Insulating hardtop

[mp]

I have some of that silver bubble stuff left over from insulating my garage door. Figured I would use it to keep the Texas sun out of my stocker with hard top, and keep the cool A/C air inside.

Should I attach directly to underside of hardtop, or attach the insulation to my headliner, leaving an air gap between insulation and hardtop metal? I plan on attaching a couple panels of fatt mat to the interior hardtop to stop the tin canning, regardless of insulation placement.

 

[Toddpole]

My 71 has that silver bubble insulation glued to the underside of the hard top. It helps with the heat and noise. It still pops like a tin can. the combination of the insulation and the dead air space above the headliner makes is pretty enjoyable in all but the dead of summer.

 

[ckuck]

might have to look into that on mine to keep the cold out

 

[blubuckaroo]

I used that foil backed styrofoam from Home Depot. I think it was about 3/8" thick. I cut it into pieces to fit between the braces, then used spray contact cement to attach the pieces to the top. The headliner fit right over that. Another benefit besides the insulation is it stopped the top from oil-canning.

 

[mp]

There is no doubt I am going to insulate it....

The question is stick the insulation directly to the interior hardtop, or stick it to the headliner leaving an air gap between the insulation and the interior metal hardtop?

Any thermic engineers? What will insulate better?

 

[Wyflyer]

I was looking at this stuff.

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/eppages/thermoguard.php?clickkey=82740

 

[Baja71]

Another reason to glue it to the roof is that you don't have the weight of the insulation pulling your headliner down.

 

[miikee73]

I glued mine to the hardtop. Mine was the self adhesive type. I wouldn't want to put anything on the cardboard headliner,they are a big enough pain without adding anything to them. Just my opinion,I got my degree from the School Of Hard Knocks.

 

[red hot71]

If you glue the insulation to the headliner, condensation will form on the inside or underside of the metal roof. If you look at a house the insulation does sit on the sheetrock on the ceiling, but you have ventilation thru the lower bird blocks and a vents in the highest portion of the roof to allow the condensation out.

On a cold day the metal top is cold, you turn the heat in the cab, hot air comes in around the edges of the headliner condensation forms and collects on the inside were the outside drip rail is, rotten the top out from the inside.

Ideally, I know this is imposable but the insulation should be on the outside of the top. This is commercial roofing 101.

 

[bigjhoov]

Stick your dynamat to the roof and use some of the 3m spray adhesive to glue the insulation to the dynamat. Better pre cut your insulation and test fit it first though. Seems like you get one shot at placement with the spray adhesive.

 

[mp]

Stick your dynamat to the roof and use some of the 3m spray adhesive to glue the insulation to the dynamat. Better pre cut your insulation and test fit it first though. Seems like you get one shot at placement with the spray adhesive.

That's the plan. Dynamat is installed as of today on both roof and rear cargo area. Good idea on precutting the insulation. I will wait for another set of hands to assist before tackling it myself.

 

[jdcascio]

How well has the dynamat and insulation worked so far? I plan on a similar course of action and just want to figure out what works best. I want to dynamat/insulate the entire cab pretty much when I do an AC retrofit.

 

[Whoaa]

I need to insulate my headliner, and get some control on the noise issues. I was thinking about using a "rubber" type of commercial roofing underlayment (very, VERY sticky self addesive, about 1/8 thick -buy at Home Depot) -such as Grace brand "bituthene" as a poor-boys dynamat applied directly to the under side of the top. I'm probably going to use this poor-boys dynamat on the rear quarter section and around/over the wheel wells also.
Next, glue on some semi rigid closed-cell foam about 1" thick between the ribs. In the area's that it doesn't fit perfect, and/or gaps or cracks -fill that area w/ spray foam, then after it dries trim to a smooth finish. And finally a headliner w/ real fabric headliner material attached -like the newer Ford trucks & SUV's.
I live in a cold region and have gobs of experience in house construction in arctic climates w/ moisture and vaper barrier issues. After researching sound deadening products, and dealing w/ moisture issues, I'm leaning towards the "rubber" commercial roofing underlayment. Opinions?