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Engine Compartment Heat Reduction

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Old Jul 15, 2012 | 06:16 PM
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Default Engine Compartment Heat Reduction

Hi All,

Does anyone have any suggestions or experience on how to reduce the heat in a stock engine compartment? I notice the extra heat compared to cars of equal time.
I have installed aluminum radiator, and new water pump. This helped but there must be a way to cool down the engine compartment more. Any suggestions?

Thanks.
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Old Jul 15, 2012 | 10:19 PM
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http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-t...ater-hose.html
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Old Jul 15, 2012 | 10:20 PM
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Is your engine running hot? Corvette engine bays are always hot. As long as the engine is running at the correct temperature then everything is fine.
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Old Jul 15, 2012 | 10:24 PM
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stock exhaust??/ Headers might cool it down some. Is the heat coming into the interior?? If so then it might be a hole in the firewall or need insulation under the carpet and on the firewall. There are several posts here about insulating the under carpet area.
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Old Jul 15, 2012 | 10:51 PM
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Engine never goes to 200 degrees. Allways stays at 180 degrees no matter what the temp outside is, even days over 100. No headers all stock. I just think that kind of heat can't be good. The interior is cool but engine compartment is hot. This can't be the normal for a car. Was all ways tought that heat is bad for a car, the cooler the better.
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Old Jul 15, 2012 | 11:09 PM
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I'd say the C3 engine bay is no hotter than any other engine bay, they are all hot.

Frank
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Old Jul 16, 2012 | 01:02 AM
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Originally Posted by myoriginal77
I'd say the C3 engine bay is no hotter than any other engine bay, they are all hot.

Frank
I don't know Frank.
I got out of my 75 tonight and I could feel the heat pour out from under neath the car.

From what I've gathered the side vents are for show only.
It would be nice if they actually drew the hot air out of the engine compartment.

I've seen where hood vents were added and they were suppose to make a big difference in removing air from under the hood through the top instead of allowing the hot air underneath the car.

This is something I would invest in a heart beat.
First it would not allow hot air to build up.
And it would keep air from getting under the car.
This would make it more stable at high speed, say 120mph or more.

Ralph
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Old Jul 16, 2012 | 09:17 AM
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Originally Posted by Ralphbf
I don't know Frank.
I got out of my 75 tonight and I could feel the heat pour out from under neath the car.

From what I've gathered the side vents are for show only.
It would be nice if they actually drew the hot air out of the engine compartment.

Ralph

I would have to disagree with you about the side vents. They are functional and they vent the heat out of the engine bay. I, too, have a 75 and when I'm driving down the road and place my hand down the side of the door, I can feel the heat coming from the vent. Also, when I stop, you can feel the heat escaping from the vents.

I also raise the hood when I get home to let the heat out and help the engine bay cool off.
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Old Jul 16, 2012 | 09:30 AM
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Originally Posted by vetteguy75
I would have to disagree with you about the side vents. They are functional and they vent the heat out of the engine bay. I, too, have a 75 and when I'm driving down the road and place my hand down the side of the door, I can feel the heat coming from the vent. Also, when I stop, you can feel the heat escaping from the vents.

I also raise the hood when I get home to let the heat out and help the engine bay cool off.
I've seen photos where they have taped yarn to the side of the car and in the vents.
The yarn by the vents get little to no action.

Vetteguy75
" I'm driving down the road and place my hand down the side of the door, I can feel the heat coming from the vent."

How do you know it's coming out the vent and not just rolling up from under the car?
My hand doesn't reach all the way to the vent so I can't tell for sure.

Ralph
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Old Jul 16, 2012 | 10:12 AM
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Originally Posted by rodney25
...This can't be the normal for a car...
It's normal for Corvettes. At speed, there is more air flowing through the engine compartment than you might think.

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Old Jul 16, 2012 | 10:26 AM
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I thought the vents were to keep the car from lifting at highway speeds. One thing is for sure you can feel the heat rolling up the sides when stopped at a traffic light.
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Old Jul 16, 2012 | 10:43 AM
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Originally Posted by rodney25
Hi All,

Does anyone have any suggestions or experience on how to reduce the heat in a stock engine compartment? I notice the extra heat compared to cars of equal time.
I have installed aluminum radiator, and new water pump. This helped but there must be a way to cool down the engine compartment more. Any suggestions?

Thanks.
Remove the hood.
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Old Jul 16, 2012 | 10:57 AM
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Originally Posted by rodney25
Engine never goes to 200 degrees. Allways stays at 180 degrees no matter what the temp outside is, even days over 100. No headers all stock. I just think that kind of heat can't be good. The interior is cool but engine compartment is hot. This can't be the normal for a car. Was all ways tought that heat is bad for a car, the cooler the better.
Sounds perfect too me.

If you are comparing the engine bay of your Corvette to the engine bay of a more modern car, and are concerned that it seems hotter, don't be, because it's not. A more modern engine runs just as hot (it has too, otherwise the internals would wear out much faster), but modern engine bays are jam packed full of components. Since the engine bay of your Corvette is realtively open, the heat from the engine will radiate out and heat up everything in the engine bay. But the newer car engine is completely surrounded by other engine components, and these will soak up engine heat, so it will not radiate as much to the outer edges of the engine bay.
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Old Jul 16, 2012 | 10:59 AM
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Originally Posted by Ralphbf
I've seen photos where they have taped yarn to the side of the car and in the vents.
The yarn by the vents get little to no action.

Vetteguy75
" I'm driving down the road and place my hand down the side of the door, I can feel the heat coming from the vent."

How do you know it's coming out the vent and not just rolling up from under the car?
My hand doesn't reach all the way to the vent so I can't tell for sure.

Ralph
The point is that if you can feel heat then it's escaping from the engine bay which is what you want.
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Old Jul 16, 2012 | 11:00 AM
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Think one of the simplest things you can do, is send the exhaust manifolds out for ceramic coating inside/out, and heat wrap the under hood exhaust pipe sections.
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Old Jul 16, 2012 | 12:53 PM
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Originally Posted by resdoggie
The point is that if you can feel heat then it's escaping from the engine bay which is what you want.
I'm just having a little fun.
But there should be a way to get the side vents to work better.

I think mashman has a good point.
Newer cars have smaller a engine space.
Less heat can be trapped because there is no place for it to hide.

Let me think on this for awhile.

Ralph
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Old Jul 16, 2012 | 02:15 PM
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There is a very good way to get the side vents working efficiently. Drive the car! Airflow down the side of the vehicle causes the air in the engine compartment to get 'sucked' out the side vent area [commonly known as the Bernoulli principle]. If the car isn't moving, that can't happen. That's just the way it is....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernoulli's_principle

Last edited by 7T1vette; Jul 16, 2012 at 02:18 PM.
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Old Jul 16, 2012 | 02:19 PM
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Originally Posted by 7T1vette
There is a very good way to get the side vents working efficiently. Drive the car! Airflow down the side of the vehicle causes the air in the engine compartment to get 'sucked' out the side vent area [commonly known as the Bernoulli principle]. If the car isn't moving, that can't happen. That's just the way it is....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernoulli's_principle
I've seen photos where they have taped yarn to the side of the car and in the vents.
The yarn by the vents get little to no action.

Ralph
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Old Jul 16, 2012 | 07:42 PM
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Have you considered adding a fan in the area of the vents. If you are feeling the heat around the door area, it might be the weatherstripping. area two would be the weather stripping around the hood and the seals around the heater core.
I do know of some owners who mounted dual fans on the bottom of engine compartment using the frame as a mounting point, don't know if it helped or not.

Ron
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Old Jul 17, 2012 | 12:21 AM
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They all get hot. Drive them to allow the airflow to do what it is supposed to do.

The side vents do allow air to flow through...just watch a car on a hot day and you can see how the heat is affecting the air as it comes out.

If heat was so bad for these cars then there wouldn't be many around for us to buy, collect, and discuss these issues. I am sure that a Duesenberg engine runs hot but the owners don't worry because that is what internal combustion engines do.

My 2 cents.
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