Bodywork, Paint, Interior, Trim, & Wiring

Since it's a thermal barrier, seems like it would be more effective on "first" side exposed ? IE, not heat up the metal and then try to thermo block ? In other words, on engine side of firewall and underside of pass compartment floor. Thoughts ? Thanks, roverman.

I used their heat control on both sides and sound control on the inside. Your logic makes sense to me.

I used it inside and out. Just got the car running for the first time so it'll be a while longer before I can see how well it insulates.

Has anyone tried low buck home brew Lizardskin by mixing ceramic microballoons with latex paint? I have read that it works just as well at least for heat insulation.

I plan to eventually. I'd like to find a light weight paint/carrier for the balloons though so it doesn't add much weight. Something that is very light when it dries. Polyseamseal comes to mind, it is too thick but being water based should be thinnable. Some testing required, and they don't sell it in tubs. Being able to hold paint would be a plus of course...

Jim

Where do you find the ceramic micro balloons ?

I did the DIY lizardskin in my Healey. Go to the bottom of my project journal and the source is listed there: [forum.britishv8.org] I've got a couple of levels of insulation so can't tell how effective each one is individually, but they seem to be working well as a group.

3M makes ceramic microspheres. You can find them here [www.shop3m.com]

Hy Tech Sales - $13.25 per gallon [www.hytechsales.com]
Shop 3m - $50.00 per gallon

Hmmm, which one to buy?

Plus, if you look around you can buy it in bulk. How about a hundred lb bag of the stuff? Wonder how much THAT would be?

Jim

1 quart treats a gallon. You going to coat your barn ? You might want to peep the webbsite. Cheers, roverman.

Great, suppliers say mix with house paint ! I'm not building a house. Why not a high performance primer ? While we're at it,what about the "R" value ? This IS why we bother-right ? 2.5 cents, roverman.

The Hy tech site says you can mix it with any type of paint or primer

My thoughts of Lizard skin!

This info is from Lizard skin site:
For LizardSkin Ceramic Insulation or LizardSkin Sound Control you will apply 20 mils on each side of the substrate for a total of 40 mils. If only coating one side, please apply 40 mils in two (2) separate 20 mil coats.



My thoughts and how I used the product:

First Sound Control (thin coat):
I sprayed inside body tub + outside tub, inside all fenders, doors, trunk space, transmission cover(both sides), and engine compartment firewall.

Second Ceramic insulation heat control over sound control (thin coat)
I sprayed inside body tub + outside tub, inside all fenders, doors, trunk space, transmission cover(both sides), and engine compartment firewall.

I used their application spray gun to apply products. When spraying, I adjusted the gun for a very fine spray + a little extra air psi to keep from not applying to much product. End results, it looked good, and was evenly sprayed on. I purchased 1 bucket of the sound and ceramic. I hand a little over 1/3 of the product left in each bucket. So I figured after weighing each full bucket, 26.6 on sound, 11.8 on ceramic, taken out the weight of the plastic buckets, it would be around 10 to15 lbs. added to the car. Not bad for what it has done for my ride.

Benefits:
It's a good fire retardant which is a big + (I've had to save my ride twice since owning this car from electrical fires) Advance Auto Wire took care of that for good.

My 2 1/2" exhaust runs along underneath my legs, and headers in front of my feet. The piping is within a 1/2" on the other side of the body panel! For a heat barrier, this stuff is great! I DO NOT have a heat problem at all in the foot wells or in the passenger compartment. On a very hot day I can put my hand on the panel, and it will feel Luke warm to the touch.

So the Ceramic insulation works very well! It amazes me on how well these products work, for how thin this product was applied.

For the sound control, it has transformed my ride to feel very tight and quiet unlike one that does not have this product sprayed on. The test was by knocking on the hood which doesn't have the product, to knocking on another panel that has the product. It would sound tiny to a solid sound between the two.

My 2 cents, and would do it again on any car project.

Soon I will be restoring my factory hard top. I will be applying both products before the headliner gets installed.

Note: When Brenda and I were at the Texas meet we had a little problem with the car. I didn't insulate my battery + cable to well. When doing my final run at the autocross the + cable grounded out and boiled the battery acid or gell all over the trunck area. I painted POR 15 paint in there over the Lizardskin Sound control & Ceramic insulation. After getting back to the Hotel, washed out the trunck with baking soda & water. I thought it would eat up the paint and Lizardskin. It didn't bother it at all.

It would be nice to see the outcome of a home brewed product that works as well at a lower cost!!

Calvin

From what I have seen, it would make sense to combine ceramic microspheres with epoxy primer. Not much more cost than the primer (which isn't cheap) and serve double duty along with being very durable. Build-up thickness should not be a problem either.

Jim

What wood be wrong with using house paint . One hundred percent acrylic tinted to thebody color of your.Exterior house paint withstands wind water andsun fading so its pretty tough. Also only costs around 40 dollarsa gallon. Of course with Microballs added in.Thats my plan unless somebody sees a fault with it. PS also water based easy clean up no fumes. My paint guy at the building store was telling me about these new four inch rollers with a micro fibre material. He says the paint finnish is almost as smooth as spray. Cant wait to try those.

Just checkrd the Hytech website. What an amazing product.You can paint the interior outside walls of your house to keep the heat in and the cold out. The same with your roof reducing heat loss in winter and heat penetration in summer.That will give Healey Rick somrting to think about way up in Vermont when things get cold and he cant work in his garage.