Well, here we are at our first show at the McDade, Tx Watermellon Festival. It was fun, but hot. The heat in that cab is unreal. I think most of the heat is coming from the firewall. It overpowers the Vintage air at speeds over 50 mph. What have you used that you would recommend to get rid of this heat? Suggestions? My wife is married to that redneck.
It was hot this weekend, wasn't it? Loose or louver the hood, spray some sort heat barrier like Lizard Skin on the firewall, put some more foil-backed bubble wrap (apologies to Lobuck, he sells good stuff) under the carpet. Wrap the exhaust system, (don't know the pro and cons of that). Do a search for all the debates/info on the heat barriers available to you. What engine are you running?
The engine is a 1973 Camaro 350 bored .030 over with street/strip cam, Edelbrock Performer intake, Demon 650 carb, Mallory Unilite with high output coil, and hugger headers. Transmission is TH350 with 8" Ford rear with Granada 2.79:1 third member.
Have you tested your air conditioning system??? When hot at idle with the compressor running the air coming out the vents should be at the low 50 degree mark. You may not have enough air going through the condenser in that small engine compartment. Also. Most of the cab heat also comes from the roof. Did you insulate that area??
Interior done...??? I see the truk is in primer (at least it looks like primer). If not, use Lizardskin...best stuff there is for killing heat and noise. www.lizardskin.com NOT cheap...but it's the best there is...I've done three cars with it. Spray the complete inside of the truck, including the roof...and especially the firewall and floor. You can wrap the exhaust, that will cut down on some of the heat but it won't solve the overall problem... You mite want to change the top (roof) of the cab to something other than blak...that absorbs more heat (and you'll feel it on the inside) than a primered piece of metal... As was stated, check the A/C unit to see if it's putting out the max... R-
I've had good luck on my Deuce's firewall using first one or two layers of Dynamat (.060 each layer), then one layer of foil bubble type insulation (about 1/4" thick), then bolt a sheet of 1/2" or 5/8" plywood to it (doesn't transfer heat and makes it easy to attach carpet and uphostery) to make a "heat barrier sandwich". Then cover the floor with two layers of Dynamat and the thick recycled fabric carpet padding with foil on the bottom side and then your carpet. If the truck cools well when sitting still, I think air infiltration is the problem at speed. Take a good look at your windshield and door weatherstripping. Feel around for warm air coming in when you are driving at higher speeds. That just kills the air conditioning efficiency. I have two types of bulb type weatherstripping around the doors and the windshield. I am working on the same problem in my pickup and I still have a few leaks to fix around the hinges to make it work like OEM but I'm getting there. I also covered the entire inside of the cab (the roof, the back of cab, inside of doors, etc.) with a layer of Dynamat with foil bubble wrap spray glued to that. That stops the suns heat from coming in along with tinted glass. If you want to save some money I have used a roofing material with that is asphaltic (tar) base with a thin layer of aluminum which is virtually the same as the original Dynamat. If you want to spend the money, Dynamat II or Lizard Skin would be even better. It was about 90+ degrees with 90% humidity here yesterday and it was comfortable at highway speeds for 120 miles but it could still use improvement. You'll know if the A/C is working good if the water is just running out of it when it is parked and running. Mine looked like it had sprung a leak in the radiator yesterday! Later in the day I thought it wasn't as hot out and shut off the A/C and opened the cowl vent. It took me less than a minute to close it and turn the A/C back on!
it's a long thread, but there's some good info here: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=51399
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