Firewall insulation questions

[DrCharles]

In the engine compartment there is a black insulating pad attached to the firewall.

What's it made of and can it withstand heat? Now that I added the turbo, both the up- and downpipes are quite close to it.

Also it's loose in a couple of places (also causing it to be closer to hot parts) and it appears some kind of push fasteners are missing. I'm concerned that if I use plastic fasteners they'll melt. Any idea what the factory used?

thanks.

 

[The_Josh_Bear]

I have the same stuff and I can't tell you what it's made of, but it's definitely high heat resistant.
When I installed my used factory turbo kit I had some of that stuff touching the turbine housing. Let's just say it isnt touching anymore! Haha it melted back just a bit, maybe 3/8" and stayed like that until I got a cheap turbo blanket on it.
There's actually a hemispherical melty area behind my turbo.
(In retrospect that probably wasnt the best idea but i was going under the assumption that the material was designed for exhaust-type heat and didnt worry too much.)

As for the stuff by the down/up pipes it hasn't changed one bit. Mine is also tight to the chassis still.

BTW even a cheap turbo blanket is awesome. There was SO much heat dumping out under the hood from the turbine housing. But with the blanket on you can literally touch it with bare fingers.

 

[typ4]

Factory put heat shields on the turbo pipes for that reason. what I do is go to the junkyard and get the Powerstroke heat blanket that's layered stainless and screw it to the firewall works great.

 

[DrCharles]

Do you cut out the black insulation (that my truck has now) and replace it with the PS blanket, or on top of it? There's not a whole lot of clearance there with the 2.75" Banks pipe and it'd be worse with a 3".