Im roasting in my car, ideas to cool it down.

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66Valiant528

66Valiant528

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So besides a little fan anybody have any suggestions to kill some of the heat inside my car? I have a 9.9 firesuit collar and helmet on and I'm melting waiting in the staging lanes. Shiney silver heat mat stuff? What works? What do you guys use/do? Looking for suggestions. Please.
 
In the FD, we had cooling vests in our rehab area. Might be worth looking them up. It's been a while since I retired so, unfortunately, I have no info on them.
 
Is the heat from the headers or engine? Put heat shields under the floor to keep these hot parts from heating up the cabin.

have a helper and keep both doors open as long as possible.

I put a large towel on the windshield to keep the sun off the seat, steering wheel and dash while it’s sitting in the lanes. Makes a difference.
 
In our race truck we run Parker pumpers for fresh air to our helmets. When we’re waiting to start a race, with our helmets off, we stick the hose down in to our suits and it’s amazing how much they help.
Kartek Off-Road: Search
 
How soon do you get in your car before making a run? I’m slow and only need a helmet, pants, jacket and 5 pt harness. I usually get in my car with 2-3 pairs to run in front of me. I don’t crank my driver side window up until I start to pull into the burnout box. My track moves cars at a decent pace so I usually don’t have to be fully strapped in my car long.
 
I thank you all. Obviously I try to keep my door open as long as possible and try to minimize seat time but only my drivers window has a regulator everything else is lexan and stationary. I assume the heat is coming from my fenderwell headers right against the firewall. I was thinking about like reflective heat shield stuff. Inside on the firewall. Anyone recommend any brand? Thank you all. It all goes away when I hit the burnout box but I can't wait to pull my helmet off and open the window at the end of the run!
 
The Parker pumps are the real deal. By same token there is a whole bunch of folks making cooling vests that go under your uniform and body armor. They would work equally as well under track fire suit. Less cost than air pump but also less effective. But man do they help.
 
Scuff the top up and give it the polar cap treatment. Paint it white.
 
I just got my Cool Shirt system and I cannot wait to install it.

If you buy their shirt, you can make your own pump system out of a cooler and ice water. Filled, it adds about 30lbs of weight that you can move around optimally if you have corner scales

www.summitracing.com

Cool Shirt 2002-0005 Cool Shirt Pro Air and Water Cooling Systems | Summit Racing

Free Shipping - Cool Shirt Pro Air and Water Cooling Systems with qualifying orders of $109. Shop Personal Cooling Equipment Systems at Summit Racing.
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66Valiant528 said:
right against the firewall. I was thinking about like reflective heat shield stuff. Inside on the firewall.
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Any room at all to get sheetmetal between the header and firewall? Any bit of an airgap between the header and a shield, and the shield & firewall would be substantial. The firewall metal is going to act like a heatsink and spread the heat over as much area as possible.
Add a duct from the grille area to "spray" cool air at the area of firewall that the header tube heats up.
I know its a race car, but create a headliner out of 1" fiberglass ductboard. use a small paint roller to roll resin on the cut edges to prevent flying fibers. it doesn't weigh that much.
 
I like the ideas here guys. Thank you. I'm kind of surprised nobody has suggested the sticky back insulation. I guess it's probably more for sound.
 
I like the air flow helmet or course I replaced my 2015 helmet last year. I have some room between the headers and firewall although not much. Funny the pipes are Jethot coated in and out. The aluminum radiator and big fan blow hot air onto the block and firewall. I think when I Iet the car cool after the run the hot air heats the firewall. Maybe I should try dumping a gallon of water on the firewall between runs to coolit down or a plant mister....
 
If you don't have a headliner putting something up there will help a lot. My car doesn't have one and it is the biggest reason for being medium rare in the lanes. On the street its never much of an issue but it always gets me in the lanes.
 
Bluecuda340 said:
If you don't have a headliner putting something up there will help a lot. My car doesn't have one and it is the biggest reason for being medium rare in the lanes. On the street its never much of an issue but it always gets me in the lanes.
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And painting the roof white. Look at all UPS trucks. There's a reason they paint the roofs white. lol
 
I'm surprised that so many people have extolled the virtues of a headliner. That and white paint and a couple of header heat shields would be a way an inexpensive start. Although I have the money to do a Parker pump/new helmet set up and the cooling shirt set up but I'd rather spend that on other stuff. Thank you all and I agree night racing is way cooler
 
66Valiant528 said:
I'm surprised that so many people have extolled the virtues of a headliner. That and white paint and a couple of header heat shields would be a way an inexpensive start. Although I have the money to do a Parker pump/new helmet set up and the cooling shirt set up but I'd rather spend that on other stuff. Thank you all and I agree night racing is way cooler
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I think you will be surprised what the polar cap treatment will do. We got a metal roof on the house a few years ago. Yup. I got it in white. I can see the difference in the electric bill now. It helps. My 75 F250 is white with a white headliner and still with the factory insulation. It's WAY cooler than our red 2004 Escape when we get in each going somewhere. It's a huge difference in temperature. When I finally paint Vixen, she'll get the polar cap treatment too.
 
I ordered 2 qts of rustoleum enamel. Plan on Epping August 20th for Dragging in the 50s.i should be painted at least by then. Maybe try to fab a heat shield or 2 also. Roll cage bars too? Although I obviously don't want to cover chassis cert tag.and ETI tag.
 
66Valiant528 said:
I ordered 2 qts of rustoleum enamel. Plan on Epping August 20th for Dragging in the 50s.i should be painted at least by then. Maybe try to fab a heat shield or 2 also. Roll cage bars too? Although I obviously don't want to cover chassis cert tag.and ETI tag.
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Is this going on the car in your avatar? The blue will look nice with a white top!
 
Yes. But at this point I'm only painting the entire interior. I am planning on some type of red white and blue theme like Sox and Martin
 
66Valiant528 said:
Yes. But at this point I'm only painting the entire interior. I am planning on some type of red white and blue theme like Sox and Martin
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Red and white like the Ramchargers would look cool, too.
 
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