It's approaching summer down is this neck of the woods, though the way the weather has been lately you wouldn't think so.

The internal cockpit temperature in my 78 is nice in winter but it's gonna be a killer in summer (aircon doesn't work yet), so apart from fixing the heater, romoving the T-Tops or winding the windows down, are there any suggestion you guys have to reduce the heat in the cockpit.

I have heard of a product by Thermo-Tech called Cool-It, which looks to be a foil lined fabric that you can installed under the carpet so it reflects the heat back to the engine bay and gear box but I cant get it down here (distributor doesn't stock it). I'm contemplating importing it myself.

1. Have you heard of it and is it any good?
2. Do you know of any alternatives that will do the job?

It would be great to be able to buy preformed/cut section for my 78 rather than having to buy sheets and cut it myself, lazy I know.

Cheers

Joel Adams
C3VR Lifetime Member #56    
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Thanks for that, some interesting reading . I was out in it today and my right leg is now well done.

Cheers

You might try wrapping the exhaust pipes, under the cockpit area, with the insulating material used around header pipes(don't recall name). It comes in a roll and you can find it at Summit Racing or Jeg's. It's not a cure-all but it's gotta help some. Good luck.

JR 

Harrytasker, did my interior with the reflects heat foil.  Easy to work with, cuts with plain old siccors and glue down with spray adhesive.  Only drawback is you have to pull the carpet out.  Even so, I say it is well worth the effort.  Might be a good excuse to get new carpet.  Anyway, here is a link to a picture of mine with the insulation in.

https://www.c3vetteregistry.com/member_uploads/7101_7200/7104 /int%20insullation.JPG

Thanks for all your inputs guys . I surfed the net looking for the products mentioned and ended up purchasing a Dynamat Xtreme Kit from Summit Racing Equipment. Their price was quite good compared to what Dynamat and other distributors were advertising.

Now I just have to contemplate ripping the interior of my car out, something I'm not looking forward to.

Cheers

I know each model year is different, but my experience mimics that of ammo6.  I put a manual cutoff valve in my heater hose and that solved ALL of my cockpit heat problems.   That may be all you need to do.

chesh,

i like your idea of the installing that cutoff valve.  it seems like a good idea to try that before ripping out carpet.  where exactly in your heater hose did you put it?

I can't remember WHICH of the hoses, but I hear that is important.  Chech the thread linked to above - I'm sure it was mentioned there.  As for the location, my '81 comes from the factory with an AUTOMATIC cutoff valve that mounts down low on the back side of the passenger side fender well.  For whatever reason, it wasn't doing its job.  Anyway, I just removed the automatic valve and replaced it with a cheap MANUAL one, in the same location in the hose.  It's also down low where it doesn't show that easily from the top.

I know each model year is different, but my experience mimics that of ammo6.  I put a manual cutoff valve in my heater hose and that solved ALL of my cockpit heat problems.   That may be all you need to do.

how did you guys determine or test the heater valve was not working

and where is it located

(click to see a larger version)

I didn't test.  It seems there are only a small number of likely sources of heat in the cockpit: the cut-off valve (which I think earlier C-3s didn't even have!), leaks around the blower motor/duct in the engine compartment, catalytic converter, sidepipes. I don't have the last two and the car is in great shape ond only an '81, so I didn't expect that the seals around the blower ductwork were bad.  So, I just invested the $15 and it happened to solve my problem.