Very Hot Cockpit

[Guest micky bigthumbs]

I wanted to know is it normal in a series 111a for the cockpit to be very hot the car runs ok , but it gets unbareable on long runs , im new to hoods and have only restored mine and i dont know what the norm is.

[Guest timswait]

In a robin hood you are sat with the engine and gear box right next to you so it can get a little hot. If it's a hot day then my 2B is definitely uncomfortable with the roof up (all the more excuse to get it off!).

There are a few things you can do to improve it though. Does the heat come from the heater, if so, it may be worth disconnecting it for the summer months (just connect the two hoses that go to it together). If the heat's coming from the engine bay then make sure the firewall is properly sealed so no air an blow through from the engine bay. Also wrapping the exhaust manifold in lagging will reduce the under bonnet temperatures, and so should make the cockpit a little cooler.

[Guest salty_monk]

and put some extra vents in the side of the bonnet so the air can escape through these instead of squeezing it's way through every nook & cranny to your legs...

[Big Jim]

Make sure the pedal box is on, and fits well. Fill in the big hole that's in the side of it somehow.

If it has a heater (in those days they actually fitted the sierra heater) make sure that there are no gaps around it. Basically you have to seal the engine bay from the cockpit.

[Guest micky bigthumbs]

Thanks to All... on closer inspection the two colanders that are the fire wall and pedal box need some serious plugging there is a heater but it is in a fixed hot position and i think the guy that built it only had a 3" drill bit.

[Guest Gizmo]

Hi Micky,

Just tought I would add my "two-penneth", since I reckon I had the hotest cockpit in the South (in my series 3a that is). Mine was mainly caused the "colander effect" as you so rightly put it - the gaps down the sides of the footwell are something else. I filled mine with flexible polymer filler and that cured about 80% of the problem. Then "Thermowrap" on the exhausts took away another 15%... finally a "chicken wire" vent in body right by the 4-branch did the rest. Now I am reasonable comfortable all year.

I don't have heater. I do have a mini blower box, but it only has a "fresh" (fresh as in the exhaust from the guy in front) air intake under the passenger side wing for cooling my legs since the tunnel still gets hot from the gearbox on longer trips. My "heater" is a flap over the inspection hole in the pedal box. With the flap open, heat from the exhausts rushes in quite nicely ; when it's closed it seals off the final "leak" between me and the hot bits up front.

[Longboarder]

there is a heater but it is in a fixed hot position

This is normal as this circuit acts as cylinder head water circulation before the stat opens and prevents hot spots etc. If you want to have the heater 'off' you should fit a bypass with a valve to divert flow either to the heater or to the bypass, not just an on/off valve.

 

Nigel

[Guest salty_monk]

I've been looking at doing the exact same thing... anyone know a good source of what is the "Bypass tap" in Longboarder's pic??

 

Presumably you need a 3 way valve so that you can either shut off the bypass or the heater.

 

I was assuming it would be better to fit on the other side (opposite) too because I think the flow of water is clockwise in your diagram. Am I wrong in this??

[Longboarder]

Comes out of the inlet manifold on the nearside of the pinto head, past the valve, through the heater and back to the water pump. Then out through the stat to the top of the rad, down through the rad, back to the pump and into the block. I don't think it would make any difference which side you put a valve. A few people run without any manifold to pump circuit at all and say they have no problem.

 

Nigel