What's up with all the plastic stuff

[92vig]

Anyone know why the engines on new cars are covered with plastic shit these days? Open the hood, you're hit with plastic...plastic, and more plastic. What happened to opening the hood and being awed by a beautiful engine?

[Lil' Whitie]

and don't forget the plastic intake manifold!


what they wanna do is cover that super small engine they have there

[C91BLX7]

What looks better to somebody who has no idea what a sparkplug looks like?

[92vig]

and don't forget the plastic intake manifold!

Tell me about it. Forgot what car it was, but they were at a drag strip and that plastic piece of shit blew into pieces.

What looks better to somebody who has no idea what a sparkplug looks like?

Well, personally even before I was into cars, I liked to see the different looking engines. I'd rather see:






THAN

[Rusty]

i agree I hate the plastic.

I have a plastic cover over my vavle cover and its not to bad but I guess becuase of it Nissan thought they could just slack on the aesthetics of the valve cover. the valve cover just looks dumb with out the plastic.

If manufactures feel the need for the plastic fine but at least make whats underneath look decent so that the tuners can take it off. lol

[Losiracer2]

i guess it keeps everything looking nice and clean underneath? it also keeps the heat down in the engine bay, thus preserving all the wiring and stuff?

It does make sense to put that in there. Considering all my wires around and under my cylinder head are hard and brittle.

[accordaffair]

kinda like looking at a computer case, vs looking at an open motherboard with all it's parts and bunches of wires going god-knows-where

the human eye doesn't like chaos, or 'the unknown'

kinda like why people do wire tucks

[lil_dcb7]

i pop open my hood and all i see is a giant lego.

[deevergote]

My GTP has a plastic cover... I don't know how to get it off!


I guess new engines are so covered in sensors and crap that it looks better to cover them up, rather than have wires going all over the place. I've also read that it's to protect pedestrians in a collision... rather than getting hit with a hot, angular engine through the hood, they'll have plastic to shield them better. I don't buy it, but I've heard that as a reason.

[Ralphie]

Yea I've heard that about pedestrian saftey.

I feel if your getting hit by a car, the last thing I'd worry about is the temps of the engine.


I think a lot of the plastics also has to do with the engines becoming more low emissions and fuel efficient. That's my guess.

[92vig]

i pop open my hood and all i see is a giant lego.

My parents have an 07 Quest...same deal.

My GTP has a plastic cover... I don't know how to get it off!


I guess new engines are so covered in sensors and crap that it looks better to cover them up, rather than have wires going all over the place. I've also read that it's to protect pedestrians in a collision... rather than getting hit with a hot, angular engine through the hood, they'll have plastic to shield them better. I don't buy it, but I've heard that as a reason.

I don't buy that pedestrian thing. No matter what, you're going to get hit with something very hard and very hot.

How are you liking that GTP? Is it the G6 or Grand Prix? All Pontiacs are the same to me.

[Gyuri87]

It's just to keep it cleaner for longer. Underneath it gets dirty and greasy very fast and it's more or less hard to wash while plastic can be simply wiped. It hides a lot but makes your bay look much more clean. Besides you can always remove them if you wish.

[92vig]

It's just to keep it cleaner for longer. Underneath it gets dirty and greasy very fast and it's more or less hard to wash while plastic can be simply wiped. It hides a lot but makes your bay look much more clean. Besides you can always remove them if you wish.

Yea, it LOOKS clean, because it's just plastic. All the grease and dirt is under it. But when you take it off, the engine looks like complete garbage. Not cleanliness wise, but just in general. The valve covers have no design, don't say anything....ahhhh I just hate it.

[deevergote]

The GTP is a Grand Prix. 2002. 4 door. White.

It's a nice car. The suspension blew in 100k though, and the engine has a bad oil leak. A shop told me it was the valve cover gaskets (the rear is a BITCH), lower intake manifold gasket (which requires removal of the supercharger and the intake manifold), and the oil pan gasket (part of the subframe has to drop, or the engine has to come out)... and a guy on clubgp.com told me it may be the oil pressure sending unit, which would be the easiest of all to fix.

On top of that, the DIC (driver information center) is crapping out on me, as is the climate control.


So, how do I like it? I love it when it's working as it should. Right now? I wish someone would firebomb it so I could collect on my full coverage insurance...

[Law Grandeur]

i like the plastic. wish i could cover most of my engine bay with it

keeps it nice and clean "looking" and not as cluttered as it really is.