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I have a 1957 that runs hot in the driver and passenger compartment, but the temperature gauge reads 160. That is down from 180 after I installed an aluminum radiator. I put an adjustable rheostat on the gauge to adjust it since I know that the Corvette temperature gauges can be inaccurate. However, after driving until the engine heats up the passenger and driver compartment get very hot. Is there material that can be put under the carpet that would keep the heat down? Any other suggestions are welcome. Thanks.
Don't know alot about c1's and 2's, but on my c3 I glued some aluminum foil/bubble wrap under the carpet. I used that instead of the self stick dynomat because I'm told the dynomat has an asphalt smell. It made a huge improvement.
If the heat is from the heater core, I would think a new or better water valve would cure that. But then again, I don't know much about the earlier models.
Good luck,
Jeff
You have to really clean the underside of the floor and the lower portion of teh firewall, down to bare, smooth fiberglassglass, then apply this stuff:
Thanks for the tip. I contacted Summit Racing and ordered a roll of the material. It looks like the perfect thing to cut the heat along with putting shutoff valves in the heater hoses.
The self adhesive stuff from Summit, went underneath the car, between the floor pan and frame. I figured best to keep teh heat from even getting to the floor pan
What I did inside the car was lay a layer of something similar to this under eth carpet:
I don't glue down carpet in a C1, the door sills and kick panels hold it in place.
I do put four screws with trim washers on the tunnel piece, way down low to keep it in place where you can't see them anyway. The center console carpet piece on my '61 isn't going anywhere once the trim strip is installed. You could use trim screws and washers that are covered by otehr carpet piece edges if necessary
You can also apply insulation and dyna mat on the insides of the fenders behind the kick panels and up to under the dash, and inside the doors if you are so inclined.
It knocks the noise down quite a bit.
My Corvette sounds more like a Cadillac inside, than a C1.
Maybe put some cutoff valves in the heater hoses in the engine bay - O'Reilly and NAPA sell them in most C1s they are two sizes 3/4" and 5/8"...
I second Frankie's suggestion. I had the same problem in my 57. The heater hoses (5/8") didn't have a valve and were always circulating hot water through the core. Roasted my ars last summer. I put a new, correct heater control valve in and used two rolls of this under the carpet: https://www.summitracing.com/parts/the-14620. Much better this season. Already getting hot in Texas. I put the heat shield inside the cabin, under the carpet. The carpet just lays on top, not glued or secured. Be sure to get the rolling tool to really secure it to the floor.
Nick
Last edited by Nick Bernier; 05-27-2019 at 10:11 AM.
Reason: Add info
The self adhesive stuff from Summit, went underneath the car, between the floor pan and frame. I figured best to keep teh heat from even getting to the floor pan
What I did inside the car was lay a layer of something similar to this under eth carpet:
I don't glue down carpet in a C1, the door sills and kick panels hold it in place.
I do put four screws with trim washers on the tunnel piece, way down low to keep it in place where you can't see them anyway. The center console carpet piece on my '61 isn't going anywhere once the trim strip is installed. You could use trim screws and washers that are covered by otehr carpet piece edges if necessary
You can also apply insulation and dyna mat on the insides of the fenders behind the kick panels and up to under the dash, and inside the doors if you are so inclined.
It knocks the noise down quite a bit.
My Corvette sounds more like a Cadillac inside, than a C1.
Doug
AZDoug,
Very detailed and helpful description. I received my order of heat shielding and will put that under the carpet. I'll take your advice on holding the carpet in place. Thanks a lot!
I like the thought of having a C-1 sound like a Cadillac inside. Maybe I'll have to visit for a ride the next time I'm in AZ!��
No problemo. You can experience, a nice, plush quiet ride until I mash the throttle and the sound of over 500 HP of 427 small block bellows out the full 2.5" exhaust as the car hunts for traction, and the RPMs climb so quickly 6500 RPM is reached before you can react to shift gears.
Its not your dads Corvette, anymore.
I really do need to put in a 4 speed auto trans, manual shifting the 5 speed slows the car down, too much.
OTOH, they look better than munged up tower clamps and are easier to deal with that spring clamps in awkward locations, so I do my best to pick a nicer looking worm drive clamp, keep it spotless and make sure the clamp is sized for the hose so you don't have a long tail hanging out, and position the drive mechanism underneath the hose out of view, if i can.
I bought a valve like the one pictured here. It seems to me that I would only need to have a shutoff on the incoming water to the heater. Isn't that right?
You could but my though was that the outflow hose would still be connected to the car's "hot" coolant system and not completely isolated. Also, if your heater core ever blew you could slam both valves shut and make it home...
You can insulate and isolate everything but if your shifter boots are cracked and leaking hot air from the transmission tunnel your still gonna cook more than your legs. Same goes for your heater box seals. My corvette is 20 years newer than yours and all my heater box seals were trash. Now the monkey poop they use on the outside of the heater box is a pain just to remove and even though you can still buy monkey poop seal I used RTV to reseal the box. That was my choice and I don't regret it - yet.
You can insulate and isolate everything but if your shifter boots are cracked and leaking hot air from the transmission tunnel your still gonna cook more than your legs.
Have fun.
Back in Montana, in the winter, about 4 decades ago, i would lift up the shifter boot to get more heat in the car. It blew a fair amount of warm air into the cabin, and that old convertible top, didn't seal that well at the tops of the side windows, so any heat was welcome.
05-26-2019, 02:42 PM
C1 Firewall Shield to keep temperature down
