Insulated Valve Cover

[pete c]

Originally Posted by brucepick

pete c,

When you question whether it's worthwhile buying insulation, I'm not sure if you're referring to the valve cover or to hood insulation.

Anyway, if you think there's more return in insulating other areas, please do them on your car, and let us know how it works out.

The foam for the valve cover was $6 for the roll as I mentioned in the first post. What I did not write there is that I used most of the roll. I certainly could use the rest of the roll on this engine, it would only help. If doing an engine larger than my 1.6 liter Civic's, one would probably use the whole roll anyway.

I don't think this would be a "basic" mod, one of the first to be done on a car. But it makes a lot of sense for a car with already reduced fuel consumption and thus reduced heat generated. And definitely makes sense when using a block heater, in my humble opinion.

I think hood insulation is a very good idea.

The valve cover less so, because as I said before, once you stop and there is not hot oil spraying around inside, I don't think the cover is has much heat to radiate. Remember, it is isolated from the head by a gasket. The head, manifolds and block are the primary sources of heat radiation.

But, what the heck, it's 6 bucks, worth trying just from a curiosity point of view.

[brucepick]

As far as some remaining concerns re loss of cooling due to insulation-

Don't those (decorative??) plastic shields over our more modern valve covers limit air cooling of the valve cover?

[radioranger]

I would think a blanket over the whole engine you could pull off before start up would be a good answer also. maybe a horse blanket , to cover the horsepower, lol , course you'd have to wait a few minutes after shutdown to install it .

[RobertISaar]

Originally Posted by brucepick

As far as some remaining concerns re loss of cooling due to insulation-

Don't those (decorative??) plastic shields over our more modern valve covers limit air cooling of the valve cover?

for the engines that do have them, they're more for acoustic insulation than they are thermal, but they do provide a decent function of it. you could make them even more effective if desired.

[pete c]

Originally Posted by radioranger

I would think a blanket over the whole engine you could pull off before start up would be a good answer also. maybe a horse blanket , to cover the horsepower, lol , course you'd have to wait a few minutes after shutdown to install it .

I like this idea. I think the best thing would be fiberglass bat insulation. Could be put on immediately as it is heat resistant. You could apply duct tape to the back to hold a few pieces together to form a blanket

[radioranger]

the pink fiberglass insulation starts to decompose at around 160 degrees i was told, the whiter stuff they use in ovens etc, does not, i used to make solar panels back in the Carter days thus my info on that, also all i know ,

[radioranger]

back to screens again , maybe if you made a sheild out of some hardware cloth over the exhaust it wouldnt be an issue

[brucepick]

I have some stiff foam insulation panels. My plan is to fasten them to the underside of hood. Also possibly make a removable "hat" for the valve cover, to go over the built up foam layers it has now.

I got some high temp silicone to USA as an adhesive. Also rivet nuts to attach it to ribs in the hood.

However the winter weather is working against me. I'm not sure if I'll get to these later stages of the project before winter's end.

[CigaR007]

Originally Posted by brucepick

I have some stiff foam insulation panels. My plan is to fasten them to the underside of hood.

I did something similar to that. It helps to retain some of the heat. I have also added a fire blanket (like other fellow ecomodders) over a good portion of the engine bay. I will post pics tomorrow.

[pete c]

Wonder if anyone has ever tried a very well insulated small garage. Make it as small and as airtight and insulated as possible. Probably wouldn't pay for itself, but, if you want to have a garage anyway, it might make sense.