cardboard hood insulation
 

I made a hood insulator out of two layers of cardboard. I didn't take a pic of it yet, its not much to look at anyway :-) but I took a pic of the results... my window defrost before my Hood and after a ten minute drive my Hood was still mostly frozen. The only part that was defrosted was where heat escaped out the front.

Tell us if you notice quicker/better defrost after it's been parked a while, and so on.

I will do a warm up cool down graph on my torque app. Compare with and without the cardboard.

Can't wait! :thumbup:

My graph didnt seem to work out that well... I think I may have to just go out and check the temp periodically as it cools down. Here is a pic of the cardboard. It is two layers glued together with high heat contact adhesive and sealed with wipe on poly.

Looks good. Is there a grille block too?

Thanks, yes there is a plywood grill block and a partial belly pan. So after sitting for 4 hours with the outside temp between 0-5 degrees the coolant was at 24 degrees. I took a bunch of temps throughout the 4 hours. I will post all the numbers tomorrow after going without the cardboard

what is the best way to make a chart? I have temperatures at certain times but there would be no way for me to make sure the exact times will be the same tomorrow. I just had to take a reading when it was convenient. I am feeling really old... caught myself thinking that it would just be easier on a sheet of graph paper :eek:

Here are today's numbers with insulator. Not sure if the bluetooth froze around 10 or if the temp actually hovered around 50c for that long? either way for the final temp at noon I reset and reconnected to make sure.

Engine on
7:55 - 5c 41f
7:57 - 15c 59f
7:59 - 41c 106f
8:01 - 54c 129f
8:02 - 63c 145f
8:03 - 72c 161f
8:05 - 86c 187f
Engine off
8:17 - 75c 167f
8:31 - 69c 156f
8:48 - 62c 144f
9:12 - 54c 129f
9:43 - 50c 122f
10:19 - 50c 122f
12:12 - 24c 75f

10 sure looks erroneous.

Now to see how it compares with no blanket...

I use to stick the cardboard in he hood. Do you have a grill block also?

yup, grill block and engine bay pan.

The weather is a little different today! yesterday was clear, calm and cold. today is warmer, raining and 90km per hour winds. I will still run without the insulator but no way i am going outside as often ;) I am thinking that because I never got up to full temp and it never got back down to cold after 4 hours, I can probably get away with only a few data points?

Here are the numbers side by side. Times are not exactly the same but they are within 20 minutes of the temp they are beside. start and stop time were exactly the same. It was warmer today (without) and I was able to park where I was mostly sheltered from the wind.

with C/B ----- Without C/B

Engine on ----- Engine on
07:55 - 41f ----- 41f
07:57 - 59f
07:59 - 106f
08:01 - 129f
08:02 - 145f
08:03 - 161f
08:05 - 187f ----- 187f
Engine off ----- Engine off
08:17 - 167f
08:31 - 156f ----- 146f
08:48 - 144f
09:12 - 129f ----- 108f
09:43 - 122f ----- 97f
10:19 - 122f ----- 71f
12:12 - 75f ------ 61f

How much this affects to your windscreen?
I was thinking that i make same thing, but i have clear windscreen in mind :P If i insulate the hood, the heat goes more towards the windscreen, when i'm using the block heater.

I don't know for sure if it did affect the window defrost? being that warmup times were the same, I assume it doesn't affect it any? The main benefit would be that if you get back in your vehicle within a few hours you have heat stored from the previous trip.

I believe it helps when using the block heater too.

Someone on here recounted a story of their cardboard "heat blanket" catching on fire. What kind of precautions have you taken to keep it from burning?

No hot bits up top on my Fords = no issues for mine. Anything with hot bits up top should certainly make accomodation for that.

nothing hot up top for me either. I feel pretty confident that the cardboard would have to sag down and make contact with the exhaust to combust. With two layer it is pretty rigid. also in a van the hood is like 16 inches long.

Oh, okay. I would be eternally paranoid. Sounds like it'll be fine though. Carry on! :)

I would be curious to know he story behind whoever's cought on fire though. I would be willing to bet he had a fire already and the cardboard cought on fire from whatever started the fire? Cardboard's ignition point is 800f... how hot does a exhaust manifold get?

IIRC someone with a Neon had exhaust on top and they feared fire but didn't have one.