lite_em_up
Posts: 2
Joined: 2/10/2007
Status: offline
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I have my own advanced materials company and have been involved in the manufacturing, sales, and distribution of high-temperature thermal textiles for over 13 years, with customers like Boeing, Lockheed, U.S. Army, Air Force, BP Amoco, Ford, Ferrari, Formula 1 Racing, to name a few. I've helped many friends insulate their classic car interiors, especially Corvette's and Camaro's. The last one was a '75 Corvette. We insulated the floor and transmission with the same insulation used to insulate the newest fighter jet engine bays, catalytic converter (OEM only) heat shields, and insulation for military Humvees used the desert as they too were WAY too hot on the inside!
The '75's interior temp with the windows up, in the summer, had to be at least 110F, maybe 120F. All I say is the T-Tops had to be off just to keep from passing out! After the install, the interior temperature dropped to normal levels. Here's what I did:
Laid a blanket about 1/2 inch thick (blanket compresses) to cover the floorboards and transmission. The material is easily cut to fit perfectly. I used high-temperature silica woven tape to secure the blanket as required (Maybe overkill, but I have the tape in stock so why not!) Then re-installed the interior pieces. A lot of aftermarket guys offer aluminum foil backed insulation. I didn't bother with aluminum foil because there's so little airflow in those areas (heat-soak) that the aluminum foil simply ends up transferring the heat anyway. If we would have used foil, we would have used...believe it or not...Reynolds wrap! Why? Because it's just as good, maybe better, than the aluminum foil that's glued onto blankets. Plus, it's a LOT cheaper! I've outfitted cars with and without the aluminum foil and really couldn't note much difference either way.
I get a kick out of all the cheapo run-of-the-mill insulation offered by the aftermarket folks. From what I've found, the aftermarket stuff is designed more for looks than function. Plus, you're paying through the nose to have some importer tack on a bunch of profit on the backs of sweatshop laborers simply to cut the material. It's easy, just get a big piece of cardboard, cut to the shapes to be insulated, then use as a template to cut the material.
Hope this helps! By the way, I wrapped my (always melting) plug wires with my high-temperature woven textile tapes. I can't remember the last time I melted a wire!
Happy "COOL" motoring!
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