I did a couple previous to this, and one of them is pictured here also (hand-painted graphics):

Thought I'd try something different this time, but before cosmetics, I have to consider mechanical strength. The vent cutouts remove alot of support and make the insulator too flexible. This particular victim is Red Deer's old one that SSEiMatt93 brought down here under the hood of Damien last year for me.

Trust me, the old insulator looked good before a year of storage. Butt the back side of Matt's was losing the cheescloth, so it's time to re-cover it in a waterproof rip-stop nylon, but first we have to cut out for the vents:






Time to reinforce the vent area now. This is very strong 1/8" styrene sheeting from the hobby store, laminated in with headliner adhesive. It adds just the right amount of rigidity to the cuts:


Same stuff to fill in the underhood light hole and the rip in the insulator:


Headliner adhesive applied to the back (hood side) and the nylon, then pressed, cut, and wrapped around:


This will be in contact with the underside of my hood:


Now let's get creative with that styrene:




Now the canvas duck-cloth (visible side) has adhesive applied, as does that side of the hood insulator. This is right after placing them together, before flipping it and 'pressing in' the contours:


After initial trimming and before punching the retainer holes. Some more smoothing tomorrow after this dries will go a long way (ignore the water on it):









Not bad for a couple hours of work. But I had experience from doing this twice before.

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93 SSEi, 95 SLE (supercharged) 97 Buick LeSabre Limited
PontiacDad at WCBF '04: Cruise control? That's like surrendering!
Comprehensive guide to troubleshooting, rebuilding, and modifying Eaton Superchargers