It seems as though the rotary engine produces more heat, when I open up the hood after driving 30 miles on the freeway its really really cookin hard, compared to a piston engine. Now my questions are these

Is it safe and/or wise to use water wetter on a rotary?

Does the underhood cover keep heat in or does it just protect the underhood paint? Id like to take that off, I did on my mx-3 and it never produced any problems.

Are there any other things I can do to keep it cooler under there? It worries me how frickin hot it is. Are there thermal spacers made for the IM? Those work well.

Thanks in advance

 

Your car's been like that for 14 years. Why would it be a problem now?

 

I understand that but cooler engine bay = better performance.

 

Do you have a pod filter? If so then you should have a proper heat shield and cold air duct. That will give you the extra performance you're after.

If you haven't got that, it would be practically impossible to lower the temps in the engine bay enough to make a difference to performance. Remember the radiator rejects all it's heat straight into the engine bay.

Removing the underhood cover will do squat. You'd have much more success if you used bonnet vents to let the hot air out of the engine bay.

 

What kind of radiator you have? I know the OEMs can start to fail. Try getting a new rad, like Fluidyne. I know a lot of guys run those and there temps stay reasonably low.

 

water wetter is pimp

 

The rotary engine generates a lot more heat than a piston engine because of how it works. Like NZConvertible said, it's been like that since the beginning. Mazda engineered (most of) the underhood components to handle the increased heat and the underhood temperature doesn't significantly affect performance. The insulation pan on the underside of the hood is really inmportant. Because of the high rotary heat, the paint on the hood needs some protection. There really isn't a way to actively reduce underhood temps because there's no room in the engine compartment to add any sort of device that could, theoretically, and because of the way Mazda engineered airflow management.

 

I used water wetter on my NA but havent on the turbo motor. Ive heard mixed things about its effects on the o-rings so I didnt wanna take a chance. But I do have a Koyo radiator with the underhood insulation removed and no emissions or a/c components and I've never seen my coolant temp go beyond 185F.