Heat Shielding

[AdamF]

Hi Everyone,

I've been away from the Cobra for some time now and thought it was time to make some progress. I purchased some ACL heat shielding from my local Coventry's.

It looks like nice and easy material to work with... just concerned that there is a catch like you need a coating over the top or underneath etc. Everything I've read says you don't and you just bolt it straight in.

From what I've read and talking to ACL, I should be able to use this in the engine bay as well as the firewall and gearbox tunnel with no trouble. Then follow this up by a couple of fibreflass insulation bats on the chassis under the seat and footwell area before the body goes back on.

Finish up with something like Dynamat in the footwells.

I've got a GForce kit.

First question is, do you think that this will be sufficient heat shielding or should I be looking at aluminium for the engine bay? I've noticed that quite a few people have gone down the track of aluminium or stainless steel.

Second question is that I noticed that a few folks are using dynamat (or equivalent) throughout the car... installing into the boot etc. Is this worth doing?

Any thoughts or comments would be very much appreciated.

I can see why building these things takes a while... if you are a noob to car building there's a lot to learn.

Cheers all and have a great weekend!

Adam.

[Philm]

I think Dynomat is a sound deadner, not sure it has thermal reduction properties.

Phil

[Merv and Sharon]

Sound insulation is a personal choice. It depends how quiet you want the car to be, given it has an open roof anyway and a nice exhaust note.

Some cars are hotter than others. The Harrison for example, seems quite cool, even with minimal insulation. As 400TT said in another thread, heat insulation is the priority for most, and they use an aluminised cloth with woven fibreglass in between the layers. It is approximately 2-3mm thick. It will also protect the body fibreglass and paint from heat damage. Use a hi-temp silicone to glue the cloth to the body, tunnel and engine area, where suitable.

I probably over did the heat insulation on the tunnel, engine area and even around the inside of the body shell where the radiator sits and where the mufflers are placed. I also used aluminium panels in the back of the engine bay area, but that is more for appearance than functionality, I suspect.

[AdamF]

Thanks folks. Gives me a good place to start and some things to think about.

Much appreciated.

Adam.

[FUNFER2]

I wish I had added some on the flooring but, the only real heat is coming from the tranny. Next time I have the transmission out, I'll fab up a two piece aluminum heat panel, sandwiching heat mat between them, and on the tunnel.

I wish someone like Consumer Reports had a test with several heat barrier company's. I have heard good reports from this company.

Heat Shield and Thermal Barriers | Heatshield Products

This is a interesting read. I would tend to believe that a ceramic material would contain and disperse heat better than aluminum or stainless. After-all, the space shuttle uses ceramic based tiles in and outside the craft.

Ceramic engineering - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Have any of you seen a comparison test between materials and manufactures ?

[Andrew429]

Hi Adam,

I used the ACL heat shielding above the extractors (sikaflexed to the underside of the body), it's good stuff, easy to shape and insulates well.
I clad the engine bay with powdercoated 1.2mm ali and stuck high temp silicone cloth (from a ship insulation supplier in naval base) to the back of the sheets.
Ceramic coating the extractors also helps, the laser temp gauge suggested about 100 degrees cooler than the sidepipes whilst on the dyno.