do I really need this?
 

is the "padding" under the hood really necessary? Mines is really dirty and it gets my strut bar dirty :( I wanted to remove it for now, until I find a better/cleaner one in the junkyard somewhere :P

I've been driving around without that or anything else plastic that was physically removable from under my hood for months, and no problems whatsoever. My reason? Weight reduction.

In the pic below, you can see that all insulation and plastic type stuff is gone, and I just noticed there was a girl in the picture too, so I made a little note on her. Hehe...

Also, if you ever wondered what the Plasmalights.com sealed beam conversion kit looks like, I had one in the driver's side in this picture for comparison.

http://www.goldcoastinspections.com/...conversion.jpg

thanks :D I think I'll yank it out tomorrow

No problem.

if it was useless, why would mazda put it there? i think im gonna rip mine out too if there seems to be no problem..how much do u think it weighs?

It doesn't really weigh much at all, but everything counts, and my car is 2600 pounds now, down from 2880. I have heard that 10 pounds requires about 1 HP to move, so what the hell. Mazda put it there so the hood wouldn't get too hot to touch. On a hot day, and after a hard drive, the hood is too hot to touch for very long. Mazda has to assume that people are going to take their girlfriends on long spirited drives through the desert and stop somewhere in the middle of nowhere to have sex on the hood. I personally wouldn't do that because I don't want to dent my hood, but who knows. Rip it out.

I ripped mine off because it was in bad shape. I have had no issues with it.

Rip it out.

BTW, your avatar scares the hell out of me everytime I see it.

No experience with this myself but I won't do this because i'm affraid the heat from the turbo would bake the paint on hot days and cause premature fading.

Todd

Besides the hot-to-the-touch issue, part of the reason the hood padding is there is to prevent the paint from cracking/fading. Probably more of an issue on TII's than NA's. Dynamat sells a nice padding that keeps the hood temps down. I think it's about 3/4" thick and has a reflective surface. If you like your paint to stay intact, the padding should stay there. The Dynamat is a good alternative to factory, and probably lasts longer, too.

Ren

thanks for the replies :D

to nathan,

looks like you are using an elec fan. which one did you use, and how well has it worked for you (i.e. overheating or powerfade)

Justin

Actually I ripped mine off my 83 a few months after getting it. The first place the paint faded was the hood. I wouldn't recomment it, maybe get rid of the stock stuff and put some other new stuff up there.

whoops double post- I am not a post whore, I am not a post whore

There is a reason that it is there, to protect the hood from overheating and for noise.

Now noise may not be an issue to you, but having to wax your hood every weekend, and still having to repaint and re-caulk the support seams after a couple of years should be.

While my 12A was getting ported, I ripped out the hood liner and I wish I hadn't. My paint was gone in one summer and now it's all cracked and looks horrible. If you want to take it out, then replace it with the Dynamat stuff.

anyone know how much the dynamat stuff runs for? and where I can get my hands on some?

Justin,

I went to the junk yard and ripped it out of a big domestic with a big engine that was mounted sideways. It has worked awesome because when I turn it on, it is constantly blowing lost of air, whereas with the clutch fan, it depends on the engine RPM.

There was a time before my engine bay was as stripped as it is now that I forgot to turn the fan on, and it started to get warm, so I turned it on, but now, I can let my car idle for at least 5 minutes with the fan off and it doesn't even start to get warm. When the car is moving, I don't even need the fan on to keep it cool. I think the biggest thing that is keeping my engine cool is having the A/C condensor thing removed.

My fan also keeps my hood cool. It never gets hot to the touch even with the stuff removed from the underside of it, so I'm thinking my fan blows pretty well.

Just take the padding off. If you don't like the results then put it back on.

You can prolly get it from any mobile audio shop that carries Dynamat. Also, look on Summits web site, I think they carry it.

Gregg

to nathan,

thanks for the info

Justin