Interior heat

Woodie1

Woodie1

Well-known member
I was wondering if other people have warm cars inside. We went for short 10 mile drive today in a 39 Convertible Sedan we recently purchased & it seemed rather warm inside. The temp was about 70 degrees outside & the temp gauge in the car was showing about 180 degrees. Does this sound right? May have to take a thermometer with us on the next outing to see how warm it shows in the car. No heater installed.
 
If there are any holes from the firewall into the cabin, a surprising amount of heat will pour through. There is a good reason for that insulation barrier on the inside of the firewall and under the floor mat. Even on a 70 degree day, the under-hood temperature in traffic is probably over 100.
 
if the engine has 180 degree thermostats that is what the engine will run for temp., does your windshield crank out? not sure if convertible windshields do that if it does not you will have to open cowl vent to cool car out inside. I believe you can get windwings to help air flow also
 
I never gave the cowl vent a thought. Not used to having one. The windshield doesn't crank out. Good ideas.
 
Our ‘36 Phaeton runs warm inside the car while our ‘38 station wagon does not; will have to take a closer look at respective firewall penetrations on both for comparison (I do know engine in ‘34 generally runs considerably hotter, which may be the primary contributor).

You are definitely not alone - bake in summer, freeze in winter; the joys of vintage motoring!
 
Woodie1 said:
I was wondering if other people have warm cars inside. We went for short 10 mile drive today in a 39 Convertible Sedan we recently purchased & it seemed rather warm inside. The temp was about 70 degrees outside & the temp gauge in the car was showing about 180 degrees. Does this sound right? May have to take a thermometer with us on the next outing to see how warm it shows in the car. No heater installed.
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The temp gauge inside the car, in instrument cluster is, of coarse, showing
your engine temp, NOT the air temp inside the car. :eek:
Like David said, maybe you have a manifold heater letting engine heat
inside, that would be pretty warm ;)
Hope you figure it out, so you can enjoy you new classic.
Please show a picture.





.
 
What I have done on several of my flatheads is add in a heat shield over the exhaust pipe. It is simple to make and no need to drill any holes just use existing frame holes. Cost? under ten bucks. Oh yes, it works!

Tom
 

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Tom, nice to know there is someone close to me. It looks like your shield is ahead of the muffler. Do you feel that is a better location to cut out the heat? Do you also have the Dynamat on it?
 
A couple pictures of the car.
 

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I never tried shielding the muffler. The location I used was the exhaust pipe because it was easiest to get at. The front half of the pipe was already shielded by original factory shielding. My shield was basically an extension of the factory shield. I didn't use any insulating material such as Dynamat.

Hope this helps.

Tom
 
They all run relatively (compared with other cars) hot and warm the car interior up . I did consider putting a heater in my car However with our temperate climate and the heat of the V8 up front I can't imagine ever having to use a heater
 
I realize the engine is twice the size of a Model A. Just didn't think they would get that warm inside. It should be compfy for a fall ride.
 
I plugged all the holes in my 40 and covered the floor with some (Fake from Home Depot) Dyna Mat like insulation. It still gets warm in the car. But now it is October so who cares. Even without a heater
 
I can tell you when I drive my very stock Avatar '32 it can get quite hot inside. Granted it only gets driven on warm to hot days but it can get real uncomfortable inside. It's no surprise the windshield and rear window both open by factory design. 1932 air conditioning, but it really helps with ventilation. My Dad used to call it DQ air conditioning. In other words when it starts to get hot open up all the windows Damn Quick.
 
I had a 70's Cadillac with a climate control dial. It worked great!

I'm not sure I've ever had a car with 180 in the cab. Well I know I didn't, as I would be dead.

Maybe something is wrong, maybe it's an old car. These old cars aren't as comfortable as a modern car. It might get warm, it might get cold in the cab. You might smell oil, you might not. You can do things to help that.

If you are talking about interior hood engine space. If the motor is at 180 hot, you are doing well. Nice vehicle.


You could add dynomatt if you want. It'd probably help some.
 
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tomcarman said:
I can tell you when I drive my very stock Avatar '32 it can get quite hot inside. Granted it only gets driven on warm to hot days but it can get real uncomfortable inside. It's no surprise the windshield and rear window both open by factory design. 1932 air conditioning, but it really helps with ventilation. My Dad used to call it DQ air conditioning. In other words when it starts to get hot open up all the windows Damn Quick.
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I have the safari front windows on my 36-38. It certainly moves some air. There is the cowl intake too. The later cars certainly had more space to be comfortable. But they removed the safari front windshield. I guess it took come years to control the heat or cold in the cab.
 
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