Heat Insulation

just thought id run an idea past you folks....
feel free to comment, add suggestions, constructive criticism, or whatever...
we are thinking of insulating the cabin by making a special heat shield that inserts between the seats and the rear firewall. aesthetically the interior will look pretty much the same. the inserts will be approx 1/4-1/2 inches thick, and will be easily removed/replaced.
this will be a lot more cost effective than removing the carpeting and replacing. less time, hassle, and by removing it altogether the car will retain its vintage look.
the insert will be dynamatted as its primary heat shield.
im not very tall so the shield behind the seats will help my seating position anyway.
were still brainstorming the best way to go about this, so.....

Dynamat isn't a heat shield, it's a low-frequency sound deadener. Admittedly, it may have minimal heat shielding effects, but they are quite secondary to its primary mission. If you are going to install Dynamat, it should go onto the firewall itself (on the interior side). It principally works by damping vibrations, which knocks down on the drumming that can plague a relatively large piece of sheetmetal.

I've heard great things lately about Kool-Mat:

KoolMat Hi-Tech Heat Insulation

That's probably perfect for your application--although I'd be inclined to remove the carpet from the firewall, apply this stuff, then reinstall the carpet. How hard can that be? :thumbsup:

Mike,
Not sure just insulating behind the seats is going to do much. Most of the firewall plus the window need attention. I understand some owners intent to keep a virgin look, but insulating with one of the aluminum faced products on the engine side will probably do the most good. I know it's not period, but if the GT40 were raced today engine side insulation wouldn't be out of place. When you think about it SPF seats and carpeting aren't exact originals either.

SwiftDB4 said:

Mike,
Not sure just insulating behind the seats is going to do much. Most of the firewall plus the window need attention. I understand some owners intent to keep a virgin look, but insulating with one of the aluminum faced products on the engine side will probably do the most good. I know it's not period, but if the GT40 were raced today engine side insulation wouldn't be out of place. When you think about it SPF seats and carpeting aren't exact originals either.

Click to expand...

insulating the firesidem wall is probably easiest, and probably the route we will take, just wanted to throw an idea out there...

I thought about a similar concept for my RCR. It will be doubled firewall.
A second firewall out of 2mm Aluminum with exact the same conture as the original firewall will be mounted on the original one by putting 8x15 mm Aluminiumbars as a frame inbetween. THis bars will be drilled an tapped to accept M6 flat hex screws. Both firewalls will screwed together to this bar, thus providing a clean look from both sides ( similar to the original rivvets look). THe 8mm Space inbetween the two firewalls will be filled wit one layer Dynamat ( towards the cabin)for sound insulation and one layer of Dynaliner ( towards the engine compartment) for heat insulation. This should give a nice bare aluminum look from both sides and a very good insulation.

TOM

TOM

Evo
Here is a shot of my seats...I needed a wedge of foam to get my upper torso into a more upright rather than incline position. I'm 6 foot and need a little more vertical. I had ordered some pull-up Cam lock belts (faster egress time) for Dennis Olthoff and crew to install. Along with this I also ordered from Summit some of the Koolmat heat reflective material. As they were making the upright wedge to fit behind the seat, they tried something different as you can see. It has a few screws that hold it in place and is very comfortable and does the job plus has the heat resistant material inside the wedge. Does this give you any ideals?

Hi Grady,

Looks good...Dennis did something similar to mine (2 wedges of closed cell foam carpet covered one behind each seat...i'll post pics later).

How about some pics of your FE with the clamshell up from different angles and with clamshell down showing the plexi cover.

Thanks, Steve

TU152 said:

Evo
Here is a shot of my seats...I needed a wedge of foam to get my upper torso into a more upright rather than incline position. I'm 6 foot and need a little more vertical. I had ordered some pull-up Cam lock belts (faster egress time) for Dennis Olthoff and crew to install. Along with this I also ordered from Summit some of the Koolmat heat reflective material. As they were making the upright wedge to fit behind the seat, they tried something different as you can see. It has a few screws that hold it in place and is very comfortable and does the job plus has the heat resistant material inside the wedge. Does this give you any ideals?

Click to expand...

looks good!
see, i knew it wasnt such a crazy idea!

Cool & Quiet - Heat and Sound Insulation Materials for Cars, Trucks, Hot Rods, Antique, Vintage, Classic, and Custom Vehicles

I'm using the Zero Clearance product. Good stuff!

Gentlemen.
I did a job for a customer a while ago that was an environmental scrubber with a catalyst unit, it regularly ran at 1200 to 1500 deg F, and he insulated the interior with a ceramic fiber that worked so well that the outside of the unit was cool to the touch while running. While this is extreme compared to underhood temperatures, I figured I would avail myself of some of this material, and I created a double wall in my spaceframe chassis with this material inside. It is very lightweight, and not bothered by moisture. Also while doing some changes inside an insulated unit I almost had to yell at my helper 3 feet away as it absorbs sound well.
I will check out the name and manufacturer if anyone is interested. As far as pricing I would have to check that also as I used leftover pieces that were otherwise unusable to him.
Cheers
Phil

Richard:
The insulation is called Fiberfrax, it is manufactured by Unifrax Corp. LLC in Niagara Falls New York. Thats the only info I could find on the carton.
The sheets I had were 1" thick, and 24" wide, and came in a carton as a roll probably about 25 feet long. The box says 50 sq. ft.
The density is 8lbs./ Cu. Ft. but I know that they make other densities and sizes. I couldn't get pricing but I am sure if you look them up you may be able to find something.
Hope this helps.
Phil

Fiberfrax is great stuff. I use it at work all the time. We have the 1" thick rolls, and also 1/4" thick stuff. I can look and see who our vendor is, if you like. I plan on using it on my firewall on my Lola. And perhaps on the rear clip over the headers.

Regards Brian