A lot of heat at my feet!

[c4steve]

Hi everyone! I tried searching but didn't find what I was looking for. Ok,my '89 auto is almost to 100k (just a few hundred away ) and after running some errands earlier today which took a little longer than usual I noticed alot of heat coming from the tranny tunnel/foot area. The tranny fluid is full and looks nice and red/smells normal but I've never changed it (shifts smooth to). I'm planning on servicing my tranny within the next week or so and was thinking about installing a cooler of some sort....

Mainly I just wanted to know if this is somewhat normal on these C4's? If not what kinda trouble an I in???

Thanks all

 

[TedC]

I have a red 1989 as well.

Heat does transfer into the cabin from the engine area.
It improved when I installed a 180 degree thermostat.

Wild axx guess... Blockage in one or both of the front cats???
How does it run at WOT?
Do you have an infrared thermometer?
If so, you can measure pipe temp going into and out of the cats.

 

[c4steve]

Beautiful vette! I love the bright red on the C4's .... Ya know mine has been,how would I say... Not all together at full throttle,a bit sluggish I guess but still gets to speed. I've only had the vette for about 4 years now and the only thing I haven't messed with is the transmission cause I know nothing about them. Those pre cats gotta go though,I'm curious how much it would cost to have a shop cut em' out and weld in pieces of pipes of same size.....?

Thanks .

 

[boomdriver]

Thats gonna be a problem....

its illegal to remove any smog equip that came on the car. You'll have to replace the front Y pipe with a new one and find someone to do that, or find a friend with a shop that can get it on a lift and do the work. You MIGHT have some luck if you can convince some shop that its an "off-road" only car, then its ok to remove cats and other things...but make certain they believe it !
Thats how I got mine done...trailer to a muffler shop with new pipes on the trailer, license plate removed, and a good story regarding serious auto-cross...

You might want to get some form of undercoating as well. Even if the cats go away, the heat from the engine still comes right back thru the fiber glass floor pans and with all the glass...its hard to stay cool inside.

 

[TedC]

You can purchase a y pipe replacement with no cats and a 3 way converter that is EPA approved and 49 state legal. This is just one example of a company who sells them. Corvette Y-Pipe, Front, DynoMax, With 3-Way Oxidation Catalytic Converter System, 1986-1991 - Corvette Parts and Accessories

 

[boomdriver]

You can purchase a y pipe replacement with no cats and a 3 way converter that is EPA approved and 49 state legal. This is just one example of a company who sells them. Corvette Y-Pipe, Front, DynoMax, With 3-Way Oxidation Catalytic Converter System, 1986-1991 - Corvette Parts and Accessories

What do those sell for? Its been 15 yrs since I bought my "clean" off-road Y pipe...seems like it was 2-$300.

 

[TedC]

In my prior post was a link. If you click on it it will show a y-pipe and a single 3 way cat kit for $330. Using a cat-less y-pipe with stock converter is not EPA approved and is considered off road use only. Now in my state of NY, due to the vintage of the car, they only visually inspect that a converter is installed. When (not if) I run into issues with the cat internals falling apart, I'll install a kit like this one.