This is gonna be one cool Jag!

It was a productive day today.  I got the instruments all mounted in their respective holes in the instrument panel, mounted it in the car and started wiring it up.  Rodney came over and gave me a very welcomed hand. We got all of the gauges and switches wired and now I'm ready to mount the speedometer and tach on the driver's side of the car and get started wiring that.

We took a coffee break, discussed some ideas while listening to some Simon & Garfunkel on XM Radio.  I mentioned to him that now that I had some of the Zero Clearance insulation material in stock that I was thinking about lining the inside of the transmission tunnel with it.  Zero Clearance is a fiberglass & polyester insulation bonded to a heavy, diamond patterned aluminum foil with an industrial strength peel & stick adhesive for attaching it to the body.  Being the go getter that he is, he thought now was a good a time as any to give it a whirl.
So... we did.  I raised the lift to a good working height and we started measuring and making templates.  Rodney cut it, so we knew it'd fit perfectly.  I peeled and stuck it.  The first piece fit like a glove, and it looked great.  At least we thought so.

We made another template, cut the stuff to fit and stuck it on.  It too looked great.  Encouraged, we proceeded down the tunnel. It actually well very well and looks outstanding... more importantly, it, along with the KoolMat inside, will make for one cool Jag during the hot Southern Alabama summers.

Rodney works with many insulating types of products in his real job at Marspec and mentioned that the Zero Clearance wasn't going to be water resistant and that we would need to caulk the edges to keep moisture from seeping in.  Having nearly a full can of seam sealer that I had used before painting the car, we decided that would work just fine.  I masked about a quarter inch from the edges of the seams in the insulation so once the seam sealer is applied and dry, I could pull the tape off and it would, hopefully, leave a nice looking seam.  I'll pull the tape tomorrow.

It was a good day, and I feel pretty good about what we accomplished.  If anyone would like some of the Zero Clearance Insulation, drop me a line.  I am now a dealer.  :-)