Hood Liner
 

I took it off. There are 9 Nissan Hood Insulation Fasteners, about 10mm deep and 30mm in diameter. They come out with a small flat-head screwdriver. I think they're re-usable, and if not, no big deal. I'll just pick up a bag of them.

There's ample clearance now for my GT-Spec FSTB, which was forever rubbing the liner in two spots.

But best of all, the new intake sounds absolutely wonderful. It seemed overly quiet since installing it last week. But now it seems just about right. You hear the engine growling just a little bit earlier, and at a little bit louder. Not so much as to be a racket (IMO), but enough to enjoy.

Discuss if you want... agree, disagree, warn me about heat & fires, whatever you want. It might go back on, but tonight I'm digging it. :D

Heat! Fire! Brimstone! Cats and dogs, living together!

Never even though it would change what the intake would sound like, thats interesting.

As far as danger, I think Id be more worried about the liner itself catching fire before anything else.

But in my case with the clear bra on half of the hood I think the less heat that gets to it the better, so Ill go with the liner on. The R2C sounds nice just the way it is, at least for me (not too loud until you really get on it at 3 to 4K RPM)

Really...fire?

I doubt that liner does anything but sound dampeNing.

Ya Kinda got me wanting to try it Rochester.

This is interesting. I have noticed the Z's do not have the hood liner either. Curious to see if OP keeps the liner off for good or if anyone else has any thoughts. It has to be mainly there for the sound dampening, IMO.

I agree that it's all about managing engine noise. I've found discussion on the webz about how the liner is designed to drop on an engine fire and contain it. IDK about all that... could be. I suspect the hood liner absorbs and evenly distributes heat, where without it there might be hot-spots on the hood. Again, IDK about all that... could be.

As the previous poster just pointed out (while I was also typing, LOL), not all cars have hood liners. I didn't realize the 370Z went commando. :eek3:

Is there any adhesive on the liner? I think I'll give it a shot if it comes off clean and is easily reinstalled. These damn VQs run so hot that it might even be better without the hood insulator, probably keeps even more heat in the engine bay.

Not on my 2011. Here, pics front and back.

You can clearly see the two sections by the center tabs which were rubbing on my FSTB. And you can also clearly see where the two front corners were getting crushed by the heat-shields on the new R2C Intakes.

I've since readjusted the intakes so they're a little lower. Actually, the intake fitment is what led me down this road.

http://www.johnclare.com/pics/cars/hood_liner_01.jpg

http://www.johnclare.com/pics/cars/hood_liner_02.jpg

You can see here why I said the retainer clips are probably reusable... but with any clips of this particular design, I suspect you can only do that once.

http://www.johnclare.com/pics/cars/hood_liner_03.jpg

And here's the open hood. Commando! :RAISEROOF:

http://www.johnclare.com/pics/cars/hood_liner_04.jpg

It protects the paint on the hood from damage caused by the heat in the engine bay...

OK. Could be.

So is the hood on the 370Z destined for paint damage? :dunno: Same engine, same company, same paint, no liner...

How are you liking the GT-Spec so far? I actually just installed an Alutec FSTB last night. So far, I'm liking it. I'm about to go with a Takeda. :)

All Tower Braces do the identical thing. AFAIK, no one FSTB is any better than another in terms of keeping the front end flat when launching hard into a turn from a dead or near-dead stop. At least, that's my take on it, and my experience with a FSTB on a daily driver. In other words, it's a very minimal suspension mod. Real, yes, but minimal.

That said, it comes down to a personal appreciation for manufacturing quality, fitment and appearance. The GT-Spec bar scores very well in all 3 of these categories (IMO), with the aforementioned exception of rubbing on the hood liner.

There's a clear-coat finish on the GT-Spec, along with a laser-etched logo in the middle. With a liberal application of 4-naught steel wool, elbow grease, and metal polish, these things can come right off (eventually). That's what I did. It looks much, much better now.

The brackets come perfectly powdercoated with a rather expensive "prism" finish. However, I didn't like it, so I had them acid dipped and re-powdercoated in gloss black, with a metallic clear coat.

The two retainer pins are basic stainless steel. I didn't like those either, so I replaced them with polished Titanium, tapered, allan-head bolts, paired with Titanium nyloc nuts. Again, this is much better. (Nyloc nuts FTW.)

Thanks for the post. I thought about that taking the hood liner off as well.

I even thought about taking the engine cover off thinking it may be trapping heat under it.

If i recall the 370z has an aluminum hood where as we have regular sheet metal hoods...so that being said aluminum dissipates heat alot better than sheet metal/steel/iron/etc...maybe thats why they didnt put a liner.

The 370Z has aluminum door panels, too. All of which is to reduce weight. However, you make a valid point that the hood materials are different...

...except by that reasoning, the hood liner dissipates heat in a way that the 370 does better anyway because of the aluminum. Do you really think the hood liner on the G37 eliminates heat rather than traps it? If so, where does it go? IDK man, for me, that goes against conventional wisdom (said the man who is not a physicist.) In fact, I'd take it one step further and suggest the liner isn't just there to deaden noise, but exists to help the engine warm up to operating temp during cold weather.

How about that? :9:

Either way, I'm liking it, and the hood liner has been banished to the attic. :eekdance: