Firewall heat shield fabric?

[dsmputz]

Hey guys whats crackin? My car is slowly being put together and i'd like to know if I need that black firewall fabric. The previous owner had ripped it out because he thought it looked dirty. I imagine it is a heatshield to prevent the firewall from becoming heatsoaked and transferring heat into the cabin. Is anyone out there not using one? If I need one I have to get it now while the engine bay is completely stripped.
thanks

Robby A

 

[Defiant]

It's a bit more noise blanket than heat insulation. The engine's heat is at the front, and largely dissipated by the time it gets to the firewall.
You could replace it with Dynamat, or a similar, much cheaper tarpaper insulation layer as is sold at Home Depot instead of Circuit City, and in doing so costs about 1/3 as much.... for the same product.

 

[fourreGsixty3]

Thats good to know Defiant, also if you do want to have some heat shielding properties even though it won't really be needed for the reasons already stated, but you could try self sticking heat wrap, along with the dynamat, that is if it will stick to the dynamat. Defiant if Im not too conserned about noise would it be alright to just not put anything back up there after I have my engine bay painted with the rest of my car?

Dustin

 

[Defiant]

I'd think so. The hot side of the engine is the front on a DSM, so the amount of heat at the firewall shouldn't be unbearable.
If your sneaker soles start getting sticky, lift your feet.

 

[fourreGsixty3]

I won't be going with anything there at fist just so I can see if it gets hot, which I doubt it will with all the ventilation I will have under the hood, and the fact that anything hot will be wrapped, and anything that I want to stay cold will be wrapped to keep the heat out. I figured I'd just mention the above idea in case he did want to do a heat barrier of some type, and if the soles start to get sticky it just means that your foot won't slip off the pedal

Dustin

 

[91etalon]

your car will be fine, you wont notice any heat. I know because i removed the one on the engine side of the firewall aswell as the tarlike one on the cabin side. Like defiant said, all youll notice is a bit more noice.