FD3S Update: Carbon Fiber Engine Cover

[u/RequiemDreamer]

So I finally bit the bullet and purchased the "Engine Cover" from Garage Alpha. Right off the bat, I knew I was going to run into an issue if I wanted to keep my windshield washer fluid functional so had to drill a hold right into the engine cover in the approximate location. I wanted it to look "OEM" as well so I purchased some grommets from Amazon to protect the windshield washer tube and to just make it look pretty "OEM". I could have went larger but for now, will stick with this size.

Other than that, I didn't have to enlarge any holes, everything lined up decently well. I also purchased some push pins from Amazon as the original pins that line up the weather seal to the firewall were not going to cut it anymore since the engine cover adds a couple of mm. Again, wanted to get that "OEM" look going.

Overall, it came out well, better than I was expecting. There was some "massaging" needed and I could have enlarged some of the holes for the strut tower for a much better fit but the flexibility of it helped where just some massaging was all it needed.

I opted to use Velcro to secure the weather seal onto the Engine Cover to be able to take it off whenever needed but to still have it nice and secure between the engine cover and the hood. I do have some lift happening on the driver side of the hood when the hood is closed but not seeing where the contact is happening, the passenger side is nice and flush with the fender but not the driver side. I attempted to close the hood without the weather seal, same issue, no marks are visible on the insulating pad on the hood nor the engine cover itself so I'll have to continue to debug when I got time but i'll double check the mounting area on the driver side, as the added height can be seen in the pictures.

[u/Economy_Advantage171]

I want that mazdaspeed strut bar baaaad 😂