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Re: Engine Compartment - Cardboard Panels

To: spitfires@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: Engine Compartment - Cardboard Panels
From: Ken Strayhorn <ken@dukecomm.duke.edu>
Date: Thu, 27 May 2004 11:45:12 -0400
On Thursday, May 27, 2004, at 11:15 AM, Chris Foster wrote:

<Engine valence panels, threat or menace>

> All that said, at one point I saw (somewhere online) that someone had
> made a nice set of aluminum panels to replace their cardboard ones.
> Does anyone have any thoughts on this?  It would seem to me that
> aluminum panels would allow for better heat transfer out of the
> compartment than cardboard panels - only adding to their cooling
> ability.  With that said, the question then is:

I don't think the material matters - just replace the 
easily-torn-and-rotted
cardboard with something more substantial.


>
> a) Does that logic make sense, or are cardboard ones apt to be better?

I used aluminum to replace my cardboard panels the first time I replaced
them. In fact, I used aluminum roofing panels. They were cheap and easy
to cut with a pair of heavy-duty scissors. They worked fine for a couple
years, but the thin aluminum eventually started to crack around the
holes I drilled for the mounting bolts.

So I replaced the aluminum with heavy duty plastic. I bought two
big "For Sale" signs from a home improvement store. They are of thick
plastic - easy to cut with that same pair of heavy-duty scissors. I 
painted
them black when I was done and they have been on the car for a couple
years with no apparent cracks or other failures.


> b) If my logic is sound, does anyone have any form of drawings for 
> these
> panels that would allow me to create them? - Remember I only have the
> stumps left where they bolt in.


Oh, gosh, I used to have that bookmarked but can't find it now. 
Hopefully
someone else will remember where that is.

Ken Strayhorn
Hillsborough NC
'72 MkIV





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