Miata Mailing List: February 1996, Message #87
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   From: SAMUEH01@MCRCR6.MED.NYU.EDU
Subject: Re:NACA duct and rain
   Date: Fri, 2 Feb 1996 13:40:44 -0500

This is an interesting question.  Although you drive with your lights
up in the rain there is a black plastic shield just behing the light
that is attached to the hood.  This would tend to deflect the rain
from circulating arround the engine compartment.  I asked Andy at
Brainstorm about removing this plastic shield when installing the NACA
Duct and he did not recommend it.  When I asked why he only said that
since Mazda put it there he did not suggest removing it. He could have
suggested that to protect Brainstorm from possible legal
repurcussions.  However, if the plastic shield remains in place its
difficult to see how effective the NACA duct could be since the
plastic shield sits just behing the rear opening of the duct.  Because
of this the shield would deflect the air downward and not into the
engine compartment.  I am waiting for the metal NACA duct made from
the stock lid so I'm also concerned about this issue.  I've thought of
carrying a piece of plastic sponge foam that could be stuffed into 
the duct for times that its raining very hard.  It would conform to
the space and since the space narrows toward the rear it would be
compressed and block the rain from entering the engine compartment. 
The soft sponge should also be easy to remove.

Any other thoughts?

Herb Samuels