Originally Posted by Da P-Funk!

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.