I want to insulate the roof of the 39 behind the headliner. I've had issues with the butyl rubber/ foil backed products not adhering when used on upside down and vertical applications. Especially when cooking in the florida sun. I dread having issues above the headliner requiring headliner to get pulled back out. The old Poncho has/had thick tar paper from the factory and it stayed 80+ years but is degraded. So what's a good plan? Styrofoam? Open or closed cell foam? Ideas? Experiences good and bad are welcome..
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/thermal-insulation.1300158/ Keep in mind that foil-backed reflective/emission-resistant insulation has to be facing air. As soon as the reflective surface touches something other than air, it is useless. And it should ideally be shiny side down, so that dust doesn't collect on it. Any kind of foam should be good, the lighter and thicker the better, as would glass wool etc. Try not to compress it: what you're trying to do is trap pockets of air, which is what is doing the insulating work.
The guy who upholstered my 55 years ago used reflective bubble insulation on the top. The only problem was that I could see the shiny through the tiny holes in the headlining material.
I used the peal and stick KILMAT on the floorboard, door panels firewall and overhead, I cleaned everything with a grease remover and bought a special hard rubber roller to make sure everything adhered, It's easy to use and after the interior was installed I was amazed how much it helped with road noise & the heat & air works doesn't have to run on high, even when the temperatures reach the high 90's. HRP
I used this closed cell foam that had foil backing on the front and back of the foam then glued it up with DAP landau top adhesive worked great inthe top of my 39 Tudor. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07G6PQBMH/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I sold the last 32 Ford pickup I built to a man in Florida. It was as original with the inside of the cab naked and painted satin black. He thought it would be a good idea if he covered the top and rear 1/4's with Dynamat. He sold the truck and the next owner knew the countless hours we had spent metal finishing the inside of the cab and he wanted to return it to that look. It took him a couple weeks with a putty knife and finally using gasoline to get the foil and goo of the sheet metal. There was certainty no problem with it sticking in the Florida sun.
I've had good results with the cheap rolls of "Reflectix" bubble foil from the hardware store on some of my old vehicles. I'd usually use 3M spray adhesive to hold it in place because I was too cheap to buy the adhesive backed stuff. Amazon has some really affordable adhesive insulation squares that I intend to try out on my daily driver, and if it makes a difference, I'll use it on my '56 F-100. FWIW, I recently bought a "garage door insulation kit", it was $45 per door for each of my 2 garage doors. The afternoon sun blasts my garage doors and it's an oven inside and I can't get anything done except for weekend mornings during the summer. I installed the kit on 1 door and the next day around 5pm, when the outside temp was 107F, the uninsulated door read 130F on the laser thermometer, and the insulated door read 102F. After installing the kit on the other door, the inside temperature of my garage has noticeably dropped, and it's almost bearable in there in the afternoon.
I installed FatMat on the inside of the very long roof of my '62 Merc Wagon and as far as I can tell, it is still up there, 7 years later, 5 of which have been spent baking in SWMO sun shine.
My old coupe has sat outside almost all the time I have owned it. I do live in northern Il, but we get heat up here too, as well as cold and everything in between. The car roof is painted white, that does make a difference. When the car was 1st assembled I used the cheap Mylar coated bubble wrap stuck to the metal with 3 M spray glue. After about 5 years, it started coming loose. When I redid the car in 2018, I cleaned the inside sheet metal and used NOICO .080 thickness self stick insulation/sound deadener (purchased through Amazon) and fit in to the car and rolled it in tight. I checked it a few minutes ago, its still stuck tight, no indication of it getting loose anywhere inside of the car. For those self stick insulations to work, the surface has to be clean, and the product has to be rolled or forced against the metal tight to stay there. Once rolled tight, its a big effort to get it off, even after many years.
That tar paper takes the bell sound out of the roof, but I don't think it was intended for insulating back in the day. The air space between the headliner and the turret was about all you got. Just about anything you put in has to be glued. So you might as well go with the mat or spray it with lizard skin in my opinion.
Homemade lizard skin, glass micro balloons and acrylic paint can be put on with a regular paint roller.
The stuff @Lobucrod used to sell on here and swaps was like a foil backed bubble wrap. It didnt have the tar like glue backing, like peel and seel. He also sold a glue that would work well to hold it up. I think that similar bubble wrap insulation style stuff they sell at Lowes and the 3M spray adhesive made for headliners would probably perform pretty well if youre on a budget
Use High density foam that carpet layers use for underlay You will need to use contact glue. I used this in my O/T Toyota "poverty pack" under the carpet to sound deaden. Most carpet layers have offcuts that are large enough
On my 59 tbird I used a hot water heater insulating blanket. Quiet and cool Florida keys for years. Cheap and worked well, I could occasionally see a sparkle thru the hols but it was an acceptable trade off.
Anybody ever think about using elastomeric coating like the the stuff used on RV roofs? I used it on the outside of my skoolie roof. It is thick, can be rolled or brushed, and it definitely insulates. I remember doing temp tests in direct Florida summer sun. The temp difference was amazing between the painted surfaces and the surfaces with the coating applied. I’m also guessing the thick coating also deadens sound.
This is designed to be roof insulation and it's not expensive. I used it in my 49 buick and am very happy with it. https://www.designengineering.com/d-mat-insulation-60-x-40/
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