So, we left out for the 4th annual SWMO Hot Rod Hundred in Springfield, MO Friday morning. The Produce truck did great. As with every build, you find things you want to fix, which I did. I had a few, but one was odd. We kept feeling like a heater was running in the cab. I was feeling of the floor, the firewall etc and I couldn't figure it out. I finally found out that it was coming from the seat riser? It was blowing out o the backs of our legs around the tray I built. I saw a small gap around the wiring harness that I will caulk, but other than that I can't figure out why this thing felt like a radiator. I'm gonna hafta do some engineering to build some sort of heat shield or something. It was about a 30 degree difference between outside ambient temp and the air coming out of the riser. Here is a pic of the bottom side. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/the-legrange-produce-tribute-truck-build.936696/page-6 And another of the construction. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/the-legrange-produce-tribute-truck-build.936696/page-4 I am thinking of building a deflector that will screw onto the hole in the bottom where the sender used to be mounted. We used Fat Mat on the inside and we sprayed the entire ting with bed liner material. This would have made the trip way better. Anyone ever had this happen? Just to not sound like a whiny post, here are some pics of the truck at our B&B. It was our 27th anniversary, so Mama Root was being a trooper, so I figured we should splurge!
Thanks. I do know one thing. The 55 is getting a road gear after this trip. Overdrive is the best! 75-80 at 2200.
I purposely routed the mufflers further back to keep from having them under the seat. I think that is a large part of it. I think it's 80% engine heat with no where to go except under the cab.
I think you might be onto something about og sender hole a hole the size of a pencil feels like a furnace blowing just my opinion Tom
Love the truck; turned out way better than even I envisioned. You and Bret have a pair of really cool trucks. I hope that Clarence someday will compared favorably with them.
It is amazing how much air can move through a very small hole at speed. The fact that the air can only escape the box from under the seat means that is where the air will move to. If your truck windows are down, the air passing by your windows creates a vacuum effect and pulls air from everywhere into the cab so it can exit through the windows. Your downfall is when the truck is running and has stopped moving, heat rises, the hot air fills the box, and when you start moving, it comes out from under the seat. The only way you will solve that hot air draft is by sealing all the holes in the cab floor, and creating a location where cooler air might be drawn from, or close the windows and turn on the AC. All modern cars pull the only fresh air into the vehicle at the cowl. Everything else is sealed off. If you can add a cowl vent that dumps at the floor, and have your windows open, you can pull outside temprature air into the car all day. To a degree, you limit how much outside air comes into the cab, by closing off the air intake duct work, or diverting that incoming air into an AC box. Without AC, the problem then depends on how warm the outside air becomes. My coupe, without AC, is actually pretty comfortable to ride in until the outside temp gets in the upper 80s, as long as the car is moving. Gene
well, the last 125 miles the temp gauge pegged and would fluctuate between 185-250. I would slow down to 40 mph and it would drop back within 2 minutes. I think I have a sender going bad. The fan was cycling on and off and if the temp was really that hot, it would have been boiling over. We limped it home, since I wasn't positive, I didn't wanna chance it.
I can not believe that we were both there and I did not see you to say hello. The truck looks great. John
Great to visit. Your truck sure turned out sweet. I like the short video of you on I-44 that Dan posted on facebook.
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