My engine cover was a bit on the broken side when I bought the car, and I'm kinda starting to really like the look of it without it on anyway. Is this going to hurt the car at all? What about the little insulation packets below?

 

Won't hurt anything to leave it off. It's cosmetic. Might make it a bit louder though.

 

That sounds suspiciously like a good thing. This car is way too quiet for the beast that lives inside.

 

Agreed, it's purely cosmetic and leaving it off won't cause a problem.
Some say that the cover traps heat and increases the supercharger intake temps and/or heat soak, but I understand that once you are moving and the revs are above idle the air flow through the supercharger negates both of these issues. However, when sitting at idle or after switching off there seems to be a valid argument that the cover increases heat soak and increases the time for the under bonnet temps to reduce.

 

That is why when I park it in the garage I always open the hood and take the cover off, no sense in accelerating the eventual decay of all the plastic in the engine bay.

I have run it on and off I didn't notice a large difference I might do it again tomorrow and log the temps with it on and off to see how it looks in the lovely Houston heat.

 

Cool. I think I'll run without and lose the little insulation bags.

 

Also, I seriously don't see how a plastic cover looks better than what's under it. I really like the aesthetics of it just being a raw, powerful engine. Seems to me they'd have been better off putting a little "SuperCharged" label on it or something and be done.

 

The covers are there to reduce engine noise as part of vehicle certification. I had the cover off one of my other cars last week and was amazed at the difference in sound levels.

 

I have been running without the cover for a while and the whine of the supercharger is louder than with the cover on but not too much. I got bored with the look of the Aluminum and decided to paint some of it black to help radiate more heat. I want to paint the "Supercharged" letters red but cannot find hi heat gloss paint for a reasonable price as yet.

 

I think that looks much better than the cover. Maybe that's the route I'll go too.

 

Yeah, I'll be happy to remove mine. I was also just looking at some of the posts about getting rid of the sound dampening on the intakes. That seems like a good idea too.

 

And there's jaguar working so hard to eliminate that supercharger whine.

 

I miss the whine. If that's the main function of the cover I'll probably remove mine (if I ever open the hood). I don't find the engine noise bothersome, just unnecessary. But the supercharger whine has character.

 

So I have some results to report:
It sounds great. More engine growl when you stomp on it and a bit more whine in the high revs. Dynamic and sport mode on made the car sound like a supercharged V8 should. I highly recommend it. It's not a huge, irritating difference and it's still quiet at low revs and idle, but when you want to hear it, it's there.

 

My 5.0 N/A is very dirty/dusty under the cover, what are the issues of hosing it down (of course while cold) to clean it up a bit?

 

I used to do detailing and never had a problem with washing an engine bay unless the car had a distributor (haven't seen a distributor in a long while now). I would bet it's ok, but don't quote me on it. My mechanic insisted on doing the cleaning of my engine when I get a full service done, but he was probably just being nice after how much he charged me.

 

No engine is designed to have water from a hose directed at it. It's an ineffective way of cleaning in any event.

 

Run mine with the engine cover........but.......i removed all the sound insulation from it first and put it back on.......get the aesthetic look of the cover but more charger whine......oh, the snorkel delete, drilled air boxes and k&n filters help alot too........

have as much charger noise as my wifes old 4.2 STR.

 

By snorkel delete, do you mean removing the cold air intakes at the top of the grill? And where are you drilling the airboxes?

 

I probably should have been more specific. I would use degreaser and scrub with a long bristled brush, then hose it off to rinse. Dry it with a towel and air compressor, then use a shiny treatment and it would look good.