Engine bay/under hood heat

[sqrlnts]

Any slick ideas for removing some of the engine bay heat besides driving faster? My engine temps are fine, no overheating. Phoenix has some looooong stoplights that sometimes takes a light or two before your through the intersection.

I should mention I am not a big fan of traditional hot rod louvers although they would probably do the trick. I am running an electric fan already.

My current cowl vent is blocked off in the lower cab kick panels but open up top in front of the windshield, so essentially its unused. Would I be going backwards in thinking I could open up the firewall (somehow) to the cowl, to vent some heat? Or is this just asking for more in cab heat?

Hell i have even considered using small electric 5" muffin fans mounted to the inner fender wells to extract heat. Not my idea but read it in a book on our trucks.

Any ideas?

[87Lowrider]

Get out of AZ?

Living out there I'd think it'd be harder to keep one cooler. If the engine is overheating, I'd suggest a good alum radiator, electric fans and good shrouding to help focus the air. I'm coming to Gilbert next month so I get to feel that August AZ heat again.. been a long time.

I've seen closed cold air systems that focus outside air directly into the carb as well. Even if it's 120 outside, it's cooler than what's under the hood.

How about a scoop up front for ambient heat control?

Ken

[AZ59apacheguy]

I live in Phoenix metro as well. During the V8 swap in my '59 I came to the crossroads of whether to use electric fan or a stock fan/shroud/thermal clutch setup. I ended up going with the stock fan/shroud/clutch setup for the same loooong stoplight situations your talking about. I talked to enough local people that originally had electric and then switched to stock fan setup because of overheating at stoplights. Good luck

[mechanixman]

Just an idea, what if you put louvers in the inner fenders?
You get plenty of air from wheel wells.
Or maybe even some kind of scoop under the front bumper to suck in air, and bring it up to the motor.
but I'm just spitballing here

[Rufton]

Header wrap will dramatically improve under hood temps; not clear how much impact on header life. I ran wrap for a while w/o issue.

Ceramic coated headers radiate lots of heat; unfortunately.

Over sized copper or aluminum radiator gives cooling fan/shroud flexibility. I'm currently running mechanical fan w/o shroud and have elec pusher for backup. I'm theorizing the no shroud fan will draw some ambient air into engine compartment; perhaps shroud w/ cut bottom would work better. The large diameter mechanical fan blows air on my ceramic headers; hopefully increasing header life and reducing stress on under hood paint.

Hood seal doesn't help under hood heat issue. Some remove seal and adjust rear hood high to allow hot air an escape.

I suppose the fender well fans would work great if you can bear cutting the holes.

[mr48chev]

If the engine isn't overheating in traffic and it isn't getting excessively hot inside the cab I'd say you don't have a big problem.

I've got 120 louvers in my hood and the engine temp still rose sitting at stop lights but dropped as soon as the truck was moving again.

[xpickup]

Sqrlnts, I have heard of putting small electric fans in the fender wells to draw out the heat too. I think that would work.

Shannon
Posted via Mobile Device

[_Ogre]

not sure what your after. if you have no overheating problem, why worry about it?
these trucks have been used in phoenix since new without additional venting

[Rufton]

OEM engine compartment paint failed after a few years; perhaps under hood temp was a factor. Old design batteries were bad about venting acid in hot engine compartment. I've had a few modern batteries crack/fail in a hot engine bay. Carbs w/ new fuel formulations prefer cooler temps.

[OrrieG]

Originally Posted by sqrlnts

My current cowl vent is blocked off in the lower cab kick panels but open up top in front of the windshield, so essentially its unused. Would I be going backwards in thinking I could open up the firewall (somehow) to the cowl, to vent some heat? Or is this just asking for more in cab heat?

The opening to the cowl area will actually pull air INTO the engine compartment hood, that is how cowl induction hoods work. In the 60's some factory racers opened up the area in the firewall to the hood and ran a duct to a box on the carb, it pulled more air and did not have the resistance a scoop has. An air diverter low on the front (think NASCAR or road racing) will push the air around the sides creating a negative pressure underneath. They do it for increased traction, in your case it would pull air out of the bottom of the engine compartment. When I first got my truck I was in phoenix and once I got the radiator fixed I did not have any problems either.

[sqrlnts]

All good ideas, I currently have minimal cab insulation. After giving it some thought I guess what I am after is a cooler interior, therefore increasing the A/C systems efficiency. My biggest enemy while moving is the windows. Let me just say this. i don't have to crack a window to smoke a cigarette :-)

I feel my biggest enemy while sitting is the engine bay temps getting pushed back onto the cab. I am sure if my cab was sealed up tight this would go unnoticed.

Would LMC 38-6118 seal kit stop the window leaks by itself?

[mr48chev]

One of the Task Force folks will have to fill you in on what works on the window seals.

From experience with the 57 Panel I had 35 years ago and my 48 and my old 51 Mercury you need to get any and all holes in the firewall sealed up one way or the other. Then you need to figure out what is the best insulation for the firewall and floor or combination of insulation that you can use to cut heat transfer down as much as possible.

Having roasted for too many years in the 48 I'm seriously thinking about using a combination of Lizard skin and heat insulation mat under the carpet in my 48 this time. I've had the foil covered bubble stuff that doesn't do much in it before and this time it is going to be comfort first rather than quick and cheap.

[sqrlnts]

Thanks Mr48. I welded up ~46 holes in the firewall during my build. Funny thing was I did all that work on the firewall in my old cab BEFORE I realized it was tweaked and the windshield would not fit. Bummer. It didn't go to waste because I then cut the floor and firewall out of the old cab and put it in my current 58 cab.

When I tear this thing apart next time, the interior of the cab will be shot with Lizard skin. I am currently using peel and seal from Lowes on the entire floor and firewall. I also have a jute mat under my rubber mat on the floor. It helps my shoes from melting but probably does poorly overall at blocking out external heat.

Don't get me wrong, the AC works good, I just think it could work great.