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Austin Healey Heater

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dcosta

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I have a 1954 100-4 Austin Healey. It's new to me. The heat in the cockpit is unbearable. I've shut off the heater valve on the cylinder head, but the cockpit still heats up. I'm ready to rip out the heater. Ugh... I'd appreciate any advice or suggestions.

Thanks,
Dave
 
It may not be the heater. Healeys are famous or infamous for cockpit heat. The air comes in through the front as it should, passes through the radiator, where it gets hot from heat transfer from the radiator (as it should) then it goes on into the hot engine compartment and...does not have anywhere to go, so it tries to get through any opening or crevice there is in the firewall and transmission tunnel.

Old reviews of the Healeys said there is really no cure, but that is no longer true. A combination of insulation and a concerted effort to seal the firewall and tunnel area makes it is cool (or hot) in the cockpit as the ambient air.

I insulated my 100 and it helped a little. When I sealed it up it helped a lot. On my car most of the sealing was around the tranny tunnel and the removable piece that mates with the tunnel to become part of the firewall.
 
:iagree: With Glemon:

Dave;
It is a universal Healey problem.

However, there are numerous articles on this forum with pictures to show what has been done to reduce cockpit heat. So find them and print a few out for reference then get to work.
 
It's important to remember that only 25% of the petrol/gas the engine uses is propelling it. The other 75% is generating heat and although road testers complained bitterly, the factory did very little to reduce it. At some stage they put sheets of asbestos on the bulkhead and under the passenger floor above the exhaust.

My son and his wife did 370 miles on a French freeway in 95 degrees a couple of days ago in my BJ7 and can testify to the asbestos sheet not working. Where possible passengers are advised to hang their feet over the door in warm weather.
 
One way to check for firewall air leaks: at night with the garage lights off, put a drop light in the engine compartment - look up under the dash and you'll see those leaks.
Also carefully seal the flanges along the bottom of the the transmission tunnel with foam tape.
I used this heat/sound insulator:
https://amzn.com/B004PIIAZ0

Check out the Insulation articles on John Sim's site:
https://www.healey6.com/technical.htm
(scroll down to the "Insulation" section)
 
When I restored my car, I sprayed the whole interior cockpit with "Lizard Skin" a two product application for Heat Barrier and Noise abatement. It really works.
 
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