Has anyone tryed KoolMats corvette instulation kit? They offer on specificly for C3 vettes. I someone has, how much did it help and how much did you pay?

I am getting ready to put the body back on the frame and have thought about lining the underside of the tunnel with this instulation along with the interior.

Thanks

 

I bought a roll of it at Carlisle this year but I have not installed it yet because I'm not at that point in my project. I'm an aviation mechanic and I have dealt with alot of high grade insulations so I am expecting it to work good. It is expensive though about a 10 dollars a square foot. You will need at least 30 square feet. A nice added bonus is that it is a good sound deadener. I got it from Wild Bills Corvettes 508 384-7373 wildbillscorvette@att.net He was a very helpful and knowledgeable guy :D


[Modified by 1969Diver, 6:57 PM 10/15/2002]

 

try ace hardware .they have insulation that has foil on both sides with air bubbles in the middle. works good for me and it was low priced

 

Thanks for the input. I think I am going to spend the extra money just to make sure heat does not take the pleasure out of driving the car.

 

On my website I have a write up and pics on insulating the cockpit. Here's the link http://mywebpages.comcast.net/vettfixr/page14.htm This insulation did a lot for quieting down the interior and for insulating it from heat that is radiated from the exhaust. What I later found out was most of my heat was coming from the heating/AC system. I rebuilt the system but still had a lot of heat coming through. What I found was that the heat was entering the system from the airbox behind the front right fender where the blower motor is . Here's the post on that topic. http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=362830
Hope this helps you along the way.

 

Thank you for the info. I am putting a new front end on so I will make sure the fender area is sealed good.
Do you feel I need to put this coolMat under the car also?

 

I don't think you need to put insulation under the body, in fact I think you would cause problems. the environment underneath a car isn't the best for things that have to be stuck on. The trans tunnel insulation is actually held on by clips so I think the engineers had the same thought in mind. Also, a lot has been made of radiated heat on C3s but my experience has been that radiated heat played a small role in the cockpit heat issue. The only insulation I think you should worry about underneath the car are the one's that GM thought of. Make sure you have a trans tunnel blanket and also make sure you have the foam collar between the bell housing and the body. These two will prevent heat from entering the cockpit at the shifter and will also not channel heat down the tunnel. Make sure your lower shifter boot is perfect and sealed well to the floor. A LOT of heat can come through a defective boot. A good layer of insulation, like I applied, will work to keep the cockpit much less noisy and will insulate any radiated heat from entering. But the big nemesis is the heating/AC system. It's just not a very good system from a design aspect. Some things that help are makeing sure that all the seals are installed and working correctly. Make sure you have a shutoff on at least the feed line (both lines would be better). The ducts should be sealed well so that there are no leaks and all the air running through them actually gets to the vents. The fan blower motor is anemic at best. I'm considering upgrading mine to a 93 model fan which supposedly can be fitted with a spacer. Do a search for the post. This mod seems promising and the poster said he got a nice increase in air volume to the vents. And finally make sure the air box that feeds the blower is sealed well because otherwise you will be bringing heat directly from the exhaust manifold or headers right in to the cockpit. If you do all of these mods you will have a cockpit that's livable but not up to what you would expect by new car standards. Where I live if it's 80 degrees or above the AC goes on. Good luck with your project.

 

Thanks vettfixr for all the advise. I don't know if the trans blanket will fit in my tunnel now that I have the T-56 in the car. I will at least put a layer of the Coolmat in the tunnel. I will have to check clearance when I drop the body on.

I will look into the 93 blower. Being I have the body off the frame, all these modifications are much easier.

 

Hey, Vettefixr - you mentioned a foam collar between the bellhousing and body. My '71 doesn't have this. Do you know if it's something I can retrofit and where I can pick one up? By the way, this is all GREAT information. Thanks.

 

Look at Eckler's catolog page 296/ 13b $ 30.00 fits 68-76.
They also have the underbody blanket $ 35.00 set

The collar is in there somewhere too.

 

I got mine from Doc Rebuild. It's part number 1298016 and goes for $20. I'm sure your car came with one because the part is for 68-79. It probably just got old and either rotted or fell out or maybe the prior owner just yanked it and didn't replace it. Here's a link for you. http://docrebuild.com/dr-r-web/1298009.HTML