Helping the Vintage Air

[AcampoDave]

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.

[350TacoZilla]

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

[AcampoDave]

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.

[350TacoZilla]

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.

[verdell]

Have you considered ceramic coated Ram's horns?

[AcampoDave]

Originally Posted by verdell

Have you considered ceramic coated Ram's horns?

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..

[AcampoDave]

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.

[350TacoZilla]

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.

[verdell]

Originally Posted by AcampoDave

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.

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..

[AcampoDave]

Originally Posted by 350TacoZilla

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.

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

[AcampoDave]

Originally Posted by verdell

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..

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.

[joesscamaro]

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.

[AcampoDave]

Originally Posted by joesscamaro

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.

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

[The Rocknrod]

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.

[AcampoDave]

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.

[AcampoDave]

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.

[350TacoZilla]

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.

[The Sub]

Made one out of 16ga sheet metal

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

[AcampoDave]

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

[MT65]

My solution

[Braunschweiger]

Great solutions, and fantastically made

[The Sub]

Originally Posted by AcampoDave

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

Thank's

[The Rocknrod]

You could sell those.

[AcampoDave]

Yep, I would probably buy one too

[SCOTI]

@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.