Another Free Performance Boost
 

For what it is worth...

From another board i got the idea to remove the rubber insulation strip from the back of the engine bay sealing the hood. Open the hood and look at the black rubber strip on the cowl. Pull gently to work it off the plastic clips.

When removed, it does seem to lower under hood temp (important for the short ram intake crowd) and does appear to help 'a little'. I have done this for a month (July/August in DC) and seen a consistant slight but noticable difference in acceleration - enough that i would do it again. The heat gets to rise up/out of the bay instead of being forced down under the car.

The downside is that the engine is a little louder - most noticable above 80 MPH (30,000 cm/hour for the metric crowd ;) ) The noise doesn't bother me - again, the trade for a little more performance is worth it.

And if you are careful taking it off - you can always put it back on.

Actually, 80 MPH = 12,874,752 centimeters/hour

Or did you mean, 80 MPH = 128,747,520 millimeters/hour?

Or maybe you meant, 80 MPH = 128.7 kilometers/hour?
:confused:

This is one of the very first mods I ever do to any vehicle I own. I however notice no gains as any gains that would be had would be so small they are undetectable. You won't feel the car pull any better. It just defies the laws of physics. If you felt anything it was mental. It will help cool underhood temps but only slightly. I do it because little improvements add up to big improvements eventually.

p.s. you can also add spacers between your hood and the hinge to raise the rear of the hood up slightly. This will be much more effective at cooling your bay than anything else.

anyway, on topic, like roddimus said, the gains are minimal, and that strip IS there for a reason :p, to keep water out, so in a heavy rain, or things like that, water WILL get in your engine bay, and also if you ever park under a tree that losing its leaves, they will end up in your engine bay, its called the weather strip mod, and like i said, its there to keep the weather out, if you live somewhere that doesn't get much rain/snow then its probly alright, but personally (living in michigan) i dont even consider doing it because to much stuff would end up inside the engine compartment that i dont want there :p...

Redcivic, this is about the third or fourth time we've asked you not to instigate or name-call. Consider this your absolute last warning. So far no'one here likes you or your posts. If you wish to be able to post anything you'd be wise to get your butt off your shoulders and calm down.

End of discussion.


*EDIT* this O.T. post will stay as it is a final warning and needs to be saved for future use.

Whoa, who's redcivic? What did he/she say? What did he/she say? lol

Anyway, back on track here.

JHew84 is right about the whole weather thing. I remember a time I was drivin' off after a very heavy shower then I started to hear as though my alarm siren was goin' off. I couldn't stop it. I had to open the hood and manually disarm it.

Water had gotten right under there and screwed up my alarm siren!
I had to add silicone to help keep the rubber stick because it came loose over the years and those little clips didn't do that much to hold it down.

Also cost me a new siren :(

small price to pay!!

that car in your sig was done by intuitivemindz? thats awesome. I would love to do that to mine...*edit*...nevermind...I see now...who made that protege pick up?

lol, yeah sorry if i mislead anyone!
That was not my intention.

I just really like it and I added my site to the sig as well. I should edit that though.

You know ballistic unlimited? They made it.

here's the link for the pickup:
http://www.mazdadesign.net/ESP/02veh...istic/ball.htm

You would believe what they did to the p5 that it once was, but it was well worth it!

Here's a link for a project they did with a pro. sedan:
http://www.mazdadesign.net/ESP/Protege/ballistic.htm

and here's a link for some other projects done by others:
http://www.mazdadesign.net/ESP/protegeprojects.htm

[QUOTE=amrit]Whoa, who's redcivic? What did he/she say? What did he/she say? lol


Careful... stir up that hornet's nest and he's likely to call you a "straight up poseur" or something like that. LOL indeed!!!

Whoa! The guy that took the clear cover portion off of the tail altezza-style lens (or were they stock?) and had them coverless - THAT was a cool idea! Has anyone cooked-off the stock rear lens to see if it could work? Are they still weather-sealed?

Or is it show-only....

Is this is the car you're talkin' about?
http://www.mazdadesign.net/ESP/02vehicles/APC/apc11.jpg

http://www.mazdadesign.net/ESP/02vehicles/APC/apc13.jpg


If it is, the guy didn't cook it off neither are they stock. They're a product from APC.
Cork Sport had info on this on their site a while back but apparently APC decided that they weren't goin' to produce them because I haven't heard any word from that a while now and Cork Sport pulled it off their site.

Too bad... those sure look sweet.

Yup - that wuz the one! I agree :tear: I would have bought 'em.

Yeah i think many people would have purchased them.

Why can't ppl start to like mazdas as much as we do?
No, everyone has to have a honduh!

honda = maintstream cars for mainstream people.

Mazda = enthusiasts cars for enthusiasts.