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Paint firewall?

Bob Kibby

Well Known Member
Getting ready to paint fuse interior before installing side skins. Should I paint the lower stainless steel firewall behind and above the rudder pedals?

Finish kit was delivered on 5/5/09, yea! What great looking parts, I'm really getting excited now.

Thanks, Bob Kibby
 
Hi Bob...

...a good alternative is to glue heat/noise reduction foam from Aircraft Spruce on the back of the firewall.

Regards,
 
Interior Firewall of Van's Red RV-12

I took a close look at the lower interior firewall of Van's red demo while at Sun 'n Fun this year and noticed it didn't look all that good, even though it had been painted. The rest of the interior had a nice gloss gray on the interior but behind the rudder pedals it was not consistently glossy and it was unevenly rough to the touch. I don't know if it was because it's hard to get to or the paint reacted differently on that metal.

I left my lower interior firewall unpainted for 2 reasons: my pedals were installed before painting and I read somewhere on VAF that there would be a problem with paint adhesion. (Also left upper interior firewall unpainted).
 
paint

isn't it stainless? If you find paint that will stick to it, let me know! ;)
I suppose if you never touch it again, paint might not chip off.

note: beware the black foam insulation...it has been discussed extensively here, and my personal test shows that the ensolite foam may not support a flame, but it off-gasses nasty fumes and smoke at quite low temps. ( i just put a heat gun on the backside of a sheet of aluminum, and the foam puffed up and started smoking in less than 30 seconds!)
firewalls should get 'fire' rated insulation, not just heat resistant and flame retardant. If you must use the foam, I've found encapsulating in 2 layers of foil with rolled seams keeps that nasty stuff inside much longer, and adhere with latex-based contact cement, not the spray-on solvent based stuff, it also seems to let go with very little heat applied. Yes I know everyone just uses 3M #77 spray adhesive, but frankly I can't figure out why.

good luck on your project!
 
Not a good idea...

...to paint the firewall, either on the forward or aft side.

If a fire should develop in flight, firewall forward, the heat (and flame) on the firewall (barrier) will be intense. If there is paint on the passenger-side of the firewall, the heat generated on the opposite side will propagate through the firewall, and the paint that may be attached will reach its flash point. This will have the undesired effect of transferring the flames from the engine side of the firewall to the passenger side of the firewall.
 
I've run hot firewall tests with both ordinary paint and 3M contact adhesive on the cockpit side of the stainless. You should not consider using either one. In the event of an engine compartment fire, about the best you can hope for is to choke to death on the smoke before you burn.
 
Even though this wasn't my original post-thanks for the replies! I used the search function to find information about painting the firewall since I'm just starting the fuse kit.

Now I know NOT to paint it! :)
 
My firewall on my first homebuilt was put to the test once. It was a wood structure with a layer of thin insulating cloth under the stainless steel firewall. My exhaust pipe broke off and exhaust was blasting against the firewall. I actually smelled the charred wood as the first indication. The insulation protected most of the wood, but the edge charred a little.

I learned a lot from that airplane --- most of it the hard way. My RV-12 is boring by comparison! Boring is good!
 
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