If you don't like the look of header wrap, you could try and construct a barrier. It could be sheet steel or aluminium or even fibreglass (though careful it doesn't catch on fire if it actually touches the headers, so steel or aluminium may be the better bet initially at least). Just get at least few millimeters of air between the header and the barrier and a few millimeters of air between the barrier and the steering box at any given point. Drill a couple of holes in it and mount it to whatever you can. It'll stop the heat radiating directly from the headers to whatever is behind the barrier.

That (should!) cut down on how much heat from the headers get to the steering box/column.

I'm not a huge fan of header wrap. It doesn't look great and I always worry it's going to start a fire. I occasionally spill flammable liquids on my headers and don't like the idea of it actually starting a fire.

 

I don't even have that kind of space between the #3 and the steering box! It's between a 1/2" to 3/4 (if that much! I agree, a heat shield would be better, maybe even a ceramic one, but I need more room, first and the header wrap is temporary, until I find a set of headers, or go with stock LT1 exhaust manifolds, that coincidentally, come with their own heat shields!

 

Still want to hear from others, about the steering column heat!

 

Thinking aloud again, why not wrap the steering column and heat shield the plate on the firewall? The flexible coupling to the steering box probably slows heat transmission from the steering box to column. Will have to pop the hood to see if this is feasible. If you don't like wrapped headers, this may be an alternative. A double skinned firewall would have been the go:-) Seems GM were well aware of the heat issue but decided that aircon was the way to fix it. Correct me if I'm wrong ,I read somewhere they expected a temp of 240 deg F under the hood.

 

3/4" is enough space for a heat shield as long as you can actually fabricate it. Something like 1mm or less thick sheet Aluminium or even thinner steel. The barrier will get hot as hell, but it'll interrupt the heat transfer from the headers to the steering none the less. At the moment heat can radiate headers -> steering, and if there's insufficient airflow it'll also convect headers -> air -> steering. Throw in a barrier and the radiation path becomes headers -> barrier -> steering and convection path becomes headers -> air -> barrier -> air -> steering. It should reduce the steering temperature quite a bit, assuming that's the problem.

It's just whether you can fabricate something that fits in that gap. If not, just wait for the new headers and see how that goes.

Do you think there might be space for a scoop to pull air up from under the car directly on to the steering/header area to cool them?
I'll tell you once I get my car back and have a chance to drive it I have a 71 BB with AC where the AC doesn't work, so cabin heat is pretty bad, lol.

 

That's interesting. So do you think it might not be a problem so much of the headers heating up the steering as that entire area being hot as hell, and the steering column being metal, transfers that heat in to the cabin more so than the other areas?

It might be worth picking up some oven thermometers and duct taping them to areas under the hood. Oven thermometers are slow reacting, so you could drive, pull over, and check them before the readings drop. I'm not sure if you can get ones that go to lower temperatures though, will have to look in to that.

I'll start playing around with some ideas for engine bay cooling when I get my car back, cheaper than trying to get the air conditioner working

 

Do vettes that run electric fans that cycle on and off get hotter in the cabin and under-hood area? I was talking to BB C3 owner yesterday and he has no problems with cabin heat with working air con but he said it does have to work hard to pull the temp down after the car has been parked up and heat soaked. I'm with Tudz, performing a "ressurrectomy" on the missing air con is not in the budget any time soon. A heat shield for the steering box is now on my list, I have Hedman shorty headers and there is a good gap between them and the steering box but it still gets toasty.

 

After thinking about it some more, and correct me if I'm wrong, the steering box getting hot shouldn't actually cause the cabin to get hot, as there's a rag joint on the column that doesn't conduct heat all that well? In that case, you'd really have to shield the column itself rather than the steering box. How close is the column above the rag joint to the headers?

Sorry guys, I think I'm throwing out more questions than answers, it's hard when I don't have the car in front of me to look at.

 

Thanks, Tudz and Hg. Good collaboration here! The rag joint is indeed rubber and the column, behind that, is roughly 7" for the shaft alone and about 8 or 9, depending on how close to the firewall you want to get. I got some wrap, made by Design Industries and I also purchased a starter heat blanket, to wrap around the steering box. It fits weird, but fits. I will see if I can fab up a heat shield and beat it, bend it and smack it. At the Shop, so I can start on it.

Also, speaking of heat blanket, Pep Boys, carries the Design Engineering products, and they have split sleeve blankets, that are velcro'd for wrapping around and protecting harnesses and lines. Why not wrap a sleeve around the outer steering column? Another thing, that popped into my brain. Yesterdat, I decided to shoot the IR gun in the engine bay and I examined the outer side or engine side of the firewall, just to get a 'lay of the land' view, because if the inside is 143, what's the outside area in exactly the same place?

I just finished examining mine and here is what I saw; a big heavy, stamped steel plate, that reinforces the firewall area for the steering column. And the lower corner of this plate is only 1 3/4" inches from the #7 header or most rearward exhaust on the drivers side. I measured 192 degrees in that area! On the inside, the lower part of the column is a constant 125 degrees! I think this area needs protection too!

 

I like the scoop idea, that might flow more air, than the ram air. I'd hazard the guess, as Ludemjo, suggested, utilizing the strong laminar flow to push some air up there and out the hood grills. Good stuff. I love driving this car, just don't want to get out of it, after an hour, with scorched feet, like yesterday. I swear to God, it's turning the bottom of my feet into shoe leather.

 

So the area of that plate closest to the header was 192 deg? What was the temperature across the rest of the plate?

Also, what is the ambient temperature where you are? I don't really have a reference for these temperatures at the moment, lol.

 

I didn't shoot the whole plate, only the area closest to the header. In retrospect .the ambient temp would've been nice to know too. Outside temps in Palmdale, are high 70's, low 80's.

Been making a metal heatshield to go between the header and the entire width of the steering column and then it wraps around the last header and protects the plate on the firewall. It is a complex shape! Been at it for four hours, adjusting the bends, tweaking and cutting, where necessary.

The tough part was figuring out how to attach it, but not have it touch anything! Got an idea for the scoops too. Thanks for your input, it has been highly helpful!

 

Hey guys, been following along and thought I'd "TRY" to add a bit more to the conversation. I took a few pictures tonight that i'll post and add some thoughts.

In this first picture you can see how close #7 header is to the reverse key switch lockout, which is connected to the same plate that F22 is talking about, a few weeks ago I measured temps there at 184* ambient temps were mid 80's.


This next picture show how close #1 and #5 header tubes are to the steering box but I do agree that the rag joint would, for the most part, insulate the upper part of the steering shaft from the heat in the steering box. my #5 header tube is only about 1/2" away from the steering box.


This next picture shows how close the #7 header tube parallels the upper part of the steering shaft which would radiate a lot of heat to it.


I will soon be buying these headers and will be putting them in the same time I swap out my 4 speed for a 5 speed, should be in a month or so.


I'm hoping with the shape of the new headers and the fact that they are coated will help but I do think that maybe wrapping the headers and maybe wrapping the upper part of the steering shaft will help too. I will also be adding the factory tunnel heat shield and spraying the floor pan and as much of the fire wall as I can get to with lizard skin ceramic heat shield, hopefully all this combined will keep the heat down until I can get my AC working, which will be awhile

 

Lizard Skin.

 

Yes, Lizard Skin
http://www.eastwood.com/lizard-skin-...FYdQ7AodETYAHQ

 

Great pictures! That's helping to paint the heat 'picture' and you had some really good results and the pics to go along with it! Good one! Almost done with the aluminum heat shield. Everything is angled against everything else! There isn't a 90 degree angle anywhere!

 

Thanks, trying to add what little I can. With what little room we have with our SB, I can't imagine how tight it is for those with BB.

 

I'd love to see it when you're done. I do feel like you're doing all the hard work, so I hope it works for you, lol.

If it doesn't work, it could point to a couple of different things, which is why I'd like to test some things on my own car so I can get an idea of what the air flow and heat flow is actually doing by the rear of the engine.

On one of our race cars the driver's seat back sat right against the headers (it was rear engined, east west motor with the intake on the back and exhaust ports out the front toward the driver's seat). We ended up having to heat shield both sides of the firewall (which itself was kevlar/nomex honeycomb/carbon sandwich) to get the temperature down to a level where the driver could go for more than 10 minutes before leaping out of the car and complaining his kidneys were cooking
On the BB you can barely even see down the side of the engine let alone get your arm down there to work on it.

 

Lizard Skin interior in my 72

 

Airborne, just looking at the pics and you've got a different set of headers, than I do. On mine, it's the #3, but your #3, goes under the #5! In the second pic, the #1, looks like it's just about touching that steering box!

The headers I have on, are the same 'style' as the ones your contemplating, though, I'm not sure if the ones you are getting, are the 'block hugger' style with tighter radius' to the bends. What brand and style .are these? Oh, and I have a brand new of Heddman headers, in the box, for the D-port heads, that I have to look at today, to compare them to what I have, before I buy anything else.

Today, I finish fabbing the mounts for the heatshield. I figured out a way to attach them, using what the.factory had in that area.