I'm currently building a carbon fibre engine cover for my XES and I think the next project will be one for the F-Type. Is there an owner in Australia who'd be willing to send me their OEM engine cover so I can make a mould from it, and in return I'll send you back the first one I make at no cost? I want to finish the XE one first and get the layup right so I won't need it for at least another month.. so you can follow along the thread to see how things go with that one before you send yours to me, and get a feel for how long it'll take me to make (I'm guessing a month or two from start to finish - I've spent 43 hours over two weeks on the XE one so far and the mould is about 80% finished). I can't promise you'll get the OEM cover back in mint condition... I managed to crack mine getting it out of the mould and, although I know how I made that mistake and I think I can avoid it in the future, I'm going to tell you that you won't get your original back to be safe.. but if it survives the moulding process I'll send it back to you with the carbon one.

Looking through google images makes me think the V6 and V8 engine covers are exactly the same, can anyone confirm/deny? They look identical on top but the mounts underneath might be in different spots, but I can't tell that from top-view photos.

Cheers

 

Thinking about it!
I run with the cover on in winter (ie now) but off once it warms up, say late Sept, so if you get no other offers from V6 owners by then you can count me in.
And yes, the F-Type V6 and V8 engine covers are different. Not by much but they are different, and I think you are right about the different pin/plug locations.

 

Let's do it I'd like to build another mould next month but I hopefully someone with a V8 chimes in and you and I can talk in spring. Do you notice much difference with cover on/off in winter? I wasn't planning to add foam insulation like the factory cover has, but I live near Sydney so I never really thought about cold weather performance...

From photos it looks the top side of the covers is the same... I really hope so, it'll make life a loooot easier and might mean I can turn yours around in weeks not months 🤞

 

No noticeable performance difference in winter but a definite difference in summer, so I run with the cover on only in winter purely to reduce engine noise/rattle.
On a hot day (ie well over 100F here in Adelaide) if you get on it for an extended period with the engine cover on you can get heat soak and cause the car to go into limp home mode, has happened to me a couple of times. That is why I run with the cover off in summer.

 

Gotcha. I could try put a cutout in yours if you wanted to try and have the best of both worlds, it'd be easy if the cutout followed the existing grooves... you've got a couple of months of winter to decide

 

Could there be a difference between RWD and AWD?

 

If I was making a new cover, I would make it vented, just saying. I would use the original shapes, lines, etc and do some vents in a way that they would look OEM. You might end with a prouct with all benefits and no drawbacks.

 

Baby steps mate... for now I'm copying parts identically to nail the process of mould making and laying CF, once I've done the reps down here I'll step up to making modified versions and custom pieces. A cutout following the existing grooves would be easy though as I can just lay it up fully and cut it out once it's cured.

I've been driving with no cover for a couple of weeks now and I think the extra whine is noticeable, so I'm curious to see what the difference is between OEM vs CF vs CF with cutout/vents... I'll try a few options for the XE and see how it goes