Helping the Vintage Air
 

Summers can be brutal where I live and a classic truck would be no fun without air. Today I took a long drive in triple digits and even with the A/C blasting I still wished my cab was cooler. Granted it will never be as cool as a modern truck but I have done my due diligence with regard to weatherstripping and a lot of insulating on the floor and firewall. Today, however when I got home from a 90 minute run, I reached under the dash and felt my steering column. Wow.... surprisingly hot. That promted me to open the hood and feel the column tube under there and the underhood portion was too hot to leave my hand on indefinitely. The part outside of the inner fender however wasn't too bad. Certainly, it's because of the exhaust manifold and I'm thinking about making a heat shield for the column and attaching it to the bolts on the removabe pass through cover where the column goes through the inner fender. I'm not sure yet how I'll do it, but that heat can't be good for the lower bearing on my column and I sure don't like it the cab. I'm open to suggestions if anyone cares to chime in. Thanks for reading.

Re: Helping the Vintage Air
 

If you don't mind detracting from the stock look they make the stick on reflective insulation for firewalls and then could do a normal thin insulation inside the truck too. You could go with a simple small piece or go whole hog on it it, kinda up to you and $. You could also add a wrap or shield to the exhaust and such right there to help it on both sides of engine

Re: Helping the Vintage Air
 

Thanks for the reply. The inerior side of the firewall is done up pretty well as it sits. It's the column itself that is absorbing so much heat. I do have some of that reflective stuff and could certainly wrap the tube, but the rotating parts are a different story. I noticed my Silverado has the heat shield over the entire exhaust manifold but I have not found anything similar online to fit a ramhorn.

Edit: Now that you got me thinking about it, I believe I will cut the old shifter linkage arm off at the tube and wrap it with the stick on reflective stuff. I still would like to shield the rest anyhow though.

Re: Helping the Vintage Air
 

They have made a ton of new insulation's in past years here it seems. I know there was a reflective bendable type too, its not like the foil backed stuff and more of a rigid metal backer but still can be bent by hand. I wonder if it and couple L brackets fabbed up would work for manifolds. I don't exactly know what to call the material, its almost like aluminum cardboard with air gap in middle. There are tiny heat shields for the rams horn manifold but they are more to protect the spark plug wires from what I have seen.

Re: Helping the Vintage Air
 

Have you considered ceramic coated Ram's horns?

Re: Helping the Vintage Air
 

Bingo. I just watched a YouTube video by Jet-Hot where they had coated headers on one side of the motor and plain ones on the other. Then they nailed the throttle on the dyno while filming each side with an infrared camera. Assuming truth in advertising, the results were impressive. I'll phone up Jet-Hot this week sometime for a quote and let you guys know how much they charge. I also will look into the more high tech wraps and see if I can make column sleeve out of a stainless scrap of tube that I have and then wrap it with the good stuff. As for now it's gonna be 100+ degrees every day into next week so I probably won't get to actuality wrenching until at least Saturday morning early..

Re: Helping the Vintage Air
 

Jet-Hot quoted $347. That included the $66 for return shipping and insurance from Oklahoma. Turn around time is 15 days. It comes with a lifetime guarantee and is coated inside and out. The polished silver reflects 65 percent of the heat while the satin finishes are good for a 40 percent reduction. I know that's costlier than just buying some already done 2.5 inchers from Summit, but at least I can keep my good old "made in USA" GM manifolds and get an American applied coating and not mess with using a reducer for the pipe. I'll do it in late September after I get my longbed back together and update this thread when I can observe the results. I probably ought to get some batteries in my temp gun and do an unscientific before and after check.

Re: Helping the Vintage Air
 

Cool deal man, I'm sure that will be a larger reduction by itself than anything else you could do. Not sure performance wise what your truck has but before sending them out would be perfect time to hit ports with some sanding wheels to smooth out castings.

Re: Helping the Vintage Air
 

Sounds good. I was about to mention the Summit brand option but it looks like you've got it figured out. Good luck with it! I'm looking at replacing my stainless headers for coated manifolds in a month or two as well for the exact same reason. We made it up to the Southeastern Truck Nationals in Lebanon, TN this past weekend and it hit 104 degrees Friday! I could feel heat from the steering column and brake booster area WITH the ac running..

Re: Helping the Vintage Air
 

Indeed, a little Dremmel time is a great idea. Thanks guys...I will bring this thread up later when I do it.

Re: Helping the Vintage Air
 

I love taking long drives. Building a long driver takes just as much scheming as building any other style of rig. We all make important compromises to achieve our desired result. Best of luck on your changes. Maybe post up a thread when you do it. This place is hurtin' for fresh content lately.

Re: Helping the Vintage Air
 

Would definitely be interested in the before/after readings. I'll be in a similar situation if I ever get my truck on the road.

Re: Helping the Vintage Air
 

Just got the temp laser going with some fresh Duracells today. As soon as I get the front clip back on my stocker, I'll get busy doing the manifolds on the "distance runner". I'm going with the one Jet -Hot calls "classic polish". Even though I like the more natural satin colors better, I want the maximum heat reflection. They do have a decent selection of colors to choose from. https://www.jet-hot.com/colors

Re: Helping the Vintage Air
 

That's what I plan also. I purchased a 2.5" cast manifold set with HTC coating last year and (IMO) it looks dreadful now. I've always had great luck with Jet-Hot.

Re: Helping the Vintage Air
 

I brainstormed a bit and made a heat shield from an old license plate. I have three mounting points. The longer bolts i put in at the bottom of the removabe stock steering rod cover and the unused gear selector to shift linkage bolt hole on my column. The circular Sharpie marks are for the cover bolt holes. The square marks the shift linkage bolt hole. The two holes just left of the square mark are to accommodate the prongs on the gear selector.

Re: Helping the Vintage Air
 

I covered the plate with leftover hoodliner and taped off the rough edges with metal duct tape and on it went.
Granted it may not look "super attractive " but if it works, I won't care.

Re: Helping the Vintage Air
 

That's a good start no matter what. If it doesn't help enough you already have a plan going forward but no harm in helping it along a bit.

Re: Helping the Vintage Air
 

Made one out of 16ga sheet metal

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/a...1&d=1660592233

Re: Helping the Vintage Air
 

Talk about taking it to the next level....that kicks butt.

Re: Helping the Vintage Air
 

My solution

Re: Helping the Vintage Air
 

Great solutions, and fantastically made

Re: Helping the Vintage Air
 

Thank's

Re: Helping the Vintage Air
 

You could sell those.

Re: Helping the Vintage Air
 

Yep, I would probably buy one too

Re: Helping the Vintage Air
 

@The Sub...... That cover is nicely done! Heck, that engine compartment is top tier!

Doing a shield like this painted to match the engine compartment on the top-side & having a heat shield barrier on the column shaft side is a great solution that doesn't appear as an obvious change.

@AcampoDave.... I wonder if JetHot could do the shiny barrier internally & the 'as cast/natural' finish on the outside only? The superior rated shiny finish would be closer to the extreme heat source & the natural finish while 'not as efficient' would still offer a radiant barrier but look traditional.

Re: Helping the Vintage Air
 

So my impromptu heat shield did nothing but squeak against the firewall. I took it off. But today I did notice that hot air is blowing out a slot relief on the top side of the column. I can only think it's entering around the gear selector to linkage stub under the hood as there is a huge void there to accommodate its rotation. I don't necessarily want to remove said stub and smooth the column (in case I ever go automatic). But I'm think of sealing it off with some kind of high temp sealant. (Covering it with Kilmat just made a hot mess.) Likewise for the slot reliefs on the interior part too. That should at least put a stop to the chimney effect of the column housing. I think I'll also trim the housing out in pipe insullation up there under the dash. I do think Vintage Air is a good product, but its gonna struggle if you've got the equivalent of a heater rising thru the steering column on triple digit days. This weekend it's only supposed to be mid 90s so maybe I'll get motivated to see what else I can figure out. The Jet Hot will happen this fall and yes, the shiny silver isn't the most attractive on a pitted ramhorn but if it's 20% better at containing heat, then I'll be cool with it. Get it...cool with it...I know (groan)

Re: Helping the Vintage Air
 

The heat was definitely rising up thru the relief for the shifter arm in the column tube. I put a stop to it for now with metal tape and took an extended drive on a 100 degree afternoon. The difference was noticeable. My column is from a 1970 Coupe Deville and I suppose there is/was likely some type of heavy felt pad in there which used to block the rising heat on the original application. Surely it had worn out before the column even left the Caddy. Most aftermarket columns have an automatic transmission selector built into them and I would hazard a guess that economical versions could be lacking in this area when new. Those of us living in hot climates would do well to consider this easily overlooked pathway for heat and engine gasses. Thanks for reading my thread.

Edit: I also found 1.5 inch pipe insulation will nicely dress the interior of the column tube but you need to cinch it tightly with zip ties to get the split to meet together. If I ever find that stuff for an inch and 5/8 pipe I think that would be perfect.

Re: Helping the Vintage Air
 

Glad you got a bit of relief from heat pouring in. I'm in MD so I get both 100 degree summers and freezing winters....so you know.... fun