Hi,

Do engine covers serve any functional purpose that warrants their weight? how much do you think the removable covers weigh?

 

they seem purely astetic to me.

 

Mostly for looks but some of them do reduce noise. I happily would accept the noise penalty to see the engine, reduce the weight and reduce the cost of the car by maybe $20.

Remember the Shogun V6 in the original Taurus SHO? Now that was one sweet looking engine!

 

Got a pic?

 

I think I found one. Is this it?

 

Yes, that is it. The pic does not show the matching aluminum cam covers.

 

Not that this matters, but my dad had one of those SHOs (1989, I believe)- I was only in 8th grade at the time, but I remember thinking how cool the engine looked when he was messing with it. The poor thing was totaled on the Beltway in 1995. Thanks for posting that picture- I had completely forgotten about the neat engine. (That was also one of the most fun cars I've ever driven.)

 

if you save half a pound i would be amazed, but hey, every little thing helps. I think they were put on to keep people from messing with the engine.

 

That's right! By getting rid of a bunch of little crap like this on a Miata I trimmed the car by 50 lbs. I bet with some digging into the bowels of the RX-8, doing some good old labor and spending some money on forged wheels and a titanium exhaust the RX-8 can be trimmed by ~100 lbs.

 

i'm sure that i will try to do that with my car....then my car could FLY!!