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This has bothered me from day one! The center console inside the car (transmission tunnel) gets exceptionally hot. I really don't appreciate the beverage warming feature. Under car inspection of this area reveals no heat shielding. This is something Honda should have done in the first place.
I just installed a sound and heat barrier. The mat is made by Thermo Tec. www.thermotec.com. It's called Cool-it Insulating Mat, for radiant heat and sound. Their part no. 14100. I got the 24"x 48" mat. Approx. $35 shipped. There are other manufacturers who make similar products.
The tunnel is approx. 36" long and almost exactly 24" inside. It's a bit of a pain to do without a lift. But, I found that jacking up the rear of the car gave a little more access. Ideally lowering the transmission and drive shaft would also make it easier. However, not very DIY for most people. It was easier to slip the mat into place by removing the band at the rear of the drive shaft. What's that thing for, anyway?
The mat comes with plastic push-in fasteners. But there aren't any holes to push them into and I was reluctant to (not to mention positionally challenged) drill holes into the underbody. I instead used the recommended weather strip adhesive. I also secured the mat under the band at the rear of the drive shaft by putting two holes in the mat and replacing the bolts through the mat.
I cut the mat to 36"x 24".
At one end I cut down the middle to go around the gear shift linkage. I sealed the edges and around the cut-out with duct tape.
The mat is postioned overlapping the oem insulating material at the front of the tunnel. It runs the length of the tunnel towards the rear.
It's important to clean the tunnel prior to application. I used a liberal amount of the adhesive. Sets up in 30 min so there was ample time for positioning. Once in place, I stuffed all of my shop towels into the tunnel to compress the mat into place as much as possible. I applied a little more adhesive at the edges and used some duct tape to compress that in place.
Hopefully, this will reduce the tunnel temps. I'll provide results and an update tomorrow.
In my car (MY2002) there is heat shielding material that runs on both sides of the transmission tunnel - between the carpet and the body. Wouldn't it have been easier to install some insulating material underneath the console cover instead?
05-10-2003, 09:50 PM
. Under car inspection of this area reveals no heat shielding. This is something Honda should have done in the first place. 
