a tinted rear hatch glass.

Hugh, I've had my engine cover off for six years with my window tinted and there hasn't been any degradation of the tint. The only differenct with/without the engine cover is that in the rain I get water splashed on the inside of the hatch glass. But that's no big deal as all I have to do is wipe it off when I wash the car.

When's the GT coming???? :biggrin:

 

[GT-N]

i started taking my oem engine cover off a couple years ago...

althought that is it garaged, i put Armor All protectant wipes on the rubber hosing, to protect them from UV rays...

Anyways, I dont think the noise from the engine bay is that loud, I used to have a RM exhaust and that was loud

as for the hatch moving around, I do not really notice any "clunk" or noise from the hatch...

 

[Osiris_x11]

happy-medium...

I doubt heat would become an issue, although there might be some kind of a condensation problem?

Especially when you blow an engine coolant-hose, or two... :frown:

Engine cover helps keep the engine noise down, especially for those w/ I/H/E upgrades. Also, there is less dust/dirt/debris to deal w/ when cleaning the hatch (micro/fine-particles which may scratch or dull the tint or hatch-glass over time... unless cleaned somewhat regularly). Not much more to it otherwise. Engine compartment heat hasn't shown to accelerate hatch-tint decay, and conversely sun/UV-rays haven't shown to prematurely age and discolor rubber/plastic bits in the engine-bay. I'm sure the engine-cover keeps non-running engine temp's down as well, being shaded from the sun/environment.

I need to decide on a mesh-style and get on w/ it... I've been procrastinating this project since late last summer. I have the plexi-glass/lexan (plan to tint moderately), carbon-fiber & epoxy-resin for the cover-border, but undecided w/ the mesh for the side panel/"windows" of the cover. I found a really nice pattern meant for sunroom storm-doors, however it's a fair pfennig... :redface:

 

[MiamieNeSeX]

I'm wondering if the heat from not having a sealed engine cover might adversely affect a tinted rear hatch glass.

Spoken like a true "Rookie" off your meds again?


Armando

 

[H-carWizKid]

I'm wondering if the heat from not having a sealed engine cover might adversely affect a tinted rear hatch glass.

We have an OEM Type-S mesh engine cover- usually once I park it I pop the glass while the engine cools. It also shows off the chrome in the compartment, but mainly we do it to protect the tint on the glass.

Our car doesn't see that many miles and the tint is still perfect.

Of course, if it were your daily it wouldn't be very practical to leave the glass open all the time.
I also don't know what would happen if we left it shut. We don't do that.

Philip

Oh, BTW- for the OP- that cover looks nice!!!

 

[amgnsx]

Well after reading about other DIY engine covers I bought myself a jigsaw and attacked my OEM cover. After a few trial cuts I made the biggest hole possible in the cover and then bolted on a sheet of LEXAN from Home Depot. Here is the result. Took about 3 hours and cost $60. Hope this inspires others!

Where's the cover?
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Just kidding:biggrin:
loos nice :smile:

 

[LJSB]

Spoken like a true "Rookie" off your meds again?


Armando

Nice.:wink:

 

[RueMasterLa]

Nice work!!! :smile: What did U use to bolt the lexan onto the cover? Did U use dremel tool to smooth edges or did jigsaw leave smooth edges?