Originally Posted by Strife

I think the part that sticks up is a thermistor - which progably goes down in resistance as the temperature goes up (most resistors do, but this type is designed to do this a lot and in a predicatable way). Thermistors can be tricky to work with, because the wires themselves that connect to it conduct heat, and maybe the foam tube tries to control this.

Here is a picture of my bracing system, which may be useful, because this worked very well. Note the wood between the steering wheel and cowl - the wheel was clamped down after installing the wood; the seats were pushed forward with the seat knobs after installation. Much of my raggy, car-working clothing was stuffed in between the dash and window. Plastic garbage bags were underneath them in case of silicone leakage (there wasn't any).