Car gets extremely hot inside from engine heat

moonshine runner

moonshine runner

Senior Member
Hello Barners!

It's been some time since I have visited and posted on the forum and this may have been discussed at some point, and I may have even posed the question once before but here goes.

My 56 Victoria get's extremely hot inside on these hot summer days after driving it some distance.

I don't have A/C and I know cars get hot without it, but there is a LOT of heat in the floor area under the dash.

I drove it about 100 miles total last Saturday to and from a car show and liked to roasted on the way home. I mean it was very uncomfortable and I was sure glad to get home and get out of it.

There is no water going to the heater and the core is not hot. I am wondering if that much heat could be transferring from the exhaust manifolds, inside the car?

Any thoughts or has anyone experienced this before and what did you do? We put new carpet in this car a year ago last February but didn't put any of that foil barrier under it.

I drive a 65 pick up to work everyday and there is NO engine heat getting in the cab on it and it's actually not too bad to drive compared to the Vicky.

Thanks in advance.

Kevin
 
I did some research and found where I had asked about insulating the firewall and you guys gave me some ideas.

I looked at Lowes website and found some Reflectix Silver bubble insulation. A 16" X 25' roll is only $16.25 so, I think I will try getting this under the carpet and against the firewall and see what happens.

Kevin
 
your metal floor pan and firewall is exactly like a cooking pan. Put a heat source under it and it will cook anything in it, which is the passengers. No getting around it, you really need to insulate the floor. Use only a metal foil and fiberglass insulation. A plastic bubble type insulation is flammable and will not last in a motor vehicle.
 
Hi Kevin. I did the entire floor from the top of the firewall to the tail gate in my '55 Ranchwagon. Not only is it cooler but it is quieter. I used Dynamat.

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Depending on their location under the floor, a set of heat shields on the mufflers might also help.
 
That foil backed insulation from Lowes or Home Depot is what I used for my 56. Not real expensive and seems to be pretty good. Floor still gets warm but is bearable.
 
I used foil backed bubble stuff. I bought it at a swap meet, I think there may be a huge difference in quality. I insulated right up to the windshield, being careful to get behind the wiper arms. Around the tight corners on each side, I cut and put on smaller overlapping pieces. Down and all the way under the seats to the rear seat riser, then under the rear seat too. Bolt the seat and belts through the insulation to hold it, then use the carpet and pad it came with. This makes happy riders.
 
I had the heater out in my '59 and installed a new firewall pad. I have Fat Mat on the rest of the floor pan. I was out last night with the car and it was hot out, but not bad inside the car. I have carpet over the Fat Mat.
 

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bobss396 said:
I had the heater out in my '59 and installed a new firewall pad. I have Fat Mat on the rest of the floor pan. I was out last night with the car and it was hot out, but not bad inside the car. I have carpet over the Fat Mat.
Click to expand...

I wish I had done that while the seat was out getting recovered.

Kevin
 
Go over to the HAMB and type "peel and seal" , with the parentheses in the search box. All kinds of different solutions come up. This is just one thread

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/keeping-floor-heat-out.1017838/#post-11505927

I've done two cars with an industrial product, like peel and seal. Heavy rubber, with foil on top. I wouldn't have found it an probably couldn't have afforded it if I didn't have a buddy in the business. Made a huge difference in my 55 bird, and an OT 56 wagon. We put foam carpet mat (cheap stuff from the remnant section) over it and then the carpet. We used a couple sizes of Formica rollers to lay it down. Helped both sound and heat. But you'll see the same results reported from more available products in the link above.
 
miker98038 said:
Go over to the HAMB and type "peel and seal" , with the parentheses in the search box. All kinds of different solutions come up. This is just one thread

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/keeping-floor-heat-out.1017838/#post-11505927

I've done two cars with an industrial product, like peel and seal. Heavy rubber, with foil on top. I wouldn't have found it an probably couldn't have afforded it if I didn't have a buddy in the business. Made a huge difference in my 55 bird, and an OT 56 wagon. We put foam carpet mat (cheap stuff from the remnant section) over it and then the carpet. We used a couple sizes of Formica rollers to lay it down. Helped both sound and heat. But you'll see the same results reported from more available products in the link above.
Click to expand...

Thanks!!

Kevin
 
My carpet (Stock Interiors) had some padding on the back here and there. I was out with the car last night at 98* and it was tolerable inside. No heat up from the floor to speak of. Had my vents open and wing windows too to get a breeze going.
 
Do you still have the splash pans under the front of the motor,with those the air should exit at the back of the motor at the firewall instead of right after the radiator. I installed the splash pans in my 37 Chevy p/u and now I do not have to open the cowl vent to cool the inside of the cab like I did before. On my 37 the air flow was going down on the sides of the motor causing a pocket of hot air at the firewall which made the inside of the truck hot and I had to open the cowl vent when the outside temp was over 50 and now I can keep it closed when its in the 80s,I reinstalled those pans on my 55 but never did pay much attention to how hot it was in the car before doing it so I do not know if they actually helped but they were there for some reason.
 
I wound say, what the heck.. louver the hood to let some of the heat out. If it doesn't work, it will still look great.
 
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