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| | | | Joined: Sep 2001 Posts: 100 Member | | Member Joined: Sep 2001 Posts: 100 | I'm thinking about installing an insulated firewall pad in my 49 gmc 1/2 ton. Summer days around here can break 100 degrees as a regular thing and don't need any help from the engine compartment. Has anybody tried these? They seem to cost from about $45 to $120 and come in anything from black rubber to polyurethane.
Never start vast projects with half vast ideas.
| | | | | Joined: Oct 2001 Posts: 3,458 Extreme Gabster | | Extreme Gabster Joined: Oct 2001 Posts: 3,458 | My truck has one on the inside of the cab, dunno if it was stock or not. They really do help.
Paint & Body Shop moderator
A lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic. | | | | | Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 230 Shop Shark | | Shop Shark Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 230 | Boy howdy will you love it ! I wish I had one but
don't want to take apart my dash to install it .
Also replacing alf those silly rubber seals on the floor plate and shifter tower plus gas linkage , e-brake pedal , firewall grommets etc. will make a _HUGE_ difference both in summer and winter .
-Nate
There is no problem so difficult it cannot be overcome by generous application of brute force & ignorance
| | | | | Joined: May 2001 Posts: 709 Shop Shark | | Shop Shark Joined: May 2001 Posts: 709 | During the resto of my 59 I tried my best to locate an original style oil impregnated cardboard insulator. Even posted here on the board in hopes someone had a source but to no avail. Ended up settling for the insulated plastic. Fiberglass was also an option. I looked at the rubber firewall pads and they were really cheap so easily passed on them.
Bruce
Bruce
Old Toy: Ol' Betsy stock 59 Apache SB Stepside (Gone but not Forgotten)
New Toy: 1962 Impala SS Coupe
The Driver: 1990 Toyota truck
| | | | | Joined: Aug 2001 Posts: 20 Junior Member | | Junior Member Joined: Aug 2001 Posts: 20 | Do the pads seal the cab or just keep the heat out. In other words does it block the holes (other than letting the cables through). I am wondering if a pad will help keep the engine smell out of the cab.
54 1ton
| | | | | Joined: May 2001 Posts: 709 Shop Shark | | Shop Shark Joined: May 2001 Posts: 709 | Crabby, I have never noticed any engine compartment smells in the cab of my 59 not to say that it couldn't happen. There are rubber grommets that should be installed where your wiring etc passes thru the firewall or floor. Perhaps yours are old, brittle/broken and need replacing. An application of RTV may also help seal out the smells. The insulated firewall cover I went with was marked where holes would need to be punched. A hole saw works best for the ABS plastic or fiberglass but not the insulation material. For this you will need a very sharp knife or razor blade.
Bruce
Bruce
Old Toy: Ol' Betsy stock 59 Apache SB Stepside (Gone but not Forgotten)
New Toy: 1962 Impala SS Coupe
The Driver: 1990 Toyota truck
| | | | | Joined: Jan 2002 Posts: 2,839 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Jan 2002 Posts: 2,839 | Retread, If you insulate your 49' too well, you might not be able to appreciate the aroma coming from the smoke stack of your local lumber mill up there in beautiful Ukiah. Now if you live downwind of a pulp mill (such as I did when living in Eureka), I totally understand you desire to block out everything. 
Craig My '50 Chevy 3100 5 window, '62-235cu, 3:55 rear My truck ....... Respect The Rust If I'm not working on my truck, '65 m00stang or VW camper, I'm fishing with the wife or smoking Salmon.
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