Question for thought? 1st...Heater boxes
 

I have a 74 with the SSI type exchangers....

Now since heat is a problem with the older 2.7 engines, wouldnt it make sense to reverse the flow of the exchangers so the cool air is pushed into the front and the hot air is pushed out the back so it could be ported to outside of the engine bay. After all, as it stands now the hot air cooling the headers is dumped right into the engine bay area next to the transmission....

I have been toying with this idea.....any thoughts?

Huh? Not sure what you mean, but any air passing thru the heat exchangers is gonna be really hot. You should not be having hot air being "dumped" into the engine bay, that's what the tin pieces are for.

Underside
 

What I mean is that heater boxes dump hot air next to the transmission in the lower engine bay. All of the hot air circulates in the transmission and lower engine area....

Why not dump it out of this area and away from the engine all together...

If your heater valves are working correctly, the hot air should be dumping down and at speed, the air should be carried away fine, at idle, there 'may' be some heat buildup. However, I would be more concerned about the heat 'radiating' from the heat exchangers to the lower valve cover area. They make "Heat Shields" for this very purpose. The other thing you can do is upgrade your 5-blade fan to a later one, if you have a 5-blade. This will get more air moving for cooling.. Just some thoughts......

I have the 11 blade fan and have the heat sheets. I was just thinking why dump all that hot air in the compartment, why not port it out from beneath the car, it seems it would run a little cooler in traffic.
I agree at speed its not an issue.

Chris