I'm on a quest to make my engine bay sparkle by Summer time, but I don't know what to do with the headliner under the hood. It's very dirty and sorta ripped and just plain, flat out old. Should I get a new one? If so how much do they go for? Has anybody just taken them off and left them off or would that be no good.

I was actually hoping to get some of that thin paperlike material that is sorta like a mirror and put that up top to reflect my engine bay, but I don't know. Any ideas on how to make the Hood Lining nice and clean would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

I think I've seen them painted.

 

I took mine off and painted it with satin black spray paint. Literally looks like new. Here's a few tips to keep in mind:
Take your time popping off those little clips. They will break if forced.
The hood liner will really soak up spray paint. I used pretty much a whole can.
Do several light coats, going in perpendicular directions to the previous coat. This helps ensure an even coverage. Uneven coverage really showed up, so take your time.
Let it THOROUGHLY dry before putting it back on. This is for safety reasons. Spray paint is really flammable when wet, so I just take this extra little precaution. While it's drying, do the next step...
While its off, it's a good time to wash, dry, polish, and wax the underside of the hood. For "wax", I'd use a quality sealant instead of a carnauba based because of the heat (carnauba melts). Personally, I use Meguiar's #20 (added benefit of chemical cleaners in it) or NXT (I get very good durability from it).
Finally, be the envy of everyone else who has a nasty hood liner when your hood is raised.
Hope this helps.

Dave

 

Hey, thanks a ton. Do you happene to remember what brand Satin Black and also was it 400 degree resistane engine paint or just regular spray paint? Thanks again.

 

Just get rid of it. It looks better without it and it serves no important purpose.

 

The Satin paint I used was from WalMart and costs $2.00-$3.00 per can. I don't remember the brand, but it was most likely Krylon as that is what I typically buy (not the cheapest, but not the most expensive). And no, it was not high-temp paint. High-temp could be used, but isn't needed. The hood liner doesn't get hot enough to burn off dry paint, especially when it has soaked in to the cardboard like material of the liner.

VQuick- The hood liner serves a few important purposes. The first is a safety feature, as it will help smother an engine fire (when the underside gets hot enough, the liner drops over the engine and starves the fire of oxygen). Atleast that is the theory, and I have seen it work several times at accidents I responded to. The second function is to help speed up warm up time by retaining the engine's heat. I've run a car with and then without the hood liner, and without it it takes longer for the engine to fully warm up. And in winter, it helps retain the engine heat under the hood for quicker warm up times if you make successive trips in freezing temps. Now some people may say that it would be bad in the summer, but I disagree. We have an efficient cooling system that keeps the engine at optimal temperature by dissipating the heat through the radiator.

And look at it this way. If it wasn't needed, Nissan definitely wouldn't go through the expense of designing it and tooling up their factories to install it.

Hope this helps.

Dave

 

I somehow do not think it is wise to paint it. If one main purpose is to help extinguish a fire, wouldn't painting it actually do the opposite? Also I could see that paint would end up cracking over time because of the soft nature of the liner, causing it to look like crap eventually....have you guys witnessed this?

 

I meant to respond earlier but forgot:

1. If your engine is on fire, get out of the car ASAP either way. I really doubt the hood liner would do much. The biggest danger is with the fuel tank and lines anyway, not the engine. Basically, I never plan on doing anything stupid enough to light my engine on fire.
2. I haven't noticed the engine taking any longer to warm up, even in the cold weather here. The insulatory ability of the hood liner is really not beneficial. By the time the exterior of the engine warms up enough to heat the engine bay and benefit from the insulation, the internals are already past the hard, rough part of the cold start. That doesn't last more than a minute or so. And once you're at that point, you want every measure taken to keep the engine bay cool. Once the engine is warm, it loves cold air. The colder the better. Engines perform significantly better in winter for this reason.

I will only give you two concessions. 1. yes, possibly you will be slightly safer in the event of fire 2. the only conceivable benefit from the hood liner as an insulator is if you routinely make successive short trips in cold weather, in which case it will keep the engine warm longer, avoiding cold starts.

#2 does not apply to me and #1 does not concern me.

 

kingrukus, the hoodliner is so porous that it really soaks in the paint. It's not like the paint makes a coating on the surface of the liner. It is absorbed more like a dye. Mine hasn't cracked at all because even though it took about an entire can, it was absorbed into the material. I also don't worry about the paint eliminating the "fire safety" aspect of a hood liner. One, like VQuick said, I'm not sticking around my car if it's on fire. And two, even though I've seen hood liners that have extinguished small engine fires, I'm not going to rely on it to work everytime. So if a little paint is on it, I don't care. My engine's on fire, my car's going to burn. That's why I have insurance.
I haven't run a Maxima without a hoodliner, but other cars that I have take forever to warm up in winter compared to when the hood liner is in place. And it is especially noticeable when making successive trips in freezing weather.
As for warming up the internals of an engine, in freezing weather, it can take an easy 10-15 minutes of good running to get oil even in to the 160 degree range (still below operating temps). I would definitely think any added help getting it warm, and keeping it warm, would be a big plus. Check out the forums at: http://theoildrop.server101.com/cgi/ultimatebb.cgi (BobIsTheOilGuy) for info on how long oil can take to warm up.

Dave