Cat heat shield for A/C condensor, your thoughts

Hugh R · 09:17 PM

Sorry I didn't take a pic before installing it. But I made a heat shield out of two heavy duty throw away aluminum foil baking pans and an inch think of regular Owens-Corning spun fiberglass insulation. Sandwiched the insulation and used a desk stapler to staple the edges. Why did I do this? I have an A/C condensor in my left rear behind the wheel well. You can see the condensor and fan in the left side of the pic. The reason was 1) the condensor can "see" the cat, thus radiant heat, and 2) I stuck a thermometer in between the two at idle, hot and was getting about 120 degrees F. Thus I think the condensor was acting more like an evaporator. Any thoughts. The cat is open to the air on the opposite side of the heat shield. The cost was about two bucks.

vreference · 07-13-2008, 08:08 PM

It would be interesting to get the "after" test data.

York · 07-14-2008, 05:57 AM

I bet that will help since the cat gets really hot. I just checked mine after a 20 minute ride and it was 450+ degrees F while everything on the engine was around 250.

tcar · 07-14-2008, 06:15 AM

Make sure it's not touching the cat, should have an air gap.

cel · 07-14-2008, 06:57 AM

Inferred heat is your enemy here. Aluminum does not radiate much in the inferred wavelength. As long as the cat does not destroy the aluminum you did good.

3.2 CAB · 07-14-2008, 07:43 AM

Neat idea! How did you mount your new "heat shield" to the existing cat shield?

Hugh R · 07-14-2008, 08:14 AM

Good point about an air gap between it and the cat. I'll double check tonight. I loosened the metal shield underneath the cat and just stuffed it in there. It's stiff enough that it doesn't move on the top half unless I physically bend it.

Hugh R · 07-22-2008, 07:45 PM

I just finished driving the car about 10 miles and stuck my hand on the heat shield that I made. Honest to god, the surface temperature of it was just barely above ambient! I'm still going to put some high volume computer muffin fans on the front condensor by elongating the existing fan hole, removing the spare tire and double stacking two more sets of fans. I may re-evacuate and re-charge with R-134a. I may have introduced a leak when I pulled a vacuum last time.

mthomas58 · 07-23-2008, 03:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hugh R

I just finished driving the car about 10 miles and stuck my hand on the heat shield that I made. Honest to god, the surface temperature of it was just barely above ambient! I'm still going to put some high volume computer muffin fans on the front condensor by elongating the existing fan hole, removing the spare tire and double stacking two more sets of fans. I may re-evacuate and re-charge with R-134a. I may have introduced a leak when I pulled a vacuum last time.

Hugh, check out the Spal motorcycle ATV fans. The 4" moves 124 CFM and is beefier than any computer muffin fan that I've seen. I've got one of them mounted on my rear condenser. (far left in the pic)

http://www.spalusa.com/

scottb · 07-23-2008, 08:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mthomas58

Mark: What size fans are those? Is that a stock condenser in a non-turbo car? I assume they're "pullers," correct?

Nice installation...

tcar · 07-23-2008, 08:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scottb

Mark: What size fans are those? Is that a stock condenser in a non-turbo car? I assume they're "pullers," correct?

Nice installation...

He says the one on the left is a 4" spal, center looks like 6"...

Looks just like a stock condenser. Not turbo (Carrera, 84-89, looks like).

Should be 'pullers'. If they're not, reverse the wires.

Hugh R · 07-23-2008, 12:30 PM

I have a wing with three 4" computer fans. Maybe I'll try two of those big Spals.

mthomas58 · 07-23-2008, 12:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scottb

Mark: What size fans are those? Is that a stock condenser in a non-turbo car? I assume they're "pullers," correct?

Nice installation...

Stock condenser 1987 with rear wiper notch out. Fans are all pullers: 4" at 124 CFM, 5.2" at 313 CFM and 7.5" at 440 CFM

All the details here:

Adding 3 fans to rear A/C condenser

rusnak · 07-23-2008, 04:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hugh R

I just finished driving the car about 10 miles and stuck my hand on the heat shield that I made. Honest to god, the surface temperature of it was just barely above ambient! I'm still going to put some high volume computer muffin fans on the front condensor by elongating the existing fan hole, removing the spare tire and double stacking two more sets of fans. I may re-evacuate and re-charge with R-134a. I may have introduced a leak when I pulled a vacuum last time.

has anyone had good results by increasing the cooling to the front condenser? It seems like the factory fan barely blows any air at all.