Much has been written about the heat in the console area of our cars, but I found a slightly different answer to the problem.

First off, my car is a 2003 convertible, which I bought in 2009. Almost immediately I became aware of the heat, especially when wearing shorts (which are the uniform of the day here in Arizona).

I read that some people stripped out their interior to cover it in heat and sound deadening material, but thought that was a bit extreme.

I read up on other solutions here on the forum and purchased a 3/8" center tunnel plate from Elite Engineering, covered in a "ceramic coating". After it was installed I found that the heat was reduced slightly and it took longer for it to become a problem.

I reasoned that the thick aluminum plate was very much like an aluminum frying pan. The pan takes a few minutes to warm up and then throws off the heat even after the heat source is removed. We all know the problem, the exhaust system is about 3/4" below the plate, and the exhaust runs around 500 degrees. When moving the air under the car removes some of the "heat soak" but in stop and go traffic, it's worse.

So, I removed the plate and covered both sides with a product that I found on the DEI website. It's a thick aluminum foil which is backed with a layer of silica sand. It's covered with an adhesive which makes installation easy, although I cut mine oversize on the outside to take advantage of the bolts. Another layer was laid on the inside

Finally, a trip to the "racing dept" of Home Depot yielded a small package of fiberglass insulation, normally used to fill the inside of hollow core doors. The pieces are about 7 feet long and 3 feet wide. This was stuffed into the tunnel, being careful not to tangle around the shifter mechanism.

The result was dramatic. Now there is virtually no heat coming up from the tunnel, under any driving conditions. This also removed the heat issue from the console storage compartment. And I can wear shorts!

Hope this helps the next guy.

Ken Edney
Chandler, AZ

 

I went through the entire process, insulating the interior, ceramic coated tunnel plate, but It Never dawned on me to stuff fiberglass Insulation in the tunnel.

 

How much heat can that stuff take before it fries or burns or decomposes? I don't think that stuff is meant for the amount of heat under there and all that heat is trapped with no place to go.

 

I would be worried about it next to the exhaust?

I could be wrong though. I have the same issue for sure, too.

I have read so far about the "frost king" mod ( https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-king-mod.html ) which does seem promising, but yeah stripping the interior is a lot of work, for sure.

 

It's been there since 2010 with about 28,000 miles on it.

The tunnel plate came down in August 2014 to replace the shift cable. The insulation is still there, still "fluffy". So long as it doesn't get wet, I don't think it will deteriorate. And if it does, I will spend another $10-12 and replace it!

Ken

 

I think that it's easier to attack the source of the problem, than the result.

The heat isn't coming from the floor, but the hollow tunnel which is heated by the exhaust. I thought about wrapping the exhaust with the fiberglass material sold for the purpose, but have heard that it causes the exhaust pipes to fail. I give a lot of credit to the aluminized material from DEI. A friend of mine is about to try just that on his stock tunnel plate.

Ken

 

Who is DEI, thx.

 

Design Engineering Inc. I just checked their website, and they still have the product available but the price is higher (big surprise).

Amazon had two listed for around 85 bucks, which is about what I paid.

Ken

 

Can you post a link to the DEI stuff you used?

I'm doing something similar, but different. I have already treated the interior so that stage is complete. I have an Elite Eng tunnel plate that is ceramic coated and has their Thermal ABS on it. The combo has made a huge difference but it's not enough. Plus I am adding LG Super Pro headers so I'm expecting a lot more heat from them.
I am dropping the Toque Tube in January to install a new Monster clutch, speed bleeder, TT couplers, 3.90's, DTE brace, and a Pfadt trans mount. My plan is to treat the inside of the tunnel with the DEI heat treatment. I am also planning to treat the Toque Tube as well. Heat treat the bottom of it and treat the top side with vibration dampener.
Depending on the room that is in there, I may double up the heat treatment on either the underside of the tunnel and/or the tunnel plate. Overkill is in my nature!!!
Hoping it is night and day. But know the high flow cats will be located under the tunnel with the LG headers..... the extra heat over a stock exhaust surely needs to be dealt with!

 

www.designengineering.com. Heat mat with adhesive.

Ken

 

i have the elite tunnel plate with the heatshield on it with longtubes and no cats and it helped a lot but still gets a tad warm on real hot days... a buddy of mine put another layer on the backside of his tunnel plate and around the bottom side of the tunnel and I'm sure that will help even more... another option that I haven't seen many do is have the exhaust ceramic coated... my longtubes are jethot coated and it helps a ton with heat in the engine bay so if you have the extra money to do at least the x-pipe I'm sure that would help

 

The three things I am considering. Have my brand new LG Super Pros coated, treat the backside of my EE tunnel plate, and the underside of the tunnel.
Sounds like the best we can do.
I will be running cats though, wonder if I can have the outside of those coated as well?

 

contact jethot, I believe they can just do the outside... my longtubes are coated inside and out and I would do the rest of the exhaust that way if possible... running cats will keep it a bit cooler, not sure if you will be able to notice it or not though

 

Ceramic coating the exhaust is a great way to minimize the heat. Looks sweet too

 

For 50.00 you can wrap the exhaust.
If you split this roll in half it's perfect for both sides.
My console is completely cold.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DEI-010127-2-x-50ft-TITANIUM-HIGH-TEMPERATURE-HEADER-MANIFOLD-EXHAUST-WRAP-ROLL-/181309527767?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2a36e3d6d7&vxp=mtr
http://www.ebay.com/itm/DEI-010302-Exhaust-Wrap-Header-Downpipe-Silicone-Coating-Aluminum-High-Temp-/380629948225?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr&hash=item589f501741

 

Jethot sounds sweet, but no way am I shipping my new headers anywhere. There is a local powder coating place that does exhaust coatings. I'm gonna give them a buzz and get a quote.
The wraps I'm sure work great as well but I've read too many threads on forums where it's being said that it causes the pipes to rust out/ shorten the life of the exhaust. Now, my headers are LG Super Pros which are stainless like most of the Vette headers are, but not gonna go that route. I can sure think of a lot of other good things to wrap with it though!!!

 

My Melrose Longtube headers came jet hot coated with stainless Random cats and X pipe.
Not too worried about rust on a wrapped stainless steel X pipe with cats.
Having a lift makes oversight easy when I have her up in the air.
So far no issues.

 

Bummed to hear that wrapping promotes rust, that approach was in my thoughts as I read about the good posters work.

Now I know, and I might take advantage of the knowledge presented here should interior heat become problematic for me. I like the stuffing in the box idea, the greater amount of material probably does more than the thin coatings on fresh parts. Parts I probably wouldn't buy, again citing need and desire, but a coupe of bucks and minimal added weight sounds almost like an engraved invitation to me.

My tunnel heat approach so far has been to ditch all storage other than coins in the middle console. I never considered it a problem, just a design eccentricity, I've had worse. I was just happy that the heat in this car had moved from cooking my foot to cooking my spare change.

Thanks for sharing .

 

I wonder if ceramic coating the inside and outside of the piping would reduce the heat enough to be financially worthwhile. More curious about the inside part of that equation.

 

I think it would be worth it... I have my headers coated inside and out and it dramatically reduced the underhood temps compared to other cars I've seen with uncoated headers... I would expect it to have the same effect on the rest of the exhaust