Hey guys... this is probably a stupid question but I couldn't find the answer anywhere...

Is it okay to rip out the material on the inside of the hood? I drive an 89 RX7 GTU and I noticed this ratty-looking material on the underside of my hood. I think all cars have it and it's sound-deadener or a heat shield or both... but it looks heavily deteriorated right over my engine. So I was wondering if I can go ahead and rip this ugly stuff out or if that would like...melt my hood?

Help a noob. out
Thanks!

 

I think you should keep it
might hurt the paint in the long run if it's gone...

 

get it out of there. it was designed as a fire suppression blanket if the engine catches on fire; the blanket would fall and theoretically smother the fire. taking it out won't hurt, and i can't imagine why it would hurt the paint. underhood temps are high, yes, but turbo hoods came without it, and they do just fine.



'course, they had these big intercoolers sitting in the way

chunk it. it ain't gonna hurt nothing.

 

A few people have said that after they took it off it discolored their paint. Do a search for it, there was a large thread about it a while ago.

 

My current daily driver has not had one for 9 months. I have not had any paint problems. The only thing I have noticed is that when in stop and go traffic in the rain it steams the moisture off of it very quickly. And on a cold morning it can appear that somthing is wrong with the car.

When I purchased my car the front pulley had been thrown from the motor and the idiot apparently drove it like that until it ran out of oil. The under hood insulation was saturated with oil and just fell apart when I tried to clean it so I threw it away.

 

you must have had a rebuild after that

 

Yes, I rebuilt the motor myself. I am now approaching 10k miles on it. I probably spent more time cleaning the engine bay of the sprayed oil than I did cleaning the carbon off the rotors in the motor.

 

sorry I'm not sure what kind of turbo hoods you're talking about but mine has heat shielding on the underside

 

If you don't care too much about the paint, it would be better to remove it so that it helps in heat transfer and keeps the engine cooler.

 

the turbo hoods do not have the same heat sheilding he is talking about. he's talking about the old style blanket-type heat sheild, not the stiff board type on our tII hoods. sorry for the mistype!

besides, most if not all new cars do not have this heat sheilding, because it is not necessary. even the 8 don't have it.