Hood Insulation

46callaway said:
The underhood insulation does nothing to protect the paint on the hood... I have had mine off my 95 LSC for years with no problems at all. Also, took it off my 98 LSC about a year ago, it looks much cleaner.
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I can't vouch for the effectiveness, but according to the auto engineers, the insulation is there to protect the hood paint...among other things.

I know some engineers in the auto industry...mostly Japanese auto makers.
 
I'm an automotive engineer. I say remove it.

Sure, it could shorten the life of the paint. But 4.10's and a torque converter certainly shortened the life of the transmission. Slicks shortened the life of the halfshafts. All the added power from all the various mods shortened the life of the engine.

The added heat from removing the insulation isn't going to affect the paint to the point where you'll notice any substantial difference. Your paint is eventually going to fade and become from the sun anyway, I wouldn't expect the lack of underhood insulation to accelerate the process too much.
 
sleeper said:
I'm an automotive engineer. I say remove it.

Sure, it could shorten the life of the paint. But 4.10's and a torque converter certainly shortened the life of the transmission. Slicks shortened the life of the halfshafts. All the added power from all the various mods shortened the life of the engine.

The added heat from removing the insulation isn't going to affect the paint to the point where you'll notice any substantial difference. Your paint is eventually going to fade and become from the sun anyway, I wouldn't expect the lack of underhood insulation to accelerate the process too much.
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I guess one could see it that way. My perspective is that I intend to keep my Mark for 10+ years, or at least until I can no longer find parts for it... :(
 
I don't understand how/why you're referring to other parts of the car and the negative effects of mod'n a car when were talking about underhood insulation. Sure....if you throw an egg on the ground, it could break. :confused-red:

Given the fact that Serge lives in Cali where its sunny/hot all the time, we have a ton of SMOG issues where the sun light rays are worse, he races the car quite a bit(track/street), and it a BLACK LSC. Regardless, the black paint IS going to fade...why speed up the process? I wouldn't take that chance with my black car.

I understand its not going to happen in 2-5 years, so the care free attitude of just removing it is easy to fall into, and if it was another color than black(like his white 95 lsc) I'd be saying "remove it" too :)
 
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Driller (JP) made the initial post. He has modded everything else on that car and seems to be in search of nothing but speed. It's not his daily driver. The paint on the hood isn't fubared, but it's not pristine either. I would say he'd benefit more from letting the heat escape than he would be protecting the paint with the insulation.

I question the ability for the insulation to protect the paint at all, actually, but I don't have the specifications for the paint, the insulation, or the hood material, so I don't plan to do the math. In anything but stop and go traffic, that insulation isn't doing anything for the paint, and i'm not sure it even helps in stop and go traffic.

My bet is that the paint is there to reduce noise and eliminate the need to properly finish the bottom of the hood.

I think it's likely that the paint gets hotter from sitting in the sun all day on a hot day than it ever does from radiated heat from the engine compartment.
 
sleeper said:
Driller (JP) made the initial post. He has modded everything else on that car and seems to be in search of nothing but speed. It's not his daily driver. The paint on the hood isn't fubared, but it's not pristine either. I would say he'd benefit more from letting the heat escape than he would be protecting the paint with the insulation.

I question the ability for the insulation to protect the paint at all, actually, but I don't have the specifications for the paint, the insulation, or the hood material, so I don't plan to do the math. In anything but stop and go traffic, that insulation isn't doing anything for the paint, and i'm not sure it even helps in stop and go traffic.

My bet is that the paint is there to reduce noise and eliminate the need to properly finish the bottom of the hood.

I think it's likely that the paint gets hotter from sitting in the sun all day on a hot day than it ever does from radiated heat from the engine compartment.
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I also question the benefits of not having the hood insulation installed. How much extra heat will escape remains questionable and no one ran any actual temperature comparisons. Run the car without a hood if you're worried about heat.
 
I doubt any gains would be seen by removing the hood insulation. But it would reduce weight by a small amount and eliminate the need to spray paint it.
 
My 98 LSC is 9 years old, by the time the hood paint starts fading from having no insulation the whole car could benefit from a paint job anyway if I plan on keeping the car that long.
 
46callaway said:
My 98 LSC is 9 years old, by the time the hood paint starts fading from having no insulation the whole car could benefit from a paint job anyway if I plan on keeping the car that long.
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That's the best answer I've seen yet.

In talking to my engineer buddies, they say some cars hold up better than others. Apparently, some Japanese cars from the 80's and 90's didn't use a strong painting process, which was fine until the ricers decided to remove the insulation. I would guess that because the Mark is considered a luxury vehicle it would have used a better paint?
 
sleeper said:
Driller (JP) made the initial post. He has modded everything else on that car and seems to be in search of nothing but speed. It's not his daily driver.
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This is true :) which he failed to mention, haha. Take it off....drill holes in the hood re-enforcement, and spray paint it black!

Serge....good point, but I still wouldn't do it if I had your car. :)
 
I don't like the way the engine bay looks with the insulation, it looks like a commuter car. When people look underneath the hood of my car at the track or wherever I want them to think "this is a serious engine/car" and the insulation doesn't help. It looks cleaner without it.
 
I had the insulation off for a few days after the motor swap on the 97.
The in-cabin noise was horrible, injectors were very loud.

You don't soak it with paint, just a mist is all is needed to clean up the look.

Stock engine doesn't help the "not a serious engine/car" thought. Removing insulation makes it look cheap if anything.

Ask any NVH guy about the hood insulation. It's there for a reason. I can't believe you guys spent 4 pages on simple detail job.
 
Any NVH guy here.:D

I'm surprised that you brought the NVH issue up here Jeremi, since it was me that brought it up when you were thinking about removing yours last year.:)

I've tested a lot of hood insulators for NVH. They do make a difference.

I've seen a lot of hood insulators that actually look good. Some companies put their name or logo on them. One of my favorites was the Riviera "R" logo.

Too bad ours don't have the Lincoln star on them.
 
NVH? I'm running a loud exhaust setup, NVH considerations are for stock commuter/luxury cars. The G35's have a sick hood insulation that says "Advanced Front Midship." They have almost 50-50 weight distribution and are proud of it, so much that they put it on their hood insulation lol...
 
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Lol, that is pretty sick! Serge, no matter how much I fix my car up, I still consider it a luxury car, and I'm proud of that. Its a one up mustang, a luxury mustang if you will....I'm not going to try to remove stuff to make people think "this is a serious engine/car", if I had your car, I'd keep it a sleeper.
 
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