In a production car or truck, adding pounds of noise- and heat-blocking insulation is often done to keep the cabin quiet and comfy, even on the hottest days. It’s a stark contrast to the world of racing, where modifications are evaluated for necessity versus a tenth-of-a-second or mile-per-hour of speed, since the additional weight could make the difference between victory and defeat. Strict focus on performance versus weight often means driver comfort is sacrificed. Another issue is that the exposure to high heat could result in component failure or performance loss.

Heatshield Products has developed thermal barriers and insulation engineered to keep heat out–or in—without adding significant weight. Decades of R&D work as well as being hands on with racers led us to create solutions for these problems. We recently worked on the T-Rex project, a car being built by longtime racer and industry veteran, Bill Holland. Bill’s racing experience goes back to the 1960s, when he ran a front-engine dragster sponsored by Art Linkletter’s House Party TV show. The T-Rex is a road-racing machine, powered by a Ford 5.0L Coyote V8 and with a six-speed manual transmission and custom-built independent suspension with Art Morrison components. Minimizing vehicle weight was crucial for the T-Rex. There was also the challenge of the body and drivetrain’s tight spaces. We knew the best option for T-Rex was to use our lightweight HP Sticky Shield™ and Lava Shield™ thermal-barrier materials. HP Sticky Shield can stop more than 90 percent of radiated heat from going through panels.

Sticky Shield has an integrated, high-temperature, adhesive backing that makes installation a breeze, capable of sticking to any clean surface, except for unfinished fiberglass and carbon fiber. It’s only 1/8 inch thick, so it can fit in tight spots and is flexible enough to conform to most panel shapes—even when there’s only an inch of air space. Lava Shield is made from our specially formulated, proprietary, volcanic rock-based thermal-barrier material and can withstand up to 1,200 degrees F of constant radiated heat and 2,000 degrees F intermittent heat. It also has an integrated, high-temp, adhesive backing for installation, so you won’t have to deal with messy spray or brush-on adhesives to attach it to panels. Follow along as we show how we installed both of these products.

ABOVE: The T-Rex received our Heatshield Products Lava Shield™ (left) and HP Sticky Shield™ (right), both thermal-barrier materials. The reason for using two different materials is both function and form, which we’ll explain later. The Heatshield Armor™ Pipe Kit is for when the exhaust system gets installed. It will increase efficiency and reduce the amount of heat being radiated into the interior and the components near the exhaust system.

ABOVE: The interior of the T-Rex is a tight space with potential to get very hot from the heat generated by the engine and drivetrain. We installed Lava Shield and Sticky Shield on the exterior parts of the body structure, but later will add HP Stealth Shield™ insulation on the interior as an extra layer of heat-blocking protection.

ABOVE: We weighed the bare transmission tunnel before applying any materials to establish a baseline. It was 18.7 pounds.

ABOVE: We had removable panels, but to cut heat-barrier material for your project, you can use poster board or something similar to create templates of the panels. Poster board is flexible enough to shape and trace on installed panels.

ABOVE: We set the templates on the HP Sticky Shield material. A great feature of HP Sticky Shield is that it’s easy to cut with a pair of heavy-duty scissors or razor knife. The same goes for the Lava Shield material. Their integrated, high-temp, adhesive backing will stick to any clean surface except for unfinished fiberglass and carbon fiber. We wiped our transmission tunnel piece with mineral spirits to make sure it was clean for installation.

ABOVE: Here’s the finished tunnel. HP Sticky Shield is recommended for the inside of transmission tunnels because it is efficient at blocking up to 90 percent of the heat inside the tunnel with as little as an inch of air space. On the forward part of the transmission tunnel that makes up the firewall in the engine compartment, we used the Lava Shield material. Why not HP Sticky Shield here, too? With an eye toward aesthetics, the carbon-fiber–like appearance of Lava Shield will give the T-Rex’s engine compartment some additional pop while still blocking up to 80 percent of radiated heat. The T-Rex’s Coyote V8 takes up most of the engine compartment, leaving only narrow gaps of airflow. This is the perfect working environment for the Lava Shield material. After the thermal-barrier materials were applied, we weighed the transmission tunnel again: just under 20 pounds. For only 1 pound of weight gain, we will prevent 80-90 percent of heat generated by the drivetrain from reaching the interior. And that’s what it’s all about: Stopping heat without adding a lot of dead weight.