Airconditioning Insulation

[timk]

Great post!

The alternative refrigerant sounds interesting and it looks like Bursons carry it. Anyone here have first hand experience with it in a R134a system?

[davekmoore]

i've only been able to travel in town to work and back this week. after 15 min of driving (and on the hotter days) i get a whiff of heated something - clearly the insulation. This weekend i intend getting some thick aluminium foil to surround the insulation in that. The insulation is about 5cm away from the header piping. Its the town driving that concerns me more then highway driving too. I have found highway driving, engine bay temps are about 10-15 degrees higher then ambient, more airflow etc.. I'll follow up here with what i do.

I'm also going to sus out a few hydraulics suppliers to see what they have. If it's cheap, i'll give it a go.
I also made a heat shield a few months ago out of a metal sheet. While it made a decent improvement on reducing heat on the intake piping/filter, it doesnt reach down all the way to the AC piping. I'll work on that too : )

Back home in Bendigo in a couple of weeks and would love to compare notes.

[taminga16]

Back home in Bendigo in a couple of weeks and would love to compare notes.
Hi Dave,
Let me know when this happens and we may be able to get two-3 (Peter) on the list as well.
Greg.

[ralt]

Hi.
My heat shield goes onto the chassis rail and has a slot which clears the air conditioning pipe going to the front. My shield is stainless and is curved and angled at the front toward the engine to ensure the incoming air flow hits all of the plate and not in the case of a vertical and parallel plate which will only see the air hitting its leading edge. It is bolted to the chassis rail where the original air box bracket was (na6) and uses a 1/8" aluminium spacer between the chassis rail and shield. The reason for the spacer is to have air around the fixing points. As long as you have clearance between the extractor pipe and the shield you will be ok. If they touch the shield will not be as effective. Have fun hope this gives you some ideas.

[droo]

I will take it all onboard! Thanks muchly for the advice. I didn't get around to doing the shielding work this weekend.

[KevGoat]

Excellent stuff!!

My recently fully recon'd aircon in my NA is next to useless over about 34/35°

Going to look at insulating mine, and also that firewall fix.

Even considered insulating under the carpet.

I'm getting soft .......

Sent from my GT-I9100T using Tapatalk 2

[deviant]

Excellent stuff!!

My recently fully recon'd aircon in my NA is next to useless over about 34/35°

Going to look at insulating mine, and also that firewall fix.

Even considered insulating under the carpet.

I'm getting soft .......

Sent from my GT-I9100T using Tapatalk 2

Much easier to insulate the transmission tunnel from underneath the car than it would be to pull the carpets. You can buy self adhesive heat blocking matting that is supposed to withstand some silly temperatures.

[NitroDann]

You want a stick on material for the bottom of the tunnel that can reflect radiant heat.

Dann

[KevGoat]

Much easier to insulate the transmission tunnel from underneath the car than it would be to pull the carpets. You can buy self adhesive heat blocking matting that is supposed to withstand some silly temperatures.

You want a stick on material for the bottom of the tunnel that can reflect radiant heat.

Dann

Just remembered I have some of that stuff in the shed! I used it on the top of the exhaust heat shields (between the shield and the car/boot floor) to stop any vibrations/resonating...but it was just cheap ebay crap, not sure if the black sticky side would be good enough to remain stuck under the tranny tunnel.

Can't you also buy a spray on tar type stuff similar to whats under "ordinary" cars?

Not sure its worth the effort (or extra weight ) in the end .... just drive my DD or "man up" & deal with the heat ....

[timk]

I gave this foam sleeve a go as things get quite warm near the turbo:
*WARNING: do not run the car like this unless you want a fire*



The only difference I have noticed is after doing a mountain run, the car smells like I have been doing skids.

[deviant]

Just remembered I have some of that stuff in the shed! I used it on the top of the exhaust heat shields (between the shield and the car/boot floor) to stop any vibrations/resonating...but it was just cheap ebay crap, not sure if the black sticky side would be good enough to remain stuck under the tranny tunnel.

Can't you also buy a spray on tar type stuff similar to whats under "ordinary" cars?

Not sure its worth the effort (or extra weight ) in the end .... just drive my DD or "man up" & deal with the heat ....

There are a heap of products out there that can reduce the amount of heat getting in to the cockpit. Next time you are under the car have a look around the gearbox, there is quite a bit of space in there and the surface of the tunnel is smooth. You would just need to give it a good clean to make sure whatever you stick to it will stay stuck. I would think that the heat around the gearbox is not really any higher than where Mazda deemed fit to put heat shields for the exhaust....if it falls off you have not really lost anything anyway! Nothing ventured; nothing gained.

http://www.heatshieldproducts.com/category/automotive/5

http://www.dynamat.com/products_automot ... ction.html

Spray on product...probably a pain in the arris to apply unless the gearbox is out:

http://www.lizardskin.com/

Revolution Racegear sell stick on gold

http://www.revolutionracegear.com.au/in ... PCID=10314

I don't drive my car daily but I have still had the odd thought about putting something in the transmission tunnel so I am not arriving at the track uncomfortable. I should probably get the A/C serviced and checked over before going to that step.

I also wonder if it is possible to put a stronger fan in or something. When you put your hand over the vents the air is coming out cold immediately at the vents but the flow is to weak, even with the windows cracked an inch it does not move enough air to keep 'replacing' the air in the cockpit or with the windows closed recycle it before it heats up again.

My daily driver almost pressurises the cockpit with the fans on full, crack the windows and you can hear it speed up again!

[NitroDann]

I did a little work to a MINT NB8C and I noticed if you had the windows all closed up if you turned the fan on/off the rear window would pulse in and out about 2 inches.

Dann

[deviant]

Hmmm...maybe my fan is running slow for some reason, corroded connectors or some such gremlin.

On a warmish day it is comfortable but much above 30-35 and I can only get it to be tolerable, it does not pressurise the cockpit to that extent.

[Locutus]

i'm surprised how many of you are strapping mystery plastics in some of the hottest parts of the engine bay.
i hope you guys have practiced your fire escape procedures and have your extinguishers at the ready.


i have noticed the balloon effect in every soft top mx5 i have been in when the fan is switched on and the vent is not set to recirculate.

[NitroDann]

NA6 fans are actually ok, but no one has EVER replaced the filter on them. Thats why they sound like a clogged up vacuum cleaner.

Dann