I'm going to be doing Verell's "Home Depot" foam replacement process on the bonnet of my 308. The existing foam is basically non-existent. Since I'm going to show the car, I'd like to get it as close to what it looked like when it came from the factory. Does someone have a picture of what the layout of the foam should actually look like? Will contact cement work for holding the actual foam to the bonnet, or should something else be used? Also, from the parts diagram, it also looks like there are two pieces of thin foam along the sides of the radiator. I looked and my car still has those, but they are very brittle/fragile. Has anyone tried replacing those pieces as well? TIA mark
T-Rutlands has a foam kit at $99 ish. Home Depot is way cheaper. As I recall there was a square piece for underneath the Rad, two thin pieces for each sides, a piece to stick on the bonnet for the top of the rad and a piece (looked like two angle-cut pieces glued together) for on the bonnet to tirewell. The tape that came on my kit was dried & useless. I used hot-glue. I can fairly easily peel it off the bonnet if I need to (and I did to adjust it)
Tha one I saw at Home-Depot was a 2-1/4" x 2-1/4 x 4ft and its dark gray I don't know if this is the one they are refering to.
Is it just me or does it look like the foam in the picture immediately below actually covers up the underside openings of louvres on the hood? I wouldn't think you'd want to do that... I need to replace the foam in mine, too, but I was just going to replace it where it looks like it originally was... Any added benefit to "beefing it up"?
3/4" Armorflex insulation and 3M Spray 77.. I'll try to get a pic...there are "corner blocks" to seal the rad at the sides too, kind of a trapezoidal shaped block, in addition to the radiator side pieces.. 1977 308GTB
Hi, Was the original foam gray, or was it a yellow color that got dirty over the years? Does anyone know the exact thickness the factory used ('76 GTB)? Thank You, Anthony
No, it was a light grey when new, IMO..I have a few pieces left. It was early "open cell foam" and there are better materials now..the stuff I mentioned is HVAC and is better seal and has kind of a "skin" on one side to resist damage.. The early foam "see 512BB hood liner" was pretty unstable and will turn to dust over time, heat, and air... Actually that stuff in the above pics is pretty close! It runs straight across on my cars but I can see it following the spare tire well, as he did..... maybe on later cars?????
Hey, that pic looks familiar! The top piece in the pic is standard Home Depot (or actually Lowe's in my case) air conditioner foam seal. The bottom piece was sent to me by Spasso. I think he said it was a foam used for shipping/packaging. I'm not sure what the color of the original foam was but when I cut it open it was black inside not gray. Both new pieces of foam were gray but I painted them black. They seem to be holding up very well. The foam that runs down the side of the radiator is actually sandwiched in there pretty good. When I did my water pump I pulled the radiator to get it flushed and tested and was able to replace the foam then. Other than that I don't think you'd be able to replace it. If anyone can't find the smaller foam let me know, I think I still have an extra pack somewhere. As far as following the spare tire well that's the way it was so that's how I put it back. Don't know if any of this is concours correct or not. . John
I'm thinking they could have been different colors depending on model and year though too. I thought it looked better painted the same color as the rest of the hood. Concours be damned......
Yea, mine are black, that's the color of the material... I have all the thicknesses, it makes NICE karting seats!
Ya'll will laugh when you see mine... I have a 6" x 8" DANGER sign above the strut, with one inch ALL CAPS that says: PRESS BALL TO CLOSE
GF just got a digital camera...as Kodak sees the end of an era! I used to wind off 35MM B/W off of film reels........ bbl....
Thanks. If you can send/post a pic, that would be great. The remnants of the outline left on my bonnet looks something like Jdubbya's, with the angle, but then it looks like it turns back and goes a short distance along the supports that run the length of the hood. (I'll try and take a pic and post). I'd just like to try and get it as close to orig as possible. BTW, anyone else have old foam get sucked up into your blowers and blown out through the A/C and all over the interior? With all the gunk that it had absorbed over the years, made a real grimey mess in the seats/carpet. I thought it was a filter in the A/C system. But looking at the parts diagram, it doesn't look like one exists in the air system, so it must have been the bonnet foam which got sucked up and spit out. That brings up a thought. Anyone installed any type of "filter" between the blowers and the vents? Maybe some stretched nylons or something (since I don't believe they make a "Fine Bavarian Air" filter for a 308 )
I don't know if there was originally any filter material in the inlet boxes but I bought some to put in there. I just bought some standard furnace filter media. Now that I think about it I don't think I ever put it in there though. And, yes I do occasionally get stuff blowing out of my vents.
Me three. And I know there's a thread here somewhere to replace the a/c vent foam insulation which is now on my to-do list. As to the foam blocking the vents...not on my '83qv. As to the color...my original looked a dark shade of grey. the home depot was a lighter shade of pale...wait....grey The T-Rutlands was in-between the two shades of grey. Playing with the Home Depot foam, I used large carpet shears (think massive sissors) which cut the foam effortlessly & accurately.
All I've ever seen are shades of grey. My car's foam was grey & pretty much disentigrated when I replaced it awhile ago. It's already darkened quite a bit since then. I used contact cement to mount it, & it's holding up well. I bought 1-1/4" square foam & glued 2 strips against each other, then mounted them on the bonnet. I used a new box cutter blade, and a Henkel's 4-star 8" chef's knife that I keep razor sharp with diamond & arkansas stones. They did a great job on the foam.
Tifosi- here is a photo of my stock foam (I think) from my 85'qv. If you need more detail I can send the high res original. (just email me) There are also some foam strips on either side of the radiator-but they don't look stock, so I didn't include them. Looks like I need to do some detailing under there- Steve Image Unavailable, Please Login
That "danger" sign is a great idea...! I was at a gas staion once a while ago witht he front bonnet up ( to collect a rag ) and was gassing up when a nice helpful guy came by in a good freindly mood and asked me "yah done here?" not knowing what he was talking about really I kinda nodded and he then slams the from bonnet closed ( thinking it was a gas strut support) bent the hood in half...he was stunned, the poor guy was just trying to be helpful and cool with the ferrari guy so I couldn't really slam him ...I really don't knwo what to tell you all...these cars are so damn fragile,, you really can't let anyone else touch them....I had a vlaet park my car once and his knee completely broke the headlight combination switch ( you know how costly and what a PIA that is)...it is sad since youdon't want to be a snob esp. with a ferrari that Tom S. calls "basically a used car" that s not worth much but hell...you can't let anyone touch the thing. as far as the foam...I wonder if a semi rigid poly flexible air dam might last longer , be sturdier and be more efficient as a kinda "scoop" to create some velocity to move the air from below the radiator throught the core and then out the bonnet vents.
