Engine heat transmitting to sheet metal

Greetings all,

I'm expering a problem with my '73S, if anyone can offer some advice it would be most appreciated. Since purchasing the car a few months ago, I've noticed that smoke will eminate from the engine compartment after shutting the car down at times...usually when I've been stuck in traffic and the temp gauge reads around 220. Well, the smoke isn't really the problem...I've accepted that it's not uncommon for the car and problably not a concern.

What I am worried about is the rear body (license) panel and surrounding sheet metal. While these components always feel hot after shutting the car down, I attributed this to its proximity to the muffler. Howerver, I've noticed that the all-rubber bumper guards are actually beginning to melt where they meet the sheet metal.

The temp gauge has never registered over 230 (usually 205-215) and I seem to remember reading that the car doesn't mind temps as high as 250.

I have been advised that a heat shield would take care of the problem, but considering that this hasn't appeared to have been a problem in the car's history, a heat shield seems like a "band aid" fix.

Any ideas???

Thanx & best regards,
Tony

Is the paint itself smoking? I'd guess that you've got oil leaking onto your heat exchangers, which is pooling up in the engine compartment when the car stops at the end of a run. It's probably also smoking when you're driving, but dissipating too quickly for you to see it.

250 is too hot, period. 230 isn't good, but it's not disastrous.

Tony,
I agree with Jack, particularly with the car running HOT. When unaltered these old ‘S’ cars are notorious for being ‘cold blooded’. Also, in moderate climates, the temp in an early ‘S’ is usually RPM dependent… the more you twist them the warmer they get. Even before I put on an external oil cooler (some ‘S’s’ came with them, some didn’t) my engine (stock 73’ 2.4-S) seldom got to 220 even in the SoCal summer. For the last 12 years, with the addition of an extra cooler, (retrofitted a 72’ radiator type) my car seldom gets over 210 time trialing it in the desert.
In fact on short trips in winter (if you call a L.A. winter, a winter) it’s hard to get the thing to running temp at all.

Tony, check the temp gauge (usually very accurate) … THEN CHECK YOUR ENGINE!

Chuck

Hello


The rear apron gets heat from the exhaust.

Some aftermarked aprons don´t fit correct and have not enough gap to the muffler so the heat will be soaked into them.

Also if the part is missfittet you can see them "bend" over the exhaust.

Some aftermarked mufflers are a simpler design and not isolatet like the original units.

However they always get hot ;)

You can use a heat reflecting isolation inside the apron.

Those thin layers are mostly sold from exhaust supply or race equipment stores.

We use them to avoid colorchanges.

Grüsse

Wasn't an oil cooler standard on the '73S'? Or was it with air only?

I posted a DIY solution a while back for the hot license plate panel.

pub120.ezboard.com/fearly...=263.topic

Sherwood

Golfcar? The front cooler was standard on the '72S...but in '73 it became an option...Tony? You do check your oil level when oil temp is 180 or higher, car sitting level, at idle, right? Then the level should be between the two dipstick marks. The smoking? Perhaps an oil overfill?