hi, i'm new here and this is my first post. i own an orange four door white hard top 1977 Maverick with about 83,000.00 miles on it. i just had a quick and simple question for you folks... as i was driving this weekend i noticed a burning smell and there was even small wisps of smoke. i was able to pull over quickly and lifted the hood - the insulation had actually started to burn away and had gotten so hot it left a small but noticeable burn mark on the top of the hood. we pulled the clips and old insulation off, it practically fell apart upon touching it. my question to you, do i need to replace this insulation? i was told its not completely necessary to have it, but my car has an original paint job and i'm nervous that no insulation under the hood will damage it further. i havent had this car for very long, and i would like to keep her in as mint condition as possible..... any recommendations and/or suggestions are appreciated!!!
Most Mavericks did not have this insulation. You are perfectly fine without it. Welcome to the board.
to the site, from Atlantic Canada! I have never seen one in person, but I have seen reproduction hood insulation for our cars. From Auto Krafters. http://www.autokrafters.com/p-13060-hood-insulation-70-77-mv-71-77-cm.aspx And it is also available through Melvin's Classic Fords (page 58): http://www.melvinsclassicfordparts.com/pdfs/melvins-maverick-catalog-final.pdf
I've never seen a Maverick with hood insulation, but all it does is retain heat and collect dirt. I say get rid of it and don't look back.
Hood insulation is the best thing to reduce the engine noise in the interior since sound from an engine goes through the windshield. Just about all new cars/trucks come with it from the factory.
hood insulation I think the question here should be what caused the heat and smoke not whether or not there should be insulation on the inside of the hood. After 35 years of use and 83,000 miles why would this happen now? There should not be enough heat generated in a stock state to ignite the insulation, if it is in good condition and properly fastened to the underside of the hood. Was the air cleaner in place and the car running well? A few years ago my wife's 1980 Corvette was not running right and I had the air cleaner off of the car and took it for a drive. A big back fire threw enough gasoline and fire to ignite the fiberglass hood and ended up melting a lot of rubber and plastic before the fire was put out. The cause was finally thought to be a faulty, worn out carb.
I would suspect that the original insulation had become tattered or deteriorated and possibly came into direct contact with an exhaust manifold or something of that nature.
Ford used to use a piece of rubber hose to connect the fuel line to the fuel filter that could crack and spray a fine mist of fuel that could catch fire. Had it happen on a 74 LTD with a 400 Cleveland. Saw a glow under the hood while driving at night. It was often caused by pulling and twisting of the hose while replacing a fuel filter.
Was the fire near the carb ... like the previous posters mentioning the carb or fuel line, or was it near the battery? Some batteries come with an add-on tray at the bottom, that needs to be removed for some cars, or it will put the battery too close to the hood. Had that happen with a Taurus .... one night ....ka-booommmm!!!. Battery lead touched the hood.
First thing first ;fix the problem if you didnt already. Then check out thermal block by secondskin audio for under hood insulation If you want something similar for interior then also check out their heatwave pro
