Cabin insulation

Guys,

How many folks are insulating both sides of the cabin sheet metal?

I was going to use Dybnamat Extreme on the inside except behing the fuel cells and, of course, on the fire wall.

Is doing this to both sides elsewhere necessary or desireable?

thanks,

[Dave Wharran]

Found this site via the Pantera forum the other day. While none of this is really insulation from heat, it does provide noise damping. Interesting site.
www.b-quiet.com/index.html

Thought I'd use some ceramic insulation available from McMaster Carr for heat insulation.

[andys]

This company specializes in automotive "thermal management" products. They have an interesting product line for a variety of applications.
http://www.designengineering.com/

Andy

[Howard Jones]

Get the stuff AJS is talking about. "Heatscreen" This is the BEST heat refecting material there is. Its not cheep but it will really work. I tried some 1 inch from a very hot set of headers with my bare hand on the other side and could hold it there as long as I wanted to. I glued it onto the underside of my rear clip and it worked out fine. You will need about 2 yards for this. I would think that 3 yards would be enought for the car overall. Also you can use blueboard from homedepot, the stuff that goes into the bathroom walls, for packing between the framerails. then cover with the heatscreen. blueboard is very easy
to cut, shape. You can sand it, saw it, or cut it with a knife. also it does not 'roll' up like white styrofoam. 3-4 bucks for a 3'X4'X 1" sheet. The more insulation the better everywhere. These cars are hot inside!

[ChrisL]

This is only mildly related to the topic, but I have used some domestic "hot water" PVC piping to insulate some wiring that is close to a high temperature area.

Before I did this I conducted a few tests of my own. I placed a small sample of the material in a home oven then turned up the heat in stages. I found that it remained structuraly sound up to about 175 degrees Celsius. Beyond that, it became somewhat flexible, but maintained it general shape. I then left it in the oven at 250 degrees (max for this oven) for a further 2 hours and then allowed it cool down again at room temperature. The material was slightly discolored but it seemed to regain its structural integrity. I determined this by pressing the tested item in a vice together with an identicle control piece (not heated) Both failed in an identicle manner.

Admittedly, this material is not attractive to look at but it is cheap, lite, easy to work with and readily available. In my case, the material is placed out of sight.

[Mark Worthington]

I was looking at Lydell's Cool & Quiet product line, particularly the Zero Clearance stuff. Click here for their web site.

[Jim Rosenthal]

If I've got this right, some of the folks building GT40s are insulating the inside of the rear clip....is that going to trap too much heat inside the engine area? Especially at low speeds, I have the impression that this area doesn't ventilate well. I agree though that they run hot inside (small space, proximity of engine, cooling pipes in tunnel, marginal ventilation) and that insulating the passenger space is desirable if you want it to be liveable.
Soundown Inc makes insulation which blocks both heat and noise, might be helpful as well.
Interior spaces which also function as passenger broilers are a characteristic of mid-engine/front cooled cars. A few years ago I had a ride in a Ferrari Boxer during which, if you put your hand out and over the roof, you could feel the huge wash of hot air from the front-mounted cooling system, like a desert wind over the car. Directly after, I had a comparison ride in a 348, which uses rear-mounted radiators. The difference was dramatic. No hot air from the front of the car. One of the reasons that the AC in rear-cooled cars works so much better is that most of the heat stays in the back half of the vehicle. The downside of rear-cooling is that you have less space and elss airflow, so you end up with multiple little fat radiators, and lots of electric fans to push air through them, wiht all the attendant problems. From a comfort standpoint, though, it works better.

[Gary Gibbs]

I assume what most are talking about is a reflective insulation for the body just above the exhaust area to keep the paint from peeling, etc.

[Mark Worthington]

Gary, I think people are talking about that and about insulation they can adhere to the interior panels. Inside the cockpit I am using the Zero Clearance product, which serves both to thermally and acoustically insulate the interior. I'll use it on the floor pan under the carpet, inside the water pipe tunnel (even though the water pipes themselves will be wrapped), along the side sills and inside the gear-change panel, on the interior of the wheel wells, and especially on the rear bulkhead. In short, just about every piece of aluminum that faces the interior will be insulated. I think this will really help minimize any "drumming" sounds that would otherwise come from the larger panels.

I'm insulating the inside of the rear clip with the insulation that Roaring Forties provided with the kit.

[Howard Jones]

Mark is correct, insulate the entire cockpit suround. Where heat is direct, area in front of feet and between engine and cockpit below access panel with something like 1-2" of foam board such as blueboard. Also use a pipe split insulation on all water, oil, and hot airconditioning lines. In the engine bay the underside of the rear body and the pannel between the engine and cockpit must be covered with the high tech matting as above, not just above the headers but the whole horzontal surface. Fill all voids between frame rails along side the cockpit with cut to fit insulation foam board 1-2" thick. Glue into place with RTV. The Alum. coated matting has it's own heat resistant glue, use it. Do as much as you can to keep the heat out of the cockpit and from the underside of the rear bodywork. All your work in this area will be rewarded far beyond the cost of doing it. Use the latest and most high tech matting you can on the underside of the rear body work. This is the most important area. You can't believe how hot it gets under there with the car sitting still. YOU WILL BURN THE PAINT IF YOU DON'T. I have not worried much about sound but then my car is LOUD! and I like it like that. My source for the Aluminized heat barrier, same stuff as header rap but in 40 inch wide sheet, is racer wholesale 1-800-886-RACE, www.racerwholesale.com It costs about 30 bucks a yard and you will need 2 yards for the underside of the rear body work. The current catalog has 5 yards for 139.99 USD that should be plenty for the whole car. Oh and by the way since we're
talking about heat they also have a 5lb fire system for 335.00. This system uses CEA-614 which is the new replacement for Halon. Includes everthing you need to install a on board fire system.

[ March 17, 2003: Message edited by: Howard Jones ]

[ March 17, 2003: Message edited by: Howard Jones ]

[spinsky]

Howard:

If you're so inclined, photos of accessable areas showing your insulation artistry would probably be useful to many out there. Thanks for your detailed comments on this issue.