Front bumper opening block off question
 

Hello,

I am curious about the 2 plastic block off pieces that are in the front of the car on the left and right sides of the air opening in bumper (on the insides of the main opening). I believe that these are there to route more air through the radiator, but I have seen that many people remove these.

I have replaced my stock radiator with a Koyo and I am wondering if there is any reason to keep those left and right plastic piece on? or if it's better to remove them to get more overall airflow through the opening?

Any info / advice / opinions would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Mike

I can only thing brake ducts, hummm pics?

these?
http://216.98.9.98/rx7/117-1773_IMG.JPG

WTF is that?!

I havent seen those before, even when my FD was stock.

while i have no idea which ones you are talking about (pic would help), i would say keep any plastic pieces that help direct air *through* the radiator and not around the radiator.

there have been many threads about people who have experienced better cooling by sealing off the area around the radiator to force air through the radiator and not around the radiator. the only exception is an opening for cold air to the intake. search and you'll see. in fact, check the archives for a thread by damian.

themcneal,

I don't see any point in keeping them.

SurgeMonster, thanks for the picture, YES, the pieces that are shown in your pic in the large main opening in the front bumper (the passenger side one of which seems to be covering the side/end tank of your Front Mount IC).

Those are the pieces that I am talking about (NOT the plastic peice in the brake duct openings for Non-R1's).

Are these worth keeping? I am wondering if I am better off taking these out and increasing total flow, or if there is any directed flow (?) by having these in that is more beneficial.

More thoughts / opinion?

Thanks,

Mike

Im curious too...

I took mines out and the car is 1 MPH faster and 1 degree cooler ;)

I removed mine (a '94 PEG). As far as I have seen, these blockers were not on the Touring models which have the fog lights in the same location.

The only downside I could see is that (as someone mentioned earlier) there is an increased area for air to go around the radiator on the sides. The side areas are pretty well sealed on my car, so I figured that removing the blocks was the lesser of two evils.

-b

BUMP...

Any more feedback / opinions / facts on this?

Mike

I have a touring and they were there (along with the fog lights).

just take them off... you wont overheat and your intake will get a cooler charge of air...

I have a '93 touring, and they weren't that big and obstructive (which is something I was going to ask, after seeing photos of base models' intake nacelles), along with the fog lights. They're much smaller, over 50% smaller.

I actually haven't seen them on other cars around here. Everyone has removed them. ;) I removed mine as it was part the Shark mod.

So are those block off plates part of the plastic framework that bends the lower lip of the intake nacelle upward? If you remove them, you can open up the intake if you fashion your own "shark mod"?

Kento, I don't believe the block off peices have any structural function such as bending the lip of the intake up. I think they only try to route air towards the middle of the opening.

I have seen the N-tech shark mod and kinda like it. Are there other home-made version of this?

It's been a while since I did the mod, but if I remember correctly, those slats keep the front opening from flexing (which is why you have to remove them so you can bend the opening wider for the Shark mod). It doesn't necessarily shape it.

Well, it's not really rocket science what the mod is doing. Most of it is just cutting away on the stock stuff which you already have on the car. However, it's cheap, so it really doesn't make sense to make one yourself.

I was just wondering if they were attached to the plastic framework underneath the intake nacelle. That framework runs along the front lip of the nose section, and is part of the reason the center portion of the nacelle's lower "lip" is raised slightly, which I theorize was Mazda's way of directing airflow towards the radiator.

I guess I'll have to talk to Nick over at N-Tech about this.

Kento,

If you could post whatever you learn from Nick, that would be great.

Thanks,