OmegaBob

When I was checking out the 8s at my dealer, I noticed that there is a very wide and open space under the grill. (front air dam?)

Questions:

1 - Is this the case with all the US models or just the ones at this dealer?

2 - If this is standard, won't garbage (leaves, newspapers, dead animals lol) start collecting in there?

3 - Also, if this standard, isn't possible that rocks, pebbles, etc will danage the radiator or whatever is located down there?

I used to have this same problem with my Celica. Ordered a crappy mesh grill off of eBay protect the radiator. When I put it on, the radiator already had numerous dents and I also had to clear out alot of newspapers pieces, leaves and garbage from down there.

brothervoodoo

EDIT: Disregard, mis-read your post....

Doctorr

Protect those oil coolers!

Just back from a trip to the big city, I found the oil coolers both had lots of bugs jammed in them. The moths etc. where just debris, easily hosed away, but the bees and wasps had done damage to the little fins of the coolers - I was amazed how much damage a wasp can do, and maybe some more serious damage from a small stone...

So I fabbed up some soft nylon mesh covers - black, with 1/8th inch holes - reaches right behind the fog lights all the way into the corners of the coolers - perfect.

If you want to make these for yourself, I have done the measuring- each side takes a piece 6.75 x 10.25 inches. (bigger than they look!)

A sheet of this nylon is exactly big enough for the two coolers, and cost me 67 cents!
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doc


EDIT - if you are interested in taking the next logical step, and protecting the huge all-aluminium radiator itself, you will need a screen 20" x 25", to stretch between the top and bottom rubber gaskets, and a few tie-wraps to hold it in place. Also done!

Lock & Load

Doctorr thanks for the information , i too will perform this simple procedure , as my ride is yellow the bugs and bees seem to think that my car is a huge sunflower and are attracted to it .

Gord96BRG

Good work, Doc! I've already got worried about the bugs in the oil coolers, and was thinking about some sort of grille - your solution looks to be quick, easy, and effective. Off to Walmart tomorrow!

Regards,
Gordon

BillK

Be careful and watch your temp gauge.

Owners of other vehicles with similar vents (e.g.Honda S2000, Porsche Boxster, etc.) have found their cars run much hotter with mesh in place; you wouldn't think it would reduce air flow that much but it does.

Since the temp gauge measures water rather than oil temp on the RX-8, you may not even be able to tell you're reducing the efficiency of the coolers...

Superfan

Looks good but will it hold. If that nylon screen is up against the coolers I bet that whatever debris flies in there will do close to the same damage. If a wasp can put a dent into the aluminum fins, I bet it can put a hole in that nylon. I guess there are only two way to test my theory. One is to go out and drive on the highway. The second is a little harder. Have the bee's and wasp's fly into the ducts at ~ 80-90 mph :D

wakeech

it depends on how far away the mesh is from your radiator/oil cooler (which is still a radiator)

if you could mount some kind of hard wire mesh very very close to your cooler (say, a few mm's away, less than a centimetre) then there would be nearly no appreciable loss in cooling capacity, as long as the mesh wasn't too dense (which is what causes the problem in the first place).

Sputnik

It looks too dense to me.

---jps

Doctorr

You could be right, the mesh I used might be a little 'dense', I estimate the holes at about 60%.

Might be a little heavy for use in Arizona or Texas, but around here we don't have that problem!
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doc

wakeech

i agree (my statement wasn't judging *****'s choice, and i didn't wanna be the first to say)

Gord96BRG

Just got back from Walmart - got 'em! Craft section, as noted - they're described as QuickCount Plastic Canvas, 7 mesh. Looks like they're for needlepoint, etc. They're not as soft as a nylon window screen, a bit more heavy duty - the bugs won't be denting the rad fins through this. Available in different colours, too!

I'm gonna go cut one and try them out right now!

Regards,
Gordon

boowana

Hery Docv. Thanks for the tip. Will these also work for Armadillos here in Texas? Thanks.

GreatGraySkwid

I haven't used the stuff myself, but you can get high-quality mesh for grill screens in sheets from this guy:

http://www.customcargrills.com/

And, yes, this is different stuff than what they sell at Lowes for gutters...similar in appearance, but stronger and better weather proofing.

OTOH...I guarantee that cheapo aluminum Gutter Guard would look better than what you're using here...and protect better, too. Just make sure you get the aluminum kind and not the galvanized steel kind, unless you're also going to spray paint them with Rust-oleum...

Spin9k

Hey thanks. Looked at my coolers and noticed insect impact damage already! (605 miles). Got the stuff, and it works great. I don't think there is any way to get metal screen in there short of taking the car apart. You have to fold the stuff and push it in place, then smooth it out. Couldn't do that with metal.

I think (hope) even though it's right up against the metal fins, but still loose, it will act sort of like kevlar, and disperse the impact energy and also not allow the insects/rocks to wedge into the fins of the cooler, more likely just bounce off. PLUS, every now and then just take the stuff out, wash it off, or make a new one if it's beyond cleaning!

Also here's a closeup pic for those wondering about this stuff. Tought plastic (not like a screen in a windows) on an quite open 1/8" grid. Great find!

Spin9k

Noticed this as well, took a while but fixed it hopefully. Used the 6"x25' rolls of plastic mesh (about $5/roll) that are used to keep leaves out of gutters. Pretty tough stuff. Tied it in with black tie wraps. Had to unscrew the bottom plastic pan to reach up in to do it, but it was really no big deal. Used one panel for the bottom hole, and another smaller one for the lower part of the plastic grill.

It is a 1/4 inch diamond mesh, very open so as not to cut airflow, and although it may not stop small bits, insects, etc, it likely will slow them or deflect them, and bigger stuff like rocks and road junk will never get there, which is what I was worried about primarily. Even looks pretty nice, should anyone actually look at those areas.

OmegaBob

WOW! Kewl! I had almost forgotten about this thread.

I'll check out Home Depot tomorrow for this mesh. Thx again for the idea!

btw - if the forum ever gets a DIY section going, maybe you could post a "How To" there.

Spin9k

Least in our area Home Depot doesn't carry this. Aubuchon Hardware had it, I'm sure others would too.

1stRX8

Maybe Mazda will make a rotor shaped mesh - like everything else in the car.

I don't think it would protect us from piston shaped debris though.

kmead

I was at the dealer today and felt along the top edge of the opening for the oil coolers.

There are two screw bosses above the opening, as if someone was intending that there be a grille for the coolers.

If you were to use a stiff material such as the expanded aluminum mesh and make a simple aluminum plate as a backer, you could use the screw bosses to hold it all together.

Feel along the top edge and you will feel two round projections about 1/4 of the way in from the top corners. The projections have cored holes in them. If you take off the bottom air splitter and loosen the bottom of the bumper cap you should be able to access the screws from the back using a 90° screwdriver. If you are really adventurous you can take the whole bumper cap off and make a custom bent backer piece.

I didn't feel any along the bottom, but there are plastic parts you can wedge behind along the bottom. If the expanded material is stiff enough it should stay in place when wedged along the bottom.

TybeeRX-8

Went to Walmart today and got two sheets of the plastic mesh, #7, for .64. Now I just need the damn car to put them in!!!:D

ProtoConVert

For those that have it installed (nice work btw), is there clearance btw mesh and oil cooler, if so how much, and doy ou think that is optimal?

loco4rx8

I just tried installing the plastic canvas. I've got it in there (and used the measurements provided), but it seems to not quite fit. It's kind of bubbled out, like there's about a half inch between the mesh and the oil cooler.

Is this normal? Or am I doing something wrong. Any tips on getting the mesh correctly fitted would be helpful. Thanks.

Doctorr

Did you trim them to the right size? It is just less than half a sheet wide, so needs to be trimmed.....

Also two plastic fasteners poke down from above, make sure to bend the mesh behind them and they will hold it nice and snug, as if that was their purpose!

If you have been driving much you should probably use a flexible vacuum wand to clean out the bottom of the cooler plenums, mine were full of dead grasshoppers! (someone reported a dead bird in there!)
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doc

loco4rx8

Thanks, doc.

I ended up just trimming them down a smidge more and now they fit perfectly. They actually look nice. It's looks like it could've come from the factory like that.