Post-electrical fire question
 

It's a bit of a story of course, but my 1992 Volvo 740 Turbo wagon caught fire a while back. It was basically everything on the top of the engine that burned and I just barely caught it and put it out in time that the care wasn't toasted.

I towed it home, took a look under the hood and decided - as car fires go - it wasn't that bad. My mechanic agreed and replaced everything that burned (pretty much everything rubber). It's been a process, but I have saved the car from an untimely death. Yay for me.

The only thing that still concerns me is the insulation under the hood. The hood was down while the fire burned for 2 or 3 minutes and all the insulation burned. Now that the car is back on the road, I'm wondering if that's something that has to be replaced. Your thoughts?

The hood was damaged, too. It warped very slightly (you only notice when you open it and it catches near the hinge side) and some paint chipped off. I can live with that, for a while anyway. Just wondering if there is any risk in driving the car with no insulation under the hood.

Thanks!

there was a long time when cars didn't have insulation under the hood so I'm assuming its there to reduce noise not to protect the paint or keep the engine warm... Considering the hood was damaged, you can always search Craigslist or car-parts.com to find a replacement hood - insulation and all.

That's sort of what I figured. If I do replace the hood at some point down the road I'll get one with the insulation. I just want to be sure that in the meantime I'm not running any risk by not having it.

do a search on Craigslist for cars being parted out in your area. $100 should get you one in your color. Where are you located?

I'm in San Diego.