Anybody know the purpose of this? Mine is starting to fall apart, and would like to remove it. Anybody know the reason that Mazda put it on the car?

 

to keep the engine heat from frying the paint, of course- it used to be an insulator in its younger life (mine's the same way now, too)

 

While looking at some newer cars at a dealer. We asked about its purpose and the guy said it was used to some extent to contain fire if it should happen to occur in the engine bay. Not sure how true that is though.

 

I have heard of VW Beetles having a mat of some sort that will drop in the event of a fire to help put out the fire, not sure if Mazda thought of that in 1988 though. Whatever it is, I'm about to remove it.

 

good luck, let me know how it turns out...it looks like mine has "melted" itself to the paint after all these years, I didn't want to fight with it (the foam part, not the black covering)

 

considering how much heat our engines put out, id try to find a replacement. the pain on your hood will probobly start to blister if you let it go too long. i think they make generic mats you can stick on there. save the paint....

 

i would not remove it. it is a heat sheeld and also a fire retardent, if you engine catches on fire i melts the clips and falls and then smuthers the fire, but it is made out of insulation so it does keep the heat off of your paint on top of the hood
\
john

 

with the shape mines in, my fire extinguisher is gonna put any fires out before the remnants of that insulator blanket ever does...

 

well then i would replace it, i know if mine ever gets bad i will get a new one

john

 

I can't even see that mat extinguishing a fire...It's not flexable enought to smother any fire. It's a heat-shield to protect your hood paint. If you remove it be prepared for bubbles...

 

I'm not an expert, but that mat looks pretty flamable. I just removed it, not to hard, but getting the clips out can be hard. I will see how it goes, if the paint starts to blister I will get a new one.

 

Ive ran mine minus that black matt for 10k miles or so and I have yet to have the paint bubble on the hood. Im pretty sure nothing short of a pretty major engine fire will make the paint bubble on the hood.

 

I never had the mat on the TII hood i bought. I don't know if the paint slowly bubbling off the hood is a direct result of not having it, but I've put about 15k on the car since I put the hood on, and the paint is indeed coming off. The hood does get warm enough to melt snow off of it in only about 5 minutes...

 

If you remove it your paint will be fine.

Me and my friend mike turbo'd is civic with a b16 and the header came within 1/8th of an inch from the hood. we actually had to cut away some of the hood support so the hood would close right. All that heat directly under the hood and his paint was fine.
If you paint does start to chip off remember, its like 15 yrs old. Dont expect to still look perfect.

-Ryan

 

thats a civic tho
aint our engine suppose to be WAY hotter ?

 

yeah, but the turbo manifolds or the exhuast manifolds are nowhere near as close to the hood as to require cutting away hood bracing. i removed mine because it was unnecesary. it isn't going to stop any fire caused by a pd failure anyways.

 

ohhh a civic... like even a Turbo charged civic engine has 25% of the exhaust heat that a Rotary engine does...

 

The heat sheild is just for that... to help prevent the paint from being dried out by the heat and flaking as well as for making the engine seem quieter.

 

i can testify to the fammability of the mat. one time a few years back my alternator on my thunderbird caught on fire...im assuming from the twin 1500 watt amps i was running but who knows.... anyhow, it caught the mat on fire. luckily i was right down the street from my house and was able to get the hose on it, but the mat still flamed up and melted dropping molten plastic all over the engine bay. dont ever believe a goddamn thing a car salesman tells you...ever.

 

in my case it was to catch blowby, lol

 

Does Mazda or one of the after market mazda parts retailers sale replacement mats? Where do y'all find replacement mats, what is a good price for a new one?

 

what about getting a carbon fiber hood? A. Their lighter (so it'll loose more heat)... B. They aren't painted (so you don't have to worry about getting bubbles)

 

Well since the polyester resins used with CF hoods are cold cure the same thing will happen if you don't use a heat sheild. But since polyester is more stable than paint it will take longer.

The polyester resins will dry out just like the paint, and the hood will eventually crumble.

 

You can always get some of the Thermo-tec, or DEI thermal matting, and replace the hood liner with that.

 

What did I say? Where was the civic manifold located? Thats what what I thought!

Dont matter how much heat what produces, what matters is where is goes!!!

It's there to slow down the spread of a potential engine fire and allow the occupants more time to reach saftey. Also to dampen engine noise. I thought cars came with already dired paint...?

Try posting some postive info for a change. You know, the kind that actually helps people and answers their questions....????

Great idea. that the best thing you can do. It will look pretty good too. Might want to check out the aluminum tape at Home Depot if your low on $$$....

-Ryan