Insulation under the hood

[SupremeCutlass]

My 92 oldsmobile cutlass supreme was sitting for about a year, and i'm trying to restore the damage that the long period of inactivity + the abuse of the previous owner.
The insulation pad under the hood is falling apart; cracking up and the upper cloth layer is halfway off. Bottom line it looks gross and isn't going to last much longer.
Should I take it off alltogether or will that pose too much of a fire hazard? should I just leave it on until I can find a replacement in a junkyard?
I don't really know
Any opinion would be helpful

[MagicRat]

Take it off and don't bother replacing it.
It is just intended to reduce the engine noise level a bit, but they are diabolical at holding in engine heat, dirt, grease and mouse poop.
I have taken a few off in my time for the same reason as you and I rarely encounter higher interior noise anyways.

[Schister66]

The insulation is there so that the hood doesn't get too hot and so that the paint doesn't peel. It also is held on w/ the little plastic bolts so that in a fire, it falls on the engine and smothers the fire. I'm sure that it'd be ok for a little while if it wasn't on, but i would replace it.

[MagicRat]

Originally Posted by Schister66

The insulation is there so that the hood doesn't get too hot and so that the paint doesn't peel. It also is held on w/ the little plastic bolts so that in a fire, it falls on the engine and smothers the fire.

Auto manufacturers call these things acoustic absorbsion pads.

I have never heard of these other uses for the pad before. My cars without pads have no paint problems. The hoods get hotter parked in the summer sun than the engine heat ever makes them.
Also in my tours of wrecking yards, I have seen quite a few flambeed cars where the melted remains of the pads are still firmly attached to the hood and the pad has done do good at fire supression.
With all due respect, if these are intended uses for the pad, they certainly do not seem to be very effective.

[SupremeCutlass]

Recently manufactuers (mainly toyota) have made these to where they smother a fire. My main concern was if they were designed to do this as of 1992. Thanks for the advice.