just recently bought my son a 1974 duster. it has the factory hood insulation and was wondering a couple of things. was the insulation to keep the heat out, to keep the heat in(winter time). etc. is it ok to remove it. some cars never had it at all so i think it would be ok to take it off. we are just wanting to clean up the engine compartment. thanks

Hood insulation(at least on an E-body)was part of the undercoating package. The undercoating was for sound deadening purposes more than rust protection. My guess is that the hood pad was to reduce engine noise.