62 Cabin heat

[John F.]

Has anyone bought insulation for the floorboards? Where can you get it? And how thick? I will be installing new carpet soon.

[Gary C.]

Re: 62 Cabin heat

John, have used the hot rod stuff on my '64 and works ok. Can't get it too thick or the carpet won't fit right. On my '57 put in some of the radiant barrier material which is a little thinner. Can't tell you which provides the best heat reduction. Best heat reduction I've seen so far was on a '66 BB driver. The firewall and underbody was sprayed with pickup truck bedliner and it really cut the firewall heat down alot. Gary....

[John F.]

Re: 62 Cabin heat

Gary, Where did you get the stuff from?

[Gary C.]

Re: 62 Cabin heat

John, sorry should've put that info in my previous post. The street rod foil insulation comes in about a 6x6 ft roll or longer and it's at all the swap meets or check a street rod supply shop. The radiant barrier foil is at Home Depot and Lowes. Corvette Central insulation we put on a friend of mine's '57, but it comes in precut sections and we used 2 sets to do 1 complete floorboard, transmission tunnel and under the seats. Don't recall if there's any insulative value or "R" rating on any of the stuff.

NASCAR uses a product by the name of Kool Mat. Here's their link:
http://www.koolmat.com/main.htm Gary....

[Bruce B.]

Re: 62 Cabin heat

John,
I have insulated 2 62 Corvettes with a material called Dynamat and it is great. It is a foil face 1/8 inch thick sound and heat barrier. It comes in sheets around 20" by 32" and has a peel off liner which then exposes a self stick back. Just cut and fit and it is ready to install carpet over.I put in on the floor and firewall and there is a noticeable difference in cabin heat. It is sort of expensive but Google it and it is about half price compared to most dealers. I have attached a few pictures to show it.

[Gary C.]

Re: 62 Cabin heat

Bruce, have you measure with bare fiberglass and the dynamat with a temp gun? Just curious of the with and without temperature differences. I've not done that on my '57, but will tomorrow on my '64 & post the results. Incidentally, you might think about putting something under the big FI gasket on your '57 to help reduce spyder temp and fuel boiling point. Just food for thought. Gary....

[Terry R.]

Re: 62 Cabin heat

There is an excellent article on insulating your Corvette in the Spring,2008 "On Solid Ground" by Verle Randolph.

[Anthony S.]

Re: 62 Cabin heat

John,

I had my carpets replaced a few months ago and prior to installing the new carpeting we used a product from Ecklers: http://www.ecklers.com/product.asp?pf_id=32598&dept_id=1628

The addition of the under-carpet insulation along with replacement of all the under-body insulation decreased the cabin temperature immensely.

[Gary C.]

Re: 62 Cabin heat

John, '64 temp measurements after 15 minutes of run time - from the "hot rod" insulation which has a pad on the bottom side and foil on the top side:
- 143 degrees Engine compartment firewall near pass side exhaust
- 133 degrees Pass inside foot well at same measurement point with insulation pulled down
- 93 degrees on insulation foil at same measurement point
Gary....

[Dennis A.]

Re: 62 Cabin heat

Both Dynamat and Hushmat are excellent products, August Hotrod has good article on this subject. Eastwood has both brands.

[Bruce B.]

Re: 62 Cabin heat

I did some non-scientific temp. measurements on my driver 62 (Dynamat insulated) with the following results;
Firewall where carpet ends in right footwell ,150 degrees F.
Same general area covered with Dynamat, 115 degrees F.
Below above area covered with carpet, 111 degrees F.
The above temps are an average of 3 measurements.
I also measured in a similar area with the original 45+ year old original GM firewall insulation and found a temp differential of about 35 degrees which approximates the Dynamat temp differential.
Bruce B.

[John F.]

Re: 62 Cabin heat

Thanks guys for the info. The price at these places is all over the board. If you had to do it all over again. What brand would you pick?

[Bruce B.]

Re: 62 Cabin heat

John,
I like the Dynamat as you can tell. I usually get thier bulk pack of 9 sheets. 3 packs will do 2 roughly C1 Corvettes.
Check out the price at hifisoundconnection.com which is where I have bought mine a few times.
Burce B.