In a message dated 3/31/05 9:29:13 AM Eastern Standard Time, Taobythesea
writes:

> In fact, now that I am thinking of this, I believe there would probably
> have been MORE
> damage to the interior of the van with a metal lid
>

not true.   in your kitchen, is your area surrounding your kitchen stove
damaged by heat from using the burners?   no..   the heat from the lid wont burn
your interior.  the flames wont pass thru the lid.   its the flames that burn
the interior.
while it appears that the composite fiberglass lids have held up in some
fires, i have seen some that they have not held up in, and that was reason enough
for me to run a metal one.

another reason i did it, was that if i ever want to do a engine conversion in
the future, a metal lid is easier to modify/weld  than the composite one is.