Check out the last section of my blog. I put some comments in there about it. Some things I like, some I don't.

 

I think I'm going to take my hoodliner off this weekend after reading this thread.

 

Is it really worth the hassle?

 

I guess it depends on the person and the condition of the liner. Mine was heavily damaged and was an eye sore at car shows. So for the total of 2 hours, I personally wouldn't consider it a hassle. Especially compared to the fact that when I polish the car I easily invest over 16 hours in doing that.

 

Well thanks to this thread, my hood liner will be coming off today

 

In that regard, yeah, I could see removing it. But otherwise, it seems to me a waste of time and effort. I doubt there's any realistic physical gains (unless you use ricer logic perhaps, lol).

How do people get their's so messed up? Aside from some dust and a few dismembered insects, mines perfect.

 

The WMS intake puts the filter near the liner, and as the motor torques, the filter moves and can rub. For some reason, Adrenalin's was also rubbing due to the relocated coolant reservoir.

 

Basically 3 different things ruined my liner. First it was the air outlet on the shaker (where the joint connects it to the airbox) rubbed a pretty good sized gouge in the liner. Second was the location of the coolant overflow and third was the WMS air filter. It could be that my car was made in 2004. I know shortly after mine was made Ford changed several things (heck, even the first pair of mufflers I bought didn't line up properly but on a model 2 months newer than mine it was fine). Anyway, the liner looked like crap and there was no point in replacing it but I also didn't want to leave the hood up at shows cause it looked so bad.

 

hmm

i have an early 05 and i wouldnt mind removing mine, i just dont want to if its not painted....

i can paint it later, i just want to be able to leave it bare for a while and have it look ok......

anyone else with early 05's???

 

My build date is: 2/14/05.. So I assume that it's an early 05. Anyway, the underside of the hood was painted from the factory.

At any rate, I hope you'll find this as useful.

 

What I want to know is:

What is the cost of a few square feet of paint PLUS painting vs. a hood liner and hardware PLUS its installation?

I got a feeling they're either similar, or the liner is the more expensive approach. That said, I doubt Ford would go through the cost and effort for a part that they could have cut another corner on, if it didn't have at least some purpose or use. And it seems to me from what I've read, that the majority of the people who have had problems with their liner, is because they've installed modifications that come into play with the liner....So anyone who hasn't done such, probably won't see any benefit from removing the liner. Just MHO.

 

New liner from Ford is $85.00. The paint cost me less than $12.00.

 

Here is what it looks like in daylight.

 

Looks like mine, except I've got 2 holes in the sides instead of one hole in the center.

 

i gotta say that looks really good adrenalin

 

I'm looking at this from a manufacturing perspective. How much did it cost FORD to make and install the hood liner? vs How much does the paint to cover that area cost?

If the hood liner is completely unnecessary and a simple painting would do, then it's more likely that Ford wouldn't waste the money on the liner. So there must be some reason why Ford would install it. Further, Ford's not the only car manufacturer who's made that decision, so there must be something to it.

 

I'M sure they have a reason for it, whether it is to keep noise down or heat down who knows. They could have done it for cosmetic reasons only (stitching around the dash comes to mind as another area they could have saved money). All I can say is I am not worried about it.

 

1) Noise reduction
2) The fire safety theory

 

Eh, just took mine off and it's fully painted underneath (Aug 05 build). Still undecided on whether to keep it off or put it back on, but my wife says it looks better with it off.

 

its mostly done for noise reduction.. no other reason