Developed for winter commuting (but now I run 'em year around)
 

Really helps retain heat while it waits for you in the parking lot. Should help when using block heater too.

This one's old. There is virtually no clearance between the high bits and the hood so I couldn't run a thicker material.

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r...upeblanket.jpg

V2: nice 1" foil faced foam. :thumbup:

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r...150blanket.jpg

Super toasty! It looks quick to change out too, keeping losses to a minimum.

ollie

I know it works cuz when combined with a good grille block:

*in brutal winter temps, it goes off fast idle much more quickly

*effective defrost is available almost immediately

*after several hours of being parked I can crack open the hood a bit and stick my hand in there and still feel the heat

*I can see, if the car has been snowed on or frosted up, that the hood now stays completely snowy/frosted but really melts clear at the gaps. I've made no effort to seal the gaps as of yet.

The cardboard blanket also doubles as a nice creeper substitute out on the road.

I know I could find a more insulative material for the car- or apply my own foil to that cardboard- but it seems to work well the way it is. The truck blanket definitely does the job.

I love the foil face foam. I'd love to use something like that in the Prius. With as much as it drives around with the engine off, coolant temps can plummet very fast.

As a Phoenix resident, who rode his bicycle to work today in 501's and a T-shirt... I would like to just say you northern folks are crazy. ;)

I just walled off my living room with foil-backed foam board, and it says right on the board that it's combustible. It melts at 240°C, ignites at 350°C, and evolves toxic fumes. Cardboard ignites around 230°C.

I like it, just make sure there's zero chance of it contacting the exhaust.

And I love the quart of oil under the hood. Every engine bay should come with a cupholder for a bottle of oil.

That was going to be my question too. Wouldn't driving with it on be...hazardous at best, and at worst a car fire?

Isn't driving in general a hazard?

The foil backed foam is designed to reflect heat, so long as it's not touching hot bits directly, it's not so much of a problem.

The cardboard will dissipate it's own heat faster than it will pick it up from the engine. Don't believe me, put a dollar bill over the back of your hand tightly, then light a match and let it sit there. It won't burn you until it burns through the bill, which won't happen, because the match doesn't have enough fuel to heat the air around it, and still heat the paper in the bill as fast as it will dissipate the heat.

Do it!

We are crazy. It's snowing as I type! :mad: I don't like winter anymore. I need to get outta here.

Ain't no hot bits on top; ain't no blankie hanging down.

L O L ! You noticed my invention! I've custom fabbed 'em for all my stuff. You should see what's concealed under the foam! :eek:

I've had these for 10 years now and nothing has spontaneously combusted yet. Although I hear that happens to people now and again.

No way am I risking a dollar bill on that Man! I'ms too cheap. ;)

corrugated paper
 

That's about as elegant as engineering ever gets!

There. Fixed it for ya. As both a former engineer AND one who is inclined toward hillbillyism more and more the older I get (He##, no, I don't park brokedown cars in my yard! They was a'runnin' when I parked 'em. And if that's war they wanna die, let 'em rest in peace, I say!)
I know the difference. And my daughter (BS-ME, Colo School of Mines, '06) would not let me ever forget the difference!

+1 on HILLBILLY engineering...got my degree in Barnyard Emperical Design Theory, too.

Everyone got their bankies installed? It's that time of year again.

One observaton that may be of interest is that when I sealed all around the hood on my 2007 Yaris this past summer the engine bay temp would stay so high that when I removed my warm air duct from above the exhaust manifold [intake air temp was very close to coolent temperature 85C] and simply layed it in the corner of the engine bay the intake air temp on my scanguage did not drop. I then removed the foam tape from the rear of the hood and the temperature droped noticably.
Which suggests that sealing the rear upper part of the engine bay at the hood may be worth some more experamentation...
Thank to Frank Lee for this thread.

RedYaris, that is interesting...
@Frank Lee, I am really considering covering about 90% of the front grill this year, just to see what it does for MPG. Got enough fan power to keep it cool now...

Put the F150's grille block back in recently; the F150 has not had ANY fan for several years now. The grille block is almost total, except for a hole in front of the transmission cooler and a smaller hole so that I can work the hood release.

I've noticed on my Fords that they already have a sealing strip at the back edge of the hood to the cowl.

I didn't notice this thread until today.

Very nice Frank!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you for sharing this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So many mod projects, so little time!

I just called Home Depot, the foam sheets come in 1/2", 3/4", 1" thickness, and thicker which might be useful for a truck.

Okay Frank, I followed hood warmer version #1. Cardboard installed tonight!

Side note: for a long time I did not fully understand why you told me I needed to enter a fuel log. So, after catching up on two years of data tonight (ouch), I can see if I was entering after each tank, I'd know when I had a really good one...and would remember what I did to achieve it. 2 years later, I have no idea. Sigh.

Good! Let us know what you think of the effectiveness of it.

P.S. First one I ever made was cardboard on the F150. It was 2-piece, simply due to lack of a big enough piece of cardboard, but they overlapped quite a bit and it was nice to only have to disturb one piece to check oil, etc.

I've never had temp sensors or conducted any testing with thermometers; you'd sure think the foil/foam would be far better but I can't quantify that. Either one is better than nothing.

Next step, I suppose, is to weatherstrip the hood perimeter.

Hey Frank Lee. Any chance you could find your old pictures and host them on EM? I'm looking to add this thread to the 65+ mods list and pictures really are helpful.

Wasn't that a scene in Fight Club?

Your Photobucket pix are unviewable on this system, at this time in this location, so I'll have to use my imagination.

It wouldn't help my Dasher. When the engine would be shut down, the fan would just run longer until it was (would be?) happy.