Hood blanket swap
 

I wanted to add a hood insulating blanket to my Escort since it has so much trouble maintaining normal operating temperature in cold weather. Rather than making one I decided to remove the hood blanket from my Firebird and put it in the Escort. I don't feel I really need it in the Firebird since it is rarely driven in cold weather and it gets pretty heat soaked when it's warm out. The surprising thing is how well it fits. It is a little bit wider than the Escort's hood but it still fits between the edges of the engine bay. Here's a pic:

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t...t/Image023.jpg

I didn't think to get a before picture. The two rectangular openings were for the hood struts on the Firebird. You can also see the holes where the fasteners went on the Firebird. The blanket appears to be made of fiberglass about 1/4" thick with a black paper-like layer on either side.

Here's the now bare hood of the donor car:

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t...t/Image024.jpg

It was a pretty quick and easy swap since it was held in by regular plastic automotive fasteners.

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t...t/Image019.jpg

The only thing I had to do to remove it from the Firebird besides prying the fasteners out was unbolt the hood struts one at a time since they pass through the blanket. To install it on the Escort I held it up to the bottom of the hood, felt for where it lined up with the ribs on the bottom of the hood, then poked some new holes in the blanket and drilled holes for the fasteners in the ribs.

I'll have to wait a few days for colder weather to return to really tell if it makes a noticeable difference, today was warmer than it has been of late. Once I have a better sense of how effective it is I will report back. I didn't really notice a significant reduction in engine noise, however I took the Firebird for a spin and it seems like the sound of air being sucked into the intake on hard acceleration is a little bit louder, so it looks like this will be a win-win. :D

I've been making cardboard "blankets" for years. Sure there are probably better materials out there but the cardboard is free and it DOES work. You will notice much better heat retention when parked for a few hours, and that the noises from underhood are greatly quieted. You will now notice the Firebird has suddenly gotten noisier too. It might help some for retaining heat when using block heaters, but I don't know for sure. I'm also thinking it doesn't make much if any difference in fe or temps while going down the road.

On my cars cardboard is about all there is room for. On my F150 I used foil faced 1" foam- now that's a nice one!

I need to look into this for my car (along with a block heater). Does the cardboard absorb much water, or does it evaporate too quickly?

I've got some that are several years old already, and still in decent shape.

Couldn't someone theoretically cover their hood blanket with a radiant barrier to prevent radiated heat, and then seal the cracks where the hood lays down?

I sure hope you guys are routing cold air into the engine and not suffocating it with hot heat soaked engine bay air thats raising Air Intake Temps reducing timing on your engine to prevent detonation causing you to lose fuel efficiency.

Two threads that discuss this option:

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...omy-11448.html

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...tor-10572.html

I'm pretty sure the consensus is that warmer air is better for fuel economy, because any decrease in efficiency due to less ignition advance is more than offset by the decreased resistance from the throttle, which needs to open wider to create a given amount of power with warmer, and less dense, air.

Wouldnt you want to make more Torque at a lower RPM in the power band with colder denser air that would require fewer RPM's and fewer injector pulses. Remember for throttle tip in to increase power output the ECU retards timing for a few milliseconds and sprays more fuel to ensure detonation is at a minumum.

Are you concerned that you are driving a fire hazard? Fuel?Heat?Paper?

They sell very nice exhaust wraps that can be used to wrap your engine block that might retain a bit more heat where you want it and less where you dont.