Today I removed the shroud on my new-to-me ‘08 XKR just to explore. Found to my dismay some utterly perished foam insulation below the plastic. Then I found by searching the forum that this was quite normal, so I cheered up.

What I wasn’t able to find though, was consensus on the next step. Some have left the cover off entirely, but others state that this will eventually dull the hood/bonnet paint. Others have applied adhesive backed foam/foil insulation to the bottom of the engine shroud but there are comments that this will trap too much heat and accelerate the demise of the various hoses and wires around the supercharger.

Personally I’d like to take an in between approach and install the shroud with no foam replacement. Has anyone done this and does the shroud alone stand up to the heat below?




After a bit of vacuuming it looks a lot better:

 

My cover never had any insulation on it, I didn't know it should have had. I've never had a problem with how it is.

 

The same thing happened to the insulation inside my Engine Appearance Cover. Before I replaced that insulation, I had that cover hydrodipped to look like carbon fiber. See my thread from 2014:
Custom Carbon Fiber-look Engine Appearance Cover

Somehow, the photo in my Post #1 is missing. Here it is again.


After I had my Engine Appearance Cover hydrodipped, I replaced the insulation. See my Post #7 for how I did it:
Foam Insulation for Engine Appearance Cover
Unfortunately, that photo is missing. If absolutely necessary, I can remove my EAC and take new photos.

 

This might work - $23.95 on Amazon or search Ebay
https://a.co/d/bXq5Y7h

 

Thanks Stuart, I did see your thread earlier and your engine cover looks awesome! In fact I had already ordered a product from Amazon very much like the one you've linked - should be here in a couple of days.

That said, there's a bit of back-and-forth in the replies to your thread that perfectly illustrate my point that opinion seems to vary as to whether the insulation is needed or not. Hence my question of whether the engine cover alone (well, with the existing part install of the aluminum heat shield) would stand up to the engine without any untoward effects, and Cee Jay appears to have answered that. Now you could take the view of well, the Jaguar engineers must've put it there for a reason, but the problem with that argument is that we don't really know if it was there for sound or heat insulation, and in any case the foil backed products would appear to provide more heat insulation (too much??) than just the foam.

I am probably over thinking this...

 

I think it's a noise-, dustcover-,better looking engine compartment shield.:-)

 

It’s all decorative and for noise reduction. Mine’s not had an engine cover for over 10 years and also removed the insulation on the bonnet. Removed looks better and helps with heat. Have a look at the XKR-S GT…..produces more heat than the 4.2 and came from the factory without both the engine cover and bonnet insulation.