Interior heat from steering colum.assm.

[George Black]

Has anyone installed reflectix ,or other insulation material, on the lower steering column assembly (interior side) where it exits the firewall under the dash and enters the drivers side compartment? ( about 8 inches of exposed column). All my steering colum. assm. firewall seals are in place. Lots of heat being emitted--on my feet!-- from the assm. Very hot to the touch. Appears heat is being conducted/transfered from engine compartment via the lower interior side steering colum.assm. Anyone experienced this on a 1973? Thanks!--George.

 

[Robin7TFour]

george, there have been several post on how to battle interior heat.many of us are using the thermal heat barriers sold by Lowe's. it's appx $15 a roll and will do most of the forward interior. if you can ,pull the seats and carpet and do as much of the inside as possible. YOU will notice a difference.

Bubba. the helpful hardware man!

 

[George Black]

Robin: I agree and thanks for the input. I have already installed the Lowe's reflectix under the carpet, heater hose cutoff valve, checked all firewall/rear hood/bell housing foam seals, etc. You are correct--it all helps. The interior steering colum. assm. under the driver's dash appears to be the only remaining area I intend to "fix". The colum. assm. acts as a heat conduit directly into the interior compartment!--George

 

[Bob Chadwick]

George,

I have put the Reflectix over overything up front, including over the drive tunnel which was the biggest area of heat radiation in my car, with great success. I will need to check out how much heat is coming off the steering column next time I take her for a drive.

Let us know what you do. Every little bit helps.

Bob

 

[George Black]

Bob: For comparison/curiousity I examined the steering colum. assm. on my two late model passenger cars. Both had substantial insulation either on & around the column assm. under the dash/interior firewall, or on the firewall (refectix type material) in the engine compartment around the steering column entry point. I intend to do the following this weekend: (1) install/wrap reflectix around the exposed metal steering colum.assm. under the interior dash. (2) install reflectix over the diamond shaped metal "steering column lower plate" (interior side, secured by two bolts/nuts to the firewall)--which the steering column passes through. The plate was also very hot to the touch after driving and a major source of interior heat. These two improvements will have to help my 73 model considerably. Maybe your 77 has better insulation in this area. I will let you know how it turns out!--George.

 

[George Black]

Feedback: Big Improvement! The reflectix material is amazing! Minimal $costs and work for great results. The driver's side Air Cond. vent even blows colder due to the reduction in heat under the dash. Apparently the under dash heat from steering colmn. was also heating the AC duct--the column passes directly over the AC duct. This was a good "fix" on my 73 model.--George

 

[Bob Chadwick]

George,

Post some pics if you can.

Bob