Mystery Insulation Panels

[72Rdrnner]

OK, boys & girls, put your thinking caps on.

Here are two insulation panels that came out of my '72 Roadrunner when I took it apart. Unfortunately, like all the rest, I did not label or tag them.

My best guess is they belong somewhere in front of the heating/air conditioning plenum, between it and the firewall, but I have real idea.

They are NOT the two kick panel insulating pads (two on each side) nor are they the insulating pads that attach to the inside of the firewall using the black plastic pegs.

They are about 8 inches wide and one is 10 inches high, the other 12 inches.

They are not arranged in any particular way when I took the picture.

First person to identify them...well you may get a nice gift! Or not! Hee, hee!

[road chicken]

Those were the optional " throw away" panels installed by Ma. In case of restoration, they were to deleted.

Seriously, I have no clue. They look the same from the round notch up. best guess would be the firewall insulation. The "left one" ( as pictured) rotated cw 90 degrees, and the Right one rotated 90 degrees ccw.

[72Rdrnner]

Those were the optional " throw away" panels installed by Ma. In case of restoration, they were to deleted.

Seriously, I have no clue. They look the same from the round notch up. best guess would be the firewall insulation. The "left one" ( as pictured) rotated cw 90 degrees, and the Right one rotated 90 degrees ccw.

They're not the firewall insulation panels as I have all three of them, with the plastic plugs that go through the firewall.

That's what's puzzling about these. I can't figure out how they were attached to whatever it was they were attached to! (thank you Professor Irwin Cory)

I have an extra heater/air conditioning plenum and cannot find any way they were between it and the firewall.

So the mystery continues...doo dah!

[road chicken]

Well they have to be from up front somewhere. No where else used that sort of insulation.

Doors had plastic and so did the rear quarters, presumably because they would get wet.

The floor used Juked backed carpeting, so it's got to be from up front somewhere.

I'll be interested to see where they go.

[72Rdrnner]

Well they have to be from up front somewhere. No where else used that sort of insulation.

Doors had plastic and so did the rear quarters, presumably because they would get wet.

The floor used Juked backed carpeting, so it's got to be from up front somewhere.

I'll be interested to see where they go.

I've been "spelunking" (cave hunting...i.e. looking in all the hidden "caves" in the car) and wonder if they might be up in the very top of the cavities just forward of the A pillars. There are two other pieces of insulation that go in that area but sit on the bottom of the cavity, and have somewhat thicker insulation. I originally kind of ruled out a symmetrical right/left location as the shapes, while similar, are definitely not mirror images.

Only problem is how the hell do these panels get put up there? There is all sorts of interference with things like parking brake (left) and a/c box (right). Unless of course they had to be put there BEFORE those things were installed!

I added some insulation (aluminized with jute backing) on the entire inside of the firewall when I had the a/c box out. It's glued to both the top (inside of the cowl) and firewall itself, and curves all the way around to just short of where the upper hinges are bolted to the A pillar. Perhaps these panels were originally there which means they will end up in the "not currently in use" box.

On a related note, I'm looking at adding some additional sound deadening behind the rear seat back to cut down sound coming from the trunk. Don't know if it will be worth the effort though. Have some extra duct board which is used to make HVAC ducts vice sheet metal in houses. Thinking about cutting it so it will be basically the same shape as the stock board used between the seat back and the trunk. Then trimming it to allow room for the seat back to hang on the two hooks as well as be in the same position as before. I plan on keeping the stock board so it will hide anything I do add from vew.

Just wonder if anyone has done something like this before and if it's worth the effort to make the car more quiet than stock?

[bruce]

If that's where these insulation panels fit--essentially the underside of the cowl inside the car, they are affixed with some kind of adhesive. No black plastic plugs sticking through the cowl there cuz those would just leak water into the car.

[aerodynamic]

You 100% sure they're from that car?

[72Rdrnner]

You 100% sure they're from that car?

Absolutely, positively, without a doubt. No one else ever owned the car, nor removed any interior panels.

[72Rdrnner]

If that's where these insulation panels fit--essentially the underside of the cowl inside the car, they are affixed with some kind of adhesive. No black plastic plugs sticking through the cowl there cuz those would just leak water into the car.

Yeah, in fact the lack of any attaching method has me puzzled. There is no evidence of any glue or indentations in the backing where metal tabs might have been used. One edge is slightly curved which matches the same type of curved edge on the two forward kick panel insulation pads. The kind of deformation you might imagine if they had just been put in somewhere standing on that edge.

Wherever they were used they were just put in without any attachment, unlike the firewall insulation pads with their through the metal plastic plugs.

Ah the joys & mysteries of taking a car apart and putting it back together. I even have a baggie labeled "mystery bolts"! I KNOW they came OFF the car, just don't know WHERE they came from! (I accused my wife of sneaking out into the garage and putting them in a baggie for me to find!)

[bruce]

What baffles me is the fact that they came off without getting ruined. The ones on my '71 were mostly ruined by the adhesive holding on to PART of the insulation and not ALL of it holding together.

[aerodynamic]

Sorry, what I actually meant was, could they have snuck into your pile o' parts from another car or project, and merely appear to be from this car?
Grasping at straws man, I'm stumped too. Something like that wouldn't go under the rear bench would it?

[72Rdrnner]

What baffles me is the fact that they came off without getting ruined. The ones on my '71 were mostly ruined by the adhesive holding on to PART of the insulation and not ALL of it holding together.

I just spent the last few hours rebuilding the insulation pads. Both the ones on the firewall and the kick panel cavities. Used air conditioning duct board and good 'ol 3M spray adhesive.

If you're a purist the firewall pads MIGHT not look right, although you would have to take them off to see that as I used the original top boards.

As for the kick panel pads...unless you take the kick panels off and pull them out...no way you'd know they were different.

One nice thing about duct board...it has an aluminized moisture barrier on one side which would keep a lot of moisture due to "sweating" out. If you really want to you could tape the edges with aluminum duct board tape and make them waterproof for the rest of time!

Here's the pix of what I did...(apparently a max of two pix per post so will continue with reply)

[72Rdrnner]

More pix of insulation pads renovation

[72Rdrnner]

The series continues...

[72Rdrnner]

The last pix in in the series.

The tricky part is making sure when you use the original backing you get it on the right side of the new stuff, otherwise you end up with a mirror image.

To get it right, turn the original backing over so the outside is down against the aluminized side of the duct board, trace it and cut it out. Then when you glue it to the insulation side of the duct board, with the backing outside toward you it will fit.

Trust me...I learned this the hard way. Thank goodness I had a LOT of duct board.

Some of the pieces just drop into the cavities of the kick panel cavities so they have no holes for any sort of attachment.

The resultant panels will be slightly thicker than the original ones, but also will be a LOT more sturdy as this new insulation is more dense than the original stuff. Probably will do a better job of cutting noise as a result, but don't know that for sure as I haven't tried them yet.

Have fun!