Hi all, My wife's 71 GS 455 has had headers since I restored it years ago and the floor has always been really hot. I've used Dynamat foil-backed sound deadening/insulation on the driver's side under the carpet, but it's still amazing how hot the floor gets. On hot days like we've had recently, it actually keeps us from taking the cars out because my wife's afraid she'll get heat stroke (the AC isn't working). Any tips on how I can cool things down? I don't want to wrap the ceramic coated headers in ugly whatever-that-stuff-is. I was thinking on adding another layer of Dynamat, but wanted to see if anyone has other ideas first, since I'm not anxious to remove the center console in this heat. Thanks, Hutch
Newer cars have heat shields under the floor boards to deflect heat around the catalytic converter. Maybe find one in a salvage yard and mount it between the header and the floor pan to deflect the heat. -JOsh
Yeah, I'll give that a try. Hopefully I'll have enough clearance. Funny how the obvious solution isn't so obvious to you (me) sometimes. Thanks, Hutch
Hard to believe its getting that hot being they're coated, that usually keeps heat at bay, if you go the heat shield route be sure to space it a 1/2 in off the floor
If you can't find one, they are easy enough to make. I made one years ago from some sheet aluminium. Used pop rivets to hold it to the floor,since I didn't want screw points up through the carpet. Perhaps you could use Sikaflex or similar adheisive to glue it in place?
I have some stainless sheet steel that I'll use. I'll see if a machinist buddy of mine can help me roll them into the right shape and put a structural rib here and there. I agree about spacing 1/4" from floor pan, otherwise the heat will just be conducted to the floor. That air space should help the heat blow away/dissipate as I drive. Now it's all about time and space: time to do it and space to fit the shield in. Thanks for the suggestions. Hutch
Heat shields are the best solution. One that I found works decently for me is the simple reflective bubble material from Home Depot on the floor/trans tunnel. Seemed to knock off about 30F worth of heat on my floors and trans tunnel.
If you can make your own, make it slightly bigger than the circumference of the header and clamp it to the exhaust. That'll keep you from putting mount holes I the floor pans, depending on how much clearance you have. -Josh
I was thinking similarly. That's they way they do it on motorcycles, strap a guard/shield with an air gap on the pipe.
If you look at my avatar, you'll see that I have ceramic coating already. Those full length headers just have so much surface area that the heat radiates off them pretty well, even with ceramic powdercoating. As you might surmise, I haven't gotten around to finding the time to work on this yet... I think it's been relegated to the status of a winter project.
