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The engine bay and exhaust |
The first course of action was to provide some heatshielding around the
exhaust downpipe, silencer and tailpipe.
The blue object on the garage wall is a foam camping mat screwed to the wall to protect the doors from the rough bricks. |
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The boot tub |
The outside sufaces of the boot tub moulding facing the engine and the exhaust
silencer were covered with an aluminiumised woven fibreglass cloth to reflect the heat. Although this did reduce the heat slightly, the boot floor was still too hot. |
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Boot floor removed |
Time to get radical! The heart of the problem is that the exhaust silencer was too
close to the fibreglass boot floor. As I didn't want to mess with the exhaust system,
the only option was to move the boot floor. I decided to take the plunge and cut out the boot floor adjacent to the exhaust silencer with an angle grinder. |
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No going back now! | The new boot floor was to follow the same profile as the wheel arches at either end of the boot moulding. The stainless steel angle section was left in place as it provided strength and a lower mounting point for the moulding. |
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The new boot floor | A strip of timber was glued and screwed to the engine bay wall of the boot moulding to provide stiffness and somewhere to attach the aluminium sheet used for the new boot floor. Any gaps were sealed with the kitcar builder's friend: silicone sealant. |
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The finished item |
The end result is a boot floor several inches away from the exhaust silencer instead
of a few millimetres. After this photo was taken, aluminiumised woven fibreglass cloth
was attached to the underside of the moulding to further reduce heat transfer.
After a few test drives, I can confirm that this modification is a success. The boot floor remains cool after a ong drive. I guess I'll have to find somewhere else to keep my takeaways warm! |