Under dashboard insulation
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Joined: Aug 2014
Posts: 839
From: Western North Carolina
Regardless of what you replace it with, I highly recommend you wear a face mask when removing that old insulation and be careful not to breathe any of it in. It disintegrates pretty easily and God only knows what it was originally made of.
Registered User
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 6,105
From: central Indiana
The heater box, steering column, throttle/kickdown cables, and the fuse box needs to be removed abd separated from the engine harness. There are lots of other little things I’m probably overlooking.
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Joined: May 2008
Posts: 3,627
From: Austin, Texas
What Pat shows is not the firewall pad....he's showing a piece of the "under dash" insulation.
There are TWO items behind or "under" there....
1) The FIREWALL PAD: This is vertically oriented once installed. You see parts of it around the gas pedal and also running under the interior heater/AC box. As already mentioned replacing it requires removing almost everything attached to the inside of the firewall. This pad is held into place with hollow plastic pushpins.
Different versions of this pad are made at different prices and "quality". As far as I can tell none of them are super exact duplicates of the factory pad although some look closer than others.
2) The "UNDER DASH" insulation - this is what Pat (the OP) is showing. This was glued on to the underside of the upper dash metal...the upper dash metal you see once the dash pad is installed. It's the metal where the VIN plate is mounted and the front speaker is mounted...all the way across. Basically, it's the piece that runs all the way across b/n the front edge of the dash pad and the base of the windshield.
Somebody makes a replacement piece for this (I installed one in a '70 442 recently) that also glues into place and it made of a much "tighter" jute with a coating or another harder layer over it. I'll try to find out who sells it. These replacement pieces are much thinner than that soft/thick original stuff but they won't break down like the original stuff does. Again, you'd need to have virtually everything out from behind/under the dash to install this insulation (and to thoroughly remove the original insulation). You could also make your own using some foil backed jute insulation material that is available at some auto interior supply places although you'd need to make a pattern yourself or just cut pieces that are close and trim and glue them in piecemeal.
There are TWO items behind or "under" there....
1) The FIREWALL PAD: This is vertically oriented once installed. You see parts of it around the gas pedal and also running under the interior heater/AC box. As already mentioned replacing it requires removing almost everything attached to the inside of the firewall. This pad is held into place with hollow plastic pushpins.
Different versions of this pad are made at different prices and "quality". As far as I can tell none of them are super exact duplicates of the factory pad although some look closer than others.
2) The "UNDER DASH" insulation - this is what Pat (the OP) is showing. This was glued on to the underside of the upper dash metal...the upper dash metal you see once the dash pad is installed. It's the metal where the VIN plate is mounted and the front speaker is mounted...all the way across. Basically, it's the piece that runs all the way across b/n the front edge of the dash pad and the base of the windshield.
Somebody makes a replacement piece for this (I installed one in a '70 442 recently) that also glues into place and it made of a much "tighter" jute with a coating or another harder layer over it. I'll try to find out who sells it. These replacement pieces are much thinner than that soft/thick original stuff but they won't break down like the original stuff does. Again, you'd need to have virtually everything out from behind/under the dash to install this insulation (and to thoroughly remove the original insulation). You could also make your own using some foil backed jute insulation material that is available at some auto interior supply places although you'd need to make a pattern yourself or just cut pieces that are close and trim and glue them in piecemeal.
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Aug 2021
Posts: 24
What Pat shows is not the firewall pad....he's showing a piece of the "under dash" insulation.
There are TWO items behind or "under" there....
1) The FIREWALL PAD: This is vertically oriented once installed. You see parts of it around the gas pedal and also running under the interior heater/AC box. As already mentioned replacing it requires removing almost everything attached to the inside of the firewall. This pad is held into place with hollow plastic pushpins.
Different versions of this pad are made at different prices and "quality". As far as I can tell none of them are super exact duplicates of the factory pad although some look closer than others.
2) The "UNDER DASH" insulation - this is what Pat (the OP) is showing. This was glued on to the underside of the upper dash metal...the upper dash metal you see once the dash pad is installed. It's the metal where the VIN plate is mounted and the front speaker is mounted...all the way across. Basically, it's the piece that runs all the way across b/n the front edge of the dash pad and the base of the windshield.
Somebody makes a replacement piece for this (I installed one in a '70 442 recently) that also glues into place and it made of a much "tighter" jute with a coating or another harder layer over it. I'll try to find out who sells it. These replacement pieces are much thinner than that soft/thick original stuff but they won't break down like the original stuff does. Again, you'd need to have virtually everything out from behind/under the dash to install this insulation (and to thoroughly remove the original insulation). You could also make your own using some foil backed jute insulation material that is available at some auto interior supply places although you'd need to make a pattern yourself or just cut pieces that are close and trim and glue them in piecemeal.
There are TWO items behind or "under" there....
1) The FIREWALL PAD: This is vertically oriented once installed. You see parts of it around the gas pedal and also running under the interior heater/AC box. As already mentioned replacing it requires removing almost everything attached to the inside of the firewall. This pad is held into place with hollow plastic pushpins.
Different versions of this pad are made at different prices and "quality". As far as I can tell none of them are super exact duplicates of the factory pad although some look closer than others.
2) The "UNDER DASH" insulation - this is what Pat (the OP) is showing. This was glued on to the underside of the upper dash metal...the upper dash metal you see once the dash pad is installed. It's the metal where the VIN plate is mounted and the front speaker is mounted...all the way across. Basically, it's the piece that runs all the way across b/n the front edge of the dash pad and the base of the windshield.
Somebody makes a replacement piece for this (I installed one in a '70 442 recently) that also glues into place and it made of a much "tighter" jute with a coating or another harder layer over it. I'll try to find out who sells it. These replacement pieces are much thinner than that soft/thick original stuff but they won't break down like the original stuff does. Again, you'd need to have virtually everything out from behind/under the dash to install this insulation (and to thoroughly remove the original insulation). You could also make your own using some foil backed jute insulation material that is available at some auto interior supply places although you'd need to make a pattern yourself or just cut pieces that are close and trim and glue them in piecemeal.
Registered User
Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 15,409
From: Phoenix, AZ
Hmmm, when I bought the convertible back in the 90s that insulation was disintegrating and would fly all around when driving the car. Got in my eyes, and of course I breathed in a lot of it. Hopefully I will survive.
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