Any top tips sticking this on?

Finally I've found a really well and precisely cut foam seal for the front bonnet that seals the heat from the spare wheel well. As you can see it's perfectly cut at the ends to fit over the bonnet frame.

But I'm too nervous to fit the damn thing to the bonnet. They have cut it straight as you can see, so it needs to curve in the right places to fit the contour of the wheel well.

I have visions of contact adhesive ending up all over the freshly painted bonnet and the seal ending up in completely the wrong place!

The radiator seal was easy as it was dead straight and very easy to line up.

I know Martin fitted his and it looked great, any tips getting this on properly greatly appreciated!



Cheers



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Hi Alex,

I try to explain how I did it. I had the same concerns.
I put some small pieces of double sided adhesive tape onto the foam piece. Only a few very small pieces. Placed the foam on the spare tire bucket frame, where it has to seal. Measured the distances of both ends to the upper edge of the hood opening to make sure not applying things askew and closed the hood.
The tape and foam then sticked to he hood and I marked the position with masking tape around the foam piece.
Then I removed the foam piece from the hood as well as the small double sided adhesive tape.

Applied contact adhesive within the masked area on the hood and of course onto the foam piece.
Put the foam piece onto the hood and removed the masking tape.
Before removal of the masking tape I slightly cut along the edges with a sharp blade to cut through any meanwhile dried glue excess. This results in much more tidy edges.
The one or another edge or corner I had to refinish a bit.

But you probably remember, that I cut my piece myself in the final shape. So I had no need to bend it. This meant, that I had no need to place it with any tension.
And like you see on my picture I cut it, that I also closed the very last remaining gap outside the frame.

Best
Martin
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Where did you find it, Alex?

 

The factory seal was the same and just bent at the corners. It worked quite well without being mitered.

 

Martin this is fantastic thanks very much. The exact instructions I needed, hadn't even thought of masking tape and double sided tape!

I will post a pic of the finished work.

Best wishes


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Superformance have just had some made. Be prepared to spend £45 on a pice of foam though!




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I bought mine from ricambi. Expensive pieces of foam!!

 

Just to complete informations.

I cut mine, shown in the picture above, myself. A piece of proper foam, sufficient for three pieces for €15.00 including shipping.
A fresh cutter blade at €0.15 and some drops of engine oil for lubricating the cutter blade at €0.0000123. And a piece of cardboard from a worn box for making a template.

Not original, but hmmmm... better than original. At least I used Agip Sint 2000 10w-40 for lubricating the cutter blade. Worked like a charm. I believe this is the perfect oil spec for cutting foam

Best
Martin

 

Most excellent, Martin. What is the proper foam?

 

Hi Paul,

I do not know, whether these are internationally valid specs, but searching for 'foam RG25' is a good start. I purchased a piece of this stuff via ebay Germany in 'black/anthracite-color'.
At the time clicking 'purchase' I wasn't sure, whether it's o.k. for our purpose. I just thought, I give it a try.
But it is. Hardness and porosity is perfect, I think.
And cutting with a new blade and a metal rule also went perfect. Lubricating the blade with some oil and cutting several times with little pressure does the trick to achieve the result you see on my picture.


Best
Martin

 

I forgot to mention the thickness I have chosen. It's 30mm.

Best
Martin

 

Here is a picture of my expensive piece of foam. You just have to bend it at the ends to make it fit. Just be careful of the contact cement dripping on the foam when you place it. I got a little on mine as you can see. It looks worse than it is because I tried to get off the residual with Goof-Off so that's why it's has a wet stain around the glue in the pic. Radiator foam is pictured as well. That one is straight forward as far as installation.
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Steve,

this hood crossmember on the cars with hood vents seems to be of big help regarding orientation of the foam piece.
Unfortunately our early carb cars without hood vents don't have it.

Best
Martin

 

Martin,

I wanted to thank you for posting your method of replacing the foam under the front bonnet on my 1983 308 QV. I followed the general template you used (.pdf) but used a slightly different type of foam which I purchased on Amazon ($12.99). Dimensions were 2" x 1" x 78" which was more than enough to do the two main foam barriers over the radiator and the front of the spare tire enclosure. The foam I used was self-adhesive and was more difficult to cut because of its "spongy" nature. It is designed to be used for insulation around window-mounted air conditioners. After some trial and error, I found the best way to cut it was to compress it from its 1" thickness to about 1/4" and quickly slice it with a bread knife. The foam pops up pretty quickly but this method works much better than trying to cut it uncompressed. Also on my '83, there is a cross member which also requires some adjustment in your template. Now just have to replaced the missing foam on the sides and bottom of the radiator.

Best,
Wilson

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