Mikelly Posted September 29, 2000 Share Posted September 29, 2000 I've missed out on the fun here... This past summer I seriously suffered from exactly what you guys are experiencing... I have the Late model camaro starter, which runs about $300 retail. I cooked it, and its relay. I also have ceramic headers.. Also have a custom exhaust that runs within about 3 inches of the starter. I posted here months ago that I had WAYYY to much heat under hood... So much that I was melting wire loom. OK, what I started with was a remote solenoid from Summit and a "Hot Shot" voltage booster from painless wiring... No good.. Still got heat soak... I ran 1/0 wiring all the way back from the hatch... I also am running that gucci sealed battery that everyone raves about... So how did I fix it? Several things were done... but 1st, Pete touched on something I know to be true based on my problems.. Ceramic coated headers radiate WAY too much heat under hood in my opinion. I'm not only basing this on my car, but others have made comment that they noticed under hood heat rise as well in their corvettes, camaros, and pickup trucks.. Why does it impact us more? Close quarters for the motor to the fenderwells and firewall. Now you real smart guys are gonna say that thermodynamically it can't be so... I know, I know. I thought the same exact thing. however, one of the sharper guys I know has a 69 camaro with a big block in it and he had no issues with the car untill he shipped his existing headers out to be coated.. Within hours of installing the now coated headers, this guy experienced an under hood fire due to wires melting and grounding against each other. FYI, I wouldn't use that header wrao stuff on anything that will rust... It collects moisture that will allow those parts to rust when the car is sitting and cold...Read: over night during a heavy dew or frost...I rusted a motorsport header off a L28 motor in one season years ago thanks to header wrap... I still have excess heat underhood so much that my satin finished vacuum cannister is hot to the touch. I'm running the late model vented hood which does help when moving, but I'm still keeping an eye on the wiring harness next to the passenger side header... I wrapped all my wiring in the DEI heat tape that is designed to help with this problem. I also ran my fuel lines in the fenderwell so they stay cool as well. I now have condesation on my carburetor metering blocks at idle. I wouldn't recommend running your starter solenoid underhood unless you can run it in front of the strut tower, because the heat back behind the strut tower just takes to much of a toll on the unit. So is it the ceramic? Is it just my car? Is it the fact that the car was soooo poorly tuned? I know all these questions will be fired at me because you are a sharp bunch... I tuned the car before I did anything else... I leaned it out and got the timing up, which by the way found me a bunch of Hp!! I then bought the remote start solenoide since the tuning didn't help with the heatsoak on the starter. I relocated the starter solenoide to several different spots in the engine bay to no avail! I also installed the HotShot after the solenoide didn't work but I removed it after it to didn't work. I even installed a heat shield on the starter... Didn't work. Only after I moved the starter solenoide to the outside of the engine bay did my starter heat soak problem go away. After I fixed it, a hotrodder told me about the trick of spinning the starter button and then throwing the ignition switch. That supposedly saves the life of any starter...Oh well. That won't work for most of you guys, but when I moved the starter solenoid out of the engine bay all my heatsoak issue went away. Mike ------------------ "I will not be a spectator in the sport of life!" mjk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted September 29, 2000 Share Posted September 29, 2000 Mike, you've told me that about the ceramic coating making it seem like hood temps went UP after it was put on headers and that was the first I'd heard that. What gets me is that it's totally contradictory of the info the coaters advertise. I'm wondering about the variability of the coating thickness set to set and the effect of thickness on insulative properties. I'm stumped. The ceramic is supposed to insulate, but there isn't much that seems to be on coated headers. Plus a shiny AL surface shouldn't have much emissivity, and therefore shouldn't be an efficient radiant source even if the outer header surface did get hot. (I work with IR weenies these days, I'll be asking some questions. Seems IR is a great tool for telling where "bad things" in the sky are. ) I wonder what good if any one of those custom fit aluminzed heat blankets for block hugger headers would do. Since they fit loose, I'm wondering if that wouldn't be a good way to go to keep heat from radiating off the headers. I've been thinking about investing in an IR temp sensor gun with the laser pointer. This tool would help answer how hot the header surface really was, and if that head pipe under the starter is a problem. Plus you could use it to hunt for good camber settings at the track. Oh yeah. I've seen that passenger frame rail harness melt on an initial V8 startup. That's why mine is relocated up high on the fender well. I had to add a foot to about 8 wires to be able to do that, but no biggie. It's at least a foot from the headers everywhere but at the firewall. I'll take some picks of the engine compartment and put them on my site this weekend. Those muffin fans are sounding better all the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Frank280z Posted October 1, 2000 Share Posted October 1, 2000 The remote selenoid worked. For now... Temps in PA are holding around 70. So the real test won't be until next summer on a road trip. So using the 1/0 welding cable throughout to /from the remote sel. to the starter and battery. Its mounted where the batt. used to reside. Worked great. I could shut it off at the gas station now. And pay more attention to the people watch me fill my trunk up(cell)....hehehe. Frank ------------------ Build it. Drive it. Improve it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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