Floors get hot-how do you fix it?

jckkys said:

Did you use embossed or flat aluminum sheet? Are there drain holes for water that gets between the steel and aluminum sheet metal? How is it secured? Spacers to maintain 1/2"?

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nvrstuk said:

We get so many posts asking how to cool the floors and FB is full of them so here's my experience from when I bought my Bronco in June of '76... on a very tight budget trying to alleviate the problem.

My wife used to move to the back seat on some of our long trips on 90+ deg heat days because she was always burning up.

Here ya go


In order- what I tried with large time gaps between trying something new...

- I tried heat mat on the firewall and floors back in the '80's.

-I put 2 layers of jute backing under my new carpet...

-I put a body lift in

-I ceramic coated the headers

-I put dynamat in

-I wrapped the headers AND exhaust to the mufflers behind the frt seats.

- When I did my suspension build in '17 I put alum sheets spaced 1/2" off the firewall and the floor. This ONE change did more than ALL the others combined... almost unbelievable difference.

Multiple readings on the console and passenger floor...temps were from 148- 149 deg F on a 100 deg day prior to installing the alum spacers after a 10 to 30 minute drive.

After putting alum sheets on the firewall from the top of the heads down and underneath the floor pans to behind the seats -- the console and floor pan temps dropped to 102 deg F on a similar 100 deg F day after driving around for 40 minutes... this is with the dual mufflers mounted directly under the seats.

Put all the liners and coatings and dynomat and carpet ya want on...but the best thing is to have a heat shield barrier with a small air gap.

My buddy did this to his Bronco in the mid '80's and I just didn't want to go thru the hassle of trying it...well, I could have saved myself 30 yrs of broiling to death !!!

Hope this helps someone!

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nvrstuk said:

- When I did my suspension build in '17 I put alum sheets spaced 1/2" off the firewall and the floor. This ONE change did more than ALL the others combined... almost unbelievable difference.

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lars said:

Yup. Aluminum slows the radiant heat transfer. Air gap slows the conductive/convective heat transfer. I tried most of those things myself Brian, now have a big heat shield made from 1/8" aluminum sheet above the accessible part of my exhaust system (I have a 2 into 1 down the passenger side) from under the passenger seat to behind the muffler, just ahead of the rear axle. Unbelievable is right. I didn't quantify the numbers but the aft floor under my rubber mat (and above it if I had gear loaded on a long trip) would get way too hot to touch. With the heat shield in place it gets lukewarm.

I made mine from 1/8" thick 1100 series aluminum sheet, figuring I needed excellent corrosion resistance and malleability so it would be easy to form, at the expense of not-needed strength. Like this: https://www.mcmaster.com/88685k95
Bent flanges along the edges to stiffen it, etc.

Stood it off from the underside of the floor using hex threaded spacers like this: https://www.mcmaster.com/91780a218

That way I could bolt the standoffs to the floor from above (helps to have a helper to do that, my arms weren't long enough) and bolt the heat shield up from the bottom, which means that I can remove it for cleaning if I want. Or what ever.

No pics, but if anyone is interested I can take some. As nvrstuk reports the difference is amazing, better than all other solutions put together, and it was easy. When my engine comes out again someday, hopefully fairly soon (another story) I will add the same thing on the firewall and down the front part of the tunnel.

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