Air-blocking foam in engine bay...
 

The foam between the rear shock bridge and the firewall in my engine bay is very old and crumbled away. I understand the purpose of this foam is to block hot air from recirculating back into the engine bay.

Does anybody run without the foam? What have you used for replacement? Is it better to replace, or OK to do without?

Thanks for the help.

I'm having a hard time picturing this.

Can you post a few photos?

It would not hurt to replace those.

http://www.pelicanparts.com/cgi-bin/...Item_Number=31

There are only one on each side for some reason PAG decided to leave the center portion open.

My guess is to allow the transmission breather port to breath and escape up that opening, but it will also divert hot air up it as well.

Local hardware stores have the tar treated foam blocks used in roofing that others have used with much success.

Someone posted on this a while back, you should have that piece in there. Some dense foam (closed cell foam would be best) from Home Depot, etc cut to shape would work fine.

But do we want to seal it completely or leave the center gap as PAG designed???

Our host has this. (P/N 911-556-891-01 at $58.50) I bought it (mine was P/N 964-556-281-01 at $74.00) and the install was easy. The foam cuts down on heat radiated into the interior and engine noise, not the good kind, the bad kind (high frequency that can damage your hearing). Better than original and looks good.

Mark

Don't go second-guessing the PAG engineers. I say leave the center gap as designed.

I believe he was talking about the blocks not the sound pad ;)

I removed mine when I re-painted the engine bay 3 years ago. I've had no issues since.

fwiw you can get a 2" square foam insulation strip at your local hardware store (mine is an ACE).
its used to seal in window A/C.
costs about $3
coat it with some black window caulk to install.