Thermal protection

[UpNorth]

Hi all and Happy New Year,

Having time on my hands I was looking at other car building sites and there was one where the builder was gluing thermal protection on the clam shell of his build in order to protect the gel coat from the engine heat. I didn’t do that on my Coupe…Have you? Should I?
Cheers and TIA

Francois

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[Namrups]

First I've heard of that. I will be coating mine with Raptor as have others. I have also seen it painted and striped the same as the outer surface once. I ran my coupe all last summer in gel coat without any heat issues on the gel coat. Ford performance 460W with 500 HP. Definatly put out some heat without any issues.

[edwardb]

Not necessary. Nearly 8,000 miles on my Coupe with zero issues. Same as the previous Roadsters also driven thousands of miles. If your engine heat is enough to be damaging the hood fiberglass or gel coat, you have bigger problems.

[Alphamacaroon]

Same experience. I sprayed mine with Raptor and have had it in brutal temperatures for 3 years now and not a single issue.

I considered adding some shielding in mine, but I remember reading somewhere once that adding a bunch of heat shielding to your hood can sometimes make heating problems worse because it tends to reflect and trap all that hot air in there rather than letting it radiate out over a large surface area. And then in places where it wasn't protected it would actually concentrate the heat and make it worse.

[UpNorth]

Thanks guys,

After reading your comments I’ll leave it as is.
I like how it is finished and don’t want to waste that look.
Thanks!

[jgray]

I was aware that people were using bed liner paint but did not know Raptor is the preferred brand. I googled them and see they have an adhesion promoter - did you guys use this or just sprayed the Raptor Protective Coating on directly?

[Namrups]

I just ruff sand with 80 grit and apply. Same on aluminum panels.