Running with Engine Cover Off
Discussion
Anyone had much experience of this?
I removed my engine cover today for the first time (for avoidance of doubt, the piece that sits under the glass rear screen).
Car is a 2021 'S'.
Its not night and day, but to my ear there is more mechanical noise from the engine - rather than the more articial noise from the resonator.
With the cover removed, it seems like a more complicated set of sounds - more like the twin cam on open carbs that some people sometimes say the A110 engine noise resembles.
So plannning to stick with it.
Any other feedback on running with the cover off - presumably the engine will run a bit cooler? Helpful on track? Does the rear screen get any dirtier?
I removed my engine cover today for the first time (for avoidance of doubt, the piece that sits under the glass rear screen).
Car is a 2021 'S'.
Its not night and day, but to my ear there is more mechanical noise from the engine - rather than the more articial noise from the resonator.
With the cover removed, it seems like a more complicated set of sounds - more like the twin cam on open carbs that some people sometimes say the A110 engine noise resembles.
So plannning to stick with it.
Any other feedback on running with the cover off - presumably the engine will run a bit cooler? Helpful on track? Does the rear screen get any dirtier?
TBH it has taken me six months to dig into the instruction manual to find out how to open the rear hatch!
Its easy.
Three finger screws in the rear boot (hard to see unless you are looking for them) hold the rear hatch down - pull that up and you undo the cover retaining screws / fasteners. On the S, the fasteners have D rings which require a half or quarter turn so are very easy / fast to remove.
Its easy.
Three finger screws in the rear boot (hard to see unless you are looking for them) hold the rear hatch down - pull that up and you undo the cover retaining screws / fasteners. On the S, the fasteners have D rings which require a half or quarter turn so are very easy / fast to remove.
This has come up before on here: I think Alpine discourage removing the engine cover, but can't remember why. Trawling through the Forum may turn it up, or someone else might be able to provide a link. Life 110 suggest fitting D-ring quick release fastners to the cover for ease of servicing and track day use, so it's obviously a 'thing'.
I did it for a while, then put the cover back. The main reason was it isn't a good look. It was not pleasing to see the engine every time you approached the car, it isn't a pretty bay at all.
The other reason is the heat from the engine bay makes the rear glass a lot more hot, and exposes the rubber seal around the hatch and in particular the glue to higher temps which risks the seal detaching and once detached it cannot easily be re-attached. there is a parts fix from Alpine to help with this but I'd just rather not cook the whole area more than necessary.
The other reason is the heat from the engine bay makes the rear glass a lot more hot, and exposes the rubber seal around the hatch and in particular the glue to higher temps which risks the seal detaching and once detached it cannot easily be re-attached. there is a parts fix from Alpine to help with this but I'd just rather not cook the whole area more than necessary.
It’s quite interesting that the oem cover doesn’t have an obvious heat reflective finish, instead being more like a sound deadening material and an insulator.
There are indeed two ducts in the floor that scoop air from the underbody and up into the engine bay at the bottom, but, it’s pretty difficult to imagine that stones etc would be a real hazard as the flow is very much blocked by the engine itself, so I think that one is a non problem.
One question I’ve got is - how does the “r” handle this issue with the carbon rear hatch? Does it have some heat management and how is the seal etc dealt with?
I’ve been looking at my car with the engine cover off and if you eyeball over the turbo it would definitely be possible to make a carbon panel that would cover those big heat sources and fit that with some heat reflective product, but of course you’d still end up with some more temperature up around the rear window as that shield would only be for radiated heat from those. If you made the shield you could tint the rear window a bit, to make it look a bit less Willy wonka under there.
I also had a brief wonder about an f40 style vented rear window, which would of course be awesome from a thermal point of view but which would definitely require some shields and channels to handle the consequent water issues.
Slightly off topic but not completely so - I did make a new boot floor heat/sound insulator which should stop the boot from cooking:
(My new one is at the top of the image, made from some highly heat reflective sound insulation. The camera angle is absolutely misleading as the new and old piece are the same size but inhad to switch my iPhone to wide angle to get them both in and it really distorts the image)
And installed:
It’s actually slightly lighter than the factory piece, too. (I mean like 100g but… hahah)
There are indeed two ducts in the floor that scoop air from the underbody and up into the engine bay at the bottom, but, it’s pretty difficult to imagine that stones etc would be a real hazard as the flow is very much blocked by the engine itself, so I think that one is a non problem.
One question I’ve got is - how does the “r” handle this issue with the carbon rear hatch? Does it have some heat management and how is the seal etc dealt with?
I’ve been looking at my car with the engine cover off and if you eyeball over the turbo it would definitely be possible to make a carbon panel that would cover those big heat sources and fit that with some heat reflective product, but of course you’d still end up with some more temperature up around the rear window as that shield would only be for radiated heat from those. If you made the shield you could tint the rear window a bit, to make it look a bit less Willy wonka under there.
I also had a brief wonder about an f40 style vented rear window, which would of course be awesome from a thermal point of view but which would definitely require some shields and channels to handle the consequent water issues.
Slightly off topic but not completely so - I did make a new boot floor heat/sound insulator which should stop the boot from cooking:
(My new one is at the top of the image, made from some highly heat reflective sound insulation. The camera angle is absolutely misleading as the new and old piece are the same size but inhad to switch my iPhone to wide angle to get them both in and it really distorts the image)
And installed:
It’s actually slightly lighter than the factory piece, too. (I mean like 100g but… hahah)
a110au said:
I did it for a while, then put the cover back. The main reason was it isn't a good look. It was not pleasing to see the engine every time you approached the car, it isn't a pretty bay at all.
The other reason is the heat from the engine bay makes the rear glass a lot more hot, and exposes the rubber seal around the hatch and in particular the glue to higher temps which risks the seal detaching and once detached it cannot easily be re-attached. there is a parts fix from Alpine to help with this but I'd just rather not cook the whole area more than necessary.
That’s definitely really useful, as it’s showing that the oem panel is doing a really good job of protecting that window. I know that on the Italian mid engine cars I’ve had and have the trick is to open the rear hatch when you get back after a fast run because the heat management is so bad. In fact, when I was restoring my old 360 Ferrari all the wires and rubbers going to the back lights were literally cooked to a crisp by the exhausts. Turbo’s, cats and exhaust systems really are capable of causing big issues.The other reason is the heat from the engine bay makes the rear glass a lot more hot, and exposes the rubber seal around the hatch and in particular the glue to higher temps which risks the seal detaching and once detached it cannot easily be re-attached. there is a parts fix from Alpine to help with this but I'd just rather not cook the whole area more than necessary.
Lotus obviously on the v6 exige got to running a rear deck with open louvres. Perhaps a bit like the Alpine R.
If the R has a single piece carbon hood / cover, then it feels as though the seal would be less of an issue - but then again, maybe not.
Btw - are you Julian Thompson of Elise design fame...??
If the R has a single piece carbon hood / cover, then it feels as though the seal would be less of an issue - but then again, maybe not.
Btw - are you Julian Thompson of Elise design fame...??
I haven't particularly run my car without the engine cover, but one note I would add about the heat from the engine, is that I had issues with water getting into the rear boot, which was eventually traced to rubber seals that sit around the three bolts which secure the rear glass to the car. The ones of my PE car had completely dried out and cracked, and the replacement part is much beefier. Not sure when the change of part was made, but with the heat of the engine bay, it wouldn't surprise me if these little rubber seals will be a regular bit of preventative maintenance every few years
I spoke to David about this. My engine cover had deteriorated and the dealer wanted over £1,000 for a new one, which, for basically card and felt, is a bit of a liberty. David told me his went the same way as mine and shoved his in his loft!
five50 said:
I’m pretty sure that when I saw David Pook’s Alpine at the Lotus on Track Silverstone day in Nov, he was running without the rear engine cover. I could be wrong but that is my gut recollection.
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