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Spitfire If you can't stand the heat....

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I

ichthos

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Trying to get a friend to join the forum. In the mean time, he had a question. He owns a spitfire but says it is not all that pleasant to drive in the summer because it gets so darn hot. Haven't seen his car in person, but what are the reason his car would be generating so much heat? And yes, he has the heater tuned off.
Kevin
 
Kevin,

Is the car "Overheating" or simply generating heat from the "Engine & Trans. into the "Cockpit"?

He may try insulating the Trans cover, Floorboards & Footwells with something like "Duramat" or the like to help keep out the heat; If its simply generating heat.

Russ
 
As Russ said, it is quite likely to be from the engine heat. A layer of insulation on the floor and transmission tunnel/cover can make a big difference.
 
Put a bright light under the closed bonnet when it's dark. You will be able to see all the little spots in the firewall that get hot air forced through them into the cockpit. Plug those holes and as others have said insulate the tunnel and firewall.
 
When I first got my TR6 I had exactly the same impression, but in my case it turned out to be a broken heater cable. I could pull the knob on the dash out to turn the heat on and push the knob back in to keep the heat on. Kept wondering why it was so hot with the knob pushed in.

Worth the effort to look under the hood and make sure the valve is being opened/closed in response to the knob movement. I ended up replacing the cable and am currently in the process of replacing the valve (too stiff, causes cables to fail).
 
Hi all i've had this problem with my spitfire and added insulation from eastwood which helped but it still got hot so i tried rerouting the heater hose so it didn't have to run through the interior heater and now i'm in the cool no more hot interior and i really don't need a heater because this is my toy and only gets driven in nice weather.
 
I keep the heater off and put the vent control on heat instead of defrost...lets the outside air go throught the heater box and onto the floor....

also insulated the aftermarket trans tunnel when i installed it......
 
I replaced the cardboard transmission cover with an ABS plastic unit and added insulation. The insulation plus the carpet seems to help. Before I rebuilt the other Spitfire, I wondered why my wife complained about her feet getting so hot. Then I saw that the broken cover let the heat from the radiator and the exhaust manifold flow right onto her feet. It was not so bad in January but overwhelming in July.

John
 
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