How hot does it get in there?
 

I'm thinking about putting various things into the engine compartment on my SC, but I'm not sure how hot it gets. Has anyone run tests with a thermometer? How hot does the block get? What about the air temperature off in one of the back corners of the engine bay?

On my 85, 3.2L, the block is 10-20 degrees hotter than the oil temp, the air - on a hot August day in NJ, after a spirited drive - gets in the neighborhood of 200 degrees in the recesses you're talking about.
In an air-cooled motor, all measured temps will be relative to the ambient temperature.
Bill K

That's not too bad - I'm thinking about rigging some 120mm fans in line with the hoses from the engine fan to the heat exchangers. I can get 200 cubic-feet-per-minute fans fairly cheaply, but I don't know how they'll hold up under high temperatures.

Essentially the system would look like backdated heat except there would be a fan inline with the pipe on each side.

EDIT: Here's a spec sheet for one such fan. Sadly, its only rated at 70C (158F)
http://www.nidecamerica.com/fanpdfs/va450dcf.pdf