The Other Firewall Pad

[ctaylor738]

I just finished installing one of the firewall pads sold on ebay by benzrestorer.  The transaction was fine - he shipped promptly, and since I bought three, he combined the shipping.

The pad itself is stamped and mounted on a dense foam backing with peel-and-stick adhesive.  About 5mm thick and quite stiff.

The fit was OK.  I had to trim the top to get the large piece to fit against the seam at the top of the firewall, and take a little off the bottom to clear the wiring harness that runs across the firewall.  I had to make my own hole for the AC dryer.

The adhesive is really sticky, very difficult to move when it even touches the firewall.  So my technique to deal with this was to cut the paper backing so that I could do a section at a time.  I made cuts so that I could do the top, left side, then right side separately.  I started by peeling the top 2 inches off and putting the pad in position along the top seam.  Then I reached under and peeled off the left side and pressed it into position, then repeated for the right side around the AC dryer bottle.

Appearance-wise, I was pleased.  You can look at the picture and judge for yourselves.

Cheers,

[Iconic]

Chuck,
Nice Job !
That looks fantastic.

[Benz Dr.]

Any extra holes in the pad would always be up to you to provide.  You can use a piece of waxed paper under the glued side and the firewall so that you can move the pad around prior to final placement. When you have the pad where you want it, just slide the paper out.

[Jkalplus1]

OK...let's say I'm crazy and want to remove my brand new, freshly installed (incorrect looking crinkled finish) firewall pad, how would you recommend I peel it off to install this more factory-correct pad?  Lacquer thinner?  It looks super-well glued, on new paint.  I might not do anything at all, but then again, a winter project...if it can be done easily I might...if I am sure I won't damage anything.  This new pad looks awesome!  You did a great job!
J

[Benz Dr.]

I use a putty knife to peel the old material off. If the fit was really good you could try placing it over the pad that's already on your car. Not sure if it would work or not but it's worth a look.

 I found that the backing material pulled away from the new pad we installed a while back. We had to remove the top layer and re-glue it back on to the under padding. A lot of extra work that I wasn't too happy about but the results looked really good.
I was told to stick them together as soon as I receieved it which I didn't do for a couple of weeks. Not thinking it would make any difference, I put it all together only to have to repeat the process. I'm not sure if sticking the two pieces together would have made any difference or not. Anyone have any thoughts about this?

[66andBlue]

... I was told to stick them together as soon as I receieved it which I didn't do for a couple of weeks. Not thinking it would make any difference, I put it all together only to have to repeat the process. I'm not sure if sticking the two pieces together would have made any difference or not. Anyone have any thoughts about this?

Dan,
not sure whether this was the firewall pad that several of us developed here and sold to members. If it is ours than you were told correctly what to do; see reply #18 here: http://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?topic=15812.0

We had felt material with two different types of adhesive under the release paper. The one with the white release paper was a pressure-sensitive acrylic-type adhesive. This one should be combined ASAP with the firewall material since its shelf life is limited and once pressed together the bond strength increases with time. The other one with the brown lease paper was a rubber-based adhesive with a Mylar film in between the adhesive layers. That one has a somewhat longer shelf life and a stronger initial bond that will not get stronger with time once pressed together.

I was told by one installer that after assembling the pad he had put on too much glue on the felt side before sticking it onto the metal and the solvent in the glue penetrated through the felt and weakened the bond between the felt and the actual firewall material.  Perhaps this happened to you too?

However, note that this first post thread deals with a material sold by the Benzrestorer and not ours. All I know is that his is a one-piece firewall and does not need assembly.  But since Babak is reading this forum he may wish to comment on the bond strength of his material.

[Benz Dr.]

I'm thinking it was the club firewall pad. We only had it a few weeks before installing it and I really didn't know about sticking it together until later on.
At any rate, we were able to fix it with some extra effort. I suppose I should ask why the two pieces aren't simply bonded together at the time of manufactor.

[Garry]

I can answer that one Dan,

We were trying to keep the cost to everyone to a minimum and one of the costs was for the two materials to be put together.  We decided that if a person was capable of fitting it then they would be capable of putting the two parts together, if they were not confident then certainly a restorer or upholsterer would be able to do so.

Simply a dollar saving decision for members.

Garry

[Jkalplus1]

I use a putty knife to peel the old material off. If the fit was really good you could try placing it over the pad that's already on your car. Not sure if it would work or not but it's worth a look.

Dan, the fit IS very good.  The pad looks great, it is just the one with the wrong crinkled finish.  If I stick the "new" one on top of the one already there, won't the 2 pads on top of each other be too thick and look odd?

[Benz Dr.]

Hi Garry,
that makes sense as far as keeping the costs down. I would provide some info about putting the two pieces together so that everyone knows about this as soon as they get the parts.

  It didn't save me anything after I had to pull it all off and start over again.
    
Looked good when we were done.

[Benz Dr.]

Dan, the fit IS very good.  The pad looks great, it is just the one with the wrong crinkled finish.  If I stick the "new" one on top of the one already there, won't the 2 pads on top of each other be too thick and look odd?

I think those pads are quite thin but you would have to gauge that by doing a visual check with the new pad placed on top of the old one. Conventional wisdom would indicate that you should remove the old one before applying the new one but maybe you don't need to do that.
 
I'm not sugesting that you leave the old one in place and would be more inclined to say that you might be able to leave it in place.

[66andBlue]

Hi Garry,
that makes sense as far as keeping the costs down. I would provide some info about putting the two pieces together so that everyone knows about this as soon as they get the parts.

Dan,
members who bought the pads from us had access to these instructions:





In addition Richard M  had provided photos showing how to do this including how to remove the old pad. http://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?topic=15812.0;all

Do you really need more spoon feeding!  LOL

Take a careful look at the first picture and you'll notice that you had to cut out the opening for the VIN plate if you wanted to install the pads in a 230SL or a European 280SL.  Only the felt was pre-cut not the outer visible layer - this was another reason why we offered the pad in two parts otherwise we would have had to spend money on another set  of dies.

[Jkalplus1]

OK, I understand a key point now: felt and diamond pattern are TWO things.  I could just buy a kit, and only use the diamond pad over my recently installed crinkled finish pad....I get it.  Is it still available or was it a "one-shot" deal last Fall?

[BABAK]

[quote author=66andBlue link=topic=16773.

However, note that this first post thread deals with a material sold by the Benzrestorer and not ours. All I know is that his is a one-piece firewall and does not need assembly.  But since Babak is reading this forum he may wish to comment on the bond strength of his material.

[/quote]

The adhesive on the DIAMOND firewall pad is a Thermo-Tec backed heat barrier glue. (very strong)

I would recommend for anyone replacing their firewall pad to use Goof-Off spray to remove their old pad and than clean the surface prior to installing the new engine compartment pad.

Dan- (Just for clarification)
The Diamond firewall pad mentioned by the initiator of this topic CTAYLOR738 is sold by me on eBay or company website. The Diamond firewall pad is a peel and stick pad that does not need additional glue or installation directions.
Make sure surface is clean peel back 2 inches from top of the pad align and stick than peel the rest and stick.

[Benz Dr.]

Yeah, sorry about that. I didn't see that it was a different pad earlier in the thread. Clearly we were talking about two different things.

  I didn't get the pad from the club. I got it by other means so I missed all of those instructions. Regardless of all these things, it went on a very nice car, so all is good.

[smiledoc]

I purchased one of the very first of these pads produced and won a blue ribbon (Sponsor's Award) first place at Eurofest last Fall.   When the newest version came out, I removed it, even though it looked 100% better than any pad that had come out in 40 years.   This was 90% more difficult than when I removed the "other style" that was the replacement for these pads for many years but incorrect.    I am here to tell you all...these newest pads are NOT easy to remove!!   The adhesive must be industrial strength, so my recommendation is to not be anxious or in a hurry but take your time and do the job correctly or you'll be in trouble.    I am a cosmetic dentist and I have great hand skills and have worked on cars my whole life.   Goof Off does not work well on this pad like it does so fantastically on the old style or original other pads.   But, I used it anyway....3 spray cans.     I am not viewing this as a negative at all but a total plus.  What I'm saying is that once you have this new pad in place, my guess is that you'll be dead before it ever goes bad!   It's very high quality and correct in appearance and with the intense bond strength, it's not going anywhere.   I found the manuracturer very easy to work with and very helpful.   He shipped to me Fed Ex both times and it arrived very quickly.   I will post photos of pad later when I'm on a different computer.    I couldn't be more happy and I can't imagine not having this pad on a serious restoration.   It truly makes the engine compartment come alive.

[Jkalplus1]

OK...are there TWO versions of the diamond pattern firewall pad?  Is the one sold by Benzrestorer currently the one you installed? 

[smiledoc]

Yes....I used the one from him on my car.   It's fantastic!   And, it's very well made.