Hood Liner replacement/restoration
After 20+ year, the OEM sound/heat insulation under the hood of my Corrado was looking pretty sad. It was crumbling after years of exposure to heat and age. It had already fallen out in several places leaving gaps that looked awful. The foam material crumbles into powder making a mess whenever it was touched.
I discovered what appeared to be an affordable replacement specifically for the Corrado. The Classic 9 Leather shop was shop specializing in restoration of performance vehicles. There were a lot of Porsches in their online photo albums. I was impressed with their craftsmanship and was even more enthusiastic when I noticed that they also made available their hood liner replacement. Furthermore, there was a pattern that was precut for the G60 and the VR6 corrodes. At $54 for the pre-cut set, it was worth it for me to give it a try.
The set comes rolled in a box. I also ordered the recommended adhesive --3M Rubber and Vinyl 80 spray adhesive which I purchased from Amazon.
I then proceeded to remove the old liner. I recommend covering the engine bay because the old liner had powdered and fell out like sand. I covered my engine bay with a cargo blanket then used a spatula to scrap out the old liner. The old adhesive is nearly impossible to remove but I did my best along with some adhesive remover and took out as much as possible. I used a shop vacuum to clean out the powderized remnants that had fallen into the small crevices in the hood and vents.
One note, the liner pieces are nicely rolled into the box and placed inside plastic bags to ensure the liners arrive intact.
I had taken them out and upon inspection, I shoved them back into the box. I did not roll them neatly into smooth rolls and when i took them out to finally install them, some of the pads were wrinkled and creased. These new creases would not come out. But it does not affect its performance or shape. It merely detracts from their appearance once installed. You can see some of mine have wrinkles in them after the install.
After the hood was cleaned up, I masked off the area that I was going to install the liner. There is a front and a backside to the liner material. The included instructions from Classic 9 Leather will tell you how to distinguish between the two sides. I applied the spray to the hood and to the back side of the liner. Once the glue became tacky, I would apply the liner piece to the matching space under the hood. It does not take much effort to stick it in place. It will stay there once applied. No need to tape it to hold it in place while the glue dries.
I highly recommend masking off the portions of the hood that I do not want adhesive applied. I used newspaper to mask off the areas I did not want to spray. This area under the hood is exposed to a lot of dirt, oil, and grease. So any exposed glue will simply attract and capture any dirt and grime under the hood and put it on display underneath your hood permanently. So take the time to carefully mask off your spray areas and eliminate overspray.
I performed this repair in July of 2012. Although the Endless Corrado Project has not been road worthy for much of that time, it has been nearly two years and the adhesive has stayed intact and the liner has remained in place. This repair restores the under hood appearance and makes it attractive once again. I no longer have to worry about the liner crumbling and making a mess.
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| The finished under hood restoration. |
I'm sure one could source their own sound insulation/heat shield material and cut it themselves, but I opted to use a pre-cut solution from someone who's already done this restoration on other cars. I bought the pre-cut liners from www.classic9leathershop.com
Classic 9 Leather Shop
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