One more backdate heat question - half way heat
 

Is it possible to only used the heat generated from the back of a set of SSIs?

In other words, close up the front of the engine by the fan with block off plates, and the front of the SSIs as well but leave the rear plugged in.

Has anyone done this?

I imagine the hot air flow will not be the same because the fan is not feeding the hot air from the engine but the rear should supply some from the heat of the SSIs.

The engine will run cooler, and the difference in temperature in the heater tube rockers and the SSIs may be enough to pull some heat into the cabin. It may work in Southern California weather, any thoughts or holes in this way of running heat?

In my mind, the benefits will be a cleaner engine bay (no more heater tubes) and a cooler engine.

my heat openings on my ssi's are open with a liitle mesh screen like the kind for home gutters, hose clamped on there to keep critters out. from there the drivers side hose to the flapper valve is removed. So no heat on the drivers side. On the passenger side its connected so heat goes up there through through the flapper to the stock footwell blower. That's the only blower I have in there and I get serious heat. More heat than in any car I've ever driven.
so basically, my one footwell blower pulling air from one open ended ssi heats the car. My other ssi is open ended both ways to let the hot air out.

Jerry,

Do you have any issues with exhaust fumes?

It's the reason I was planning to cap the SSIs at the front, but I like your mesh screen idea better. It probably helps to get more hot air in the cabin.

I don't have footwell blowers...

Yes, but you're car is EEEEEEVIIIIILLLLLLLL!

no fumes, and actually the air smells better, I maybe use the heat for three months total. The problem is the open ended ssi's and when and if you ever spill and cleaning fluids down there.
You'll have to pull over and get out until it all evaporates.
When I did this I figures that capping one side would be a bad idea, considering all the heat in the box.
even without the footwell blower if everything was open I still had heat getting in the car. (bad flapper) so without a fan it may or may not work well enough.
it's not that evil man, but Laurie hates it even more now.

It's good to know that some heat will still make it's way into the cabin if the flappers are open. All I have is the handbrake levers to manage the heat.

Good point on spilling stuff into the exchanger shroud...

Thanks again for all the good info. Cheers

I have the front of my SSIs capped, but flapper boxes in place and there is no airflow at all to the cabin. Even when I had the blowers still in place I got no airflow. I think you have to go with mesh to make this work.

the plot thickens...

Capped SSIs at the front equals no heat.

Mesh wrapped fronts equals heat.

This is making more sense, the mesh creates "air flow". The cabin air temperature and plumbing will be at a lower temperature than hot air from the exchangers. When the flapper box is open, all the air in the exchanger will want to move towards the "cooler" side of the car, meanwhile the mesh screen provide "movement" Can someone prove or disprove this theory?

here's an old pic http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1165354885.jpg

It has more to do with pressure differential, and maybe a little bit with convection.


BTW, blocking off the shroud won't necessarily equal a cooler engine. You need the airflow over the exchangers to cool them down. Particularly in traffic. That's the hottest part of the engine. Heat soak after engine shut-off is the killer of the seals and gaskets.

There's plenty of airflow to the engine from the fan, so it's not a very good trade-off for a street car. I'd keep the plumbing to the echangers on a street car and anything other than a track-only car.

If you run headers, that's another story.

mines blocked off for the turbo stuff, no room

Would leaving the ends open (with a mesh) on the front of the exchangers help with cooling the exhaust? I realize it won't be as much as a fan flowing air, but I'm guessing it's definitely better than capping them.

Anyone else out there who's done this setup?

It seems that a new concern is heat trapped in the exchangers wether capped or open with a mesh screen at the front. What kind of temperatures are we talking about with/without being plugged in to the air flow from the fan.

Mine is capped at the front and my car never runs hot in street use, even in traffic on really hot days. The only time it runs hot (and even then never above the second mark) is on a hot day at the track. I have the stock oil cooler in the fender - no mods to the oil cooling system.

You're not going to see it on the oil temp gauge. If you had a cylinder head temp gauge you'd see it, particularly after shutting the car off and letting it heat soak up into the heads. That's bad for selas and gaskets. It cooks them.

Thanks Tyson. I decided to take the caps off on the weekend and see if there was any difference on the temp gauge, but there wasn't. You have now explained why, so I won't be putting the caps back on. It'll be mesh from now on.