My 76 was unbearable on a long trip over the weekend, and I was wondering is this due to the fact that I have headers as I can drive around town all day no problem, but driving for hours at 70 cooks my feet?

 

I have the same issue, I think it might be the transmission but would like to hear what others have to say.

 

A foam collar is available from various vendors which fits between transmission and firewall to keep engine compartment heat out of transmission tunnel...
I know installing the collar keeps the heat out of the tunnel where the center console is and thus keeps interior cooler.
Also, make sure your heater control valve is shutting off. It is located on the passenger side of engine in the heater hose line with a small vacuum line from the heater temperature control.

 

I have the same problem and plan on purchasing these guys from Willcox later this week. http://willcoxcorvette.com/repairand...lp.php?hID=163

I think I'm also going to get some reflectix and see how it helps. As much as I love the sauna...

 

Im getting a TON of heat from the headers it seems like.. directly under my feet on driver or passenger side... In town or on the highway either one its absolutely smoldering in there. Anyone have any ideas what can be done?

 

I was in a similar situation with my 68 vette.... couldn't drive it with bare feet after 20 minutes else skin would blister!
So much heat would come through the floor, it was really uncomfortable for cruising, especially in summer.
I had a set of Tri-Y headers with the 2-1 final collector meeting under the floor panels, and that was definitely the source of the problem.
The problem persisted even though I had insulation matting under the carpet.

When I installed my new motor and trans, the heat issue was something I wanted to rectify, as long country touring is what I do regularly.

I sourced some reflective aluminium clad fibreglass matting from a store that supplied the trucking industry. It's rated at 1100*F.
It's used a lot for heat control on turbo-charged diesel trucks.
I cleaned up the exterior (underside) of the firewall and floor pan and used high temperature silicone adhesive, also rated around 1000*F to bond the matting to the fibreglass floor.

I placed it on the underside of my footwell and completely under the trans tunnel and lower firewall.. the idea was to reduce the heat that actually penetrates into the floor by reflecting it. I also have insulation matting in the inside, under the carpet. But I believe the external reflective matt makes a big difference.



The other thing I did, was have a custom set of headers made.
I had plug/lead clearance issues with the new heads, and I wanted slightly bigger primary pipes (1.75") anyway.


The tri-y design was routed to clear everything and provide easy access to the plugs, and ground clearance issues I had before were also addressed. The pipes after the collector now run down on either side of the tranny, in the tunnel, and my feet are now very happy.

We regularly get ridiculously hot periods (last summer we had 14 continuous days above 100*
The current setup is great. Footwell does not get uncomfortable, even after extended 2~3 hour drives in hot summer weather.

 

try driving with the vent on, it helps me.

 

Thats great! How much did the insulation run you? I may have to try that. I have chambered headers and man they get hot!

 

I don't seem to be able to get my vent to work is the a secret to this, I pull the **** out and nothing?

 

My 78 L-82 4 speed used to roast me too but 26 years of continous improvements has totally eliminated the problem. Granted I have shorty headers and 2.5 true duals which are not full length headers but the by the far the biggest help to alleviate the problem was removal of the vaccum control value for the heater/A/C which often will bleed a lot of heat even if the control is in the off position. I put in a manual control value which i turn off in the summer and open for Fall/Winter-works great. The second is to have enhanced insultaion under the carpets, not the factory stuff, but as thick insulation as you can fit and definitely with a foil backing facing the floor and engine compartment-there are numerous ways to do this besides mine. Thirdly, lower the engine temperature to no more than 190 degrees if possible. My L-82 always ran at first very hot and progressively just to hot-200-210 on the highway. A few months ago I installed a Dewitts Aluminum radiator, Stewart stage 2 aluminum water pump and A robertshaw performance 180 theromstat-The engine runs about 175 around town and 185 on the highway-never higher! Riding in my car now in terms of interior temperature is no different than my 2008 Chrysler 300-it made that much of a difference!

 

Here is what I did to keep heat out and quiet things down on my C2 coupe but should be relavent here


Pic's and info ====>: Click Here

George