I'm having a Hot steering column issue. I'm guessing it's from the header tube that passes it. It's just at 1/4" gap between them.

I feel heat under the column and when i place my hand on the cast aluminum sections of the column after about a half hour in warm weather it's very warm. I believe the heat is working its way up through the column tube.

I'm thinking a header wrap around the column and/or header "section" or maybe an aluminum shield (tight clearance though)

What should I use to cut down on heat soak in the steering column? single choice
	Header Wrap
	Aluminum Heat Shield
Votes accepted starting: 07/22/11 10:34 PM
View Results

Later columns had a sleeve wrapping the perforated portion of the column housing inside the cabin to prevent hot underhood air from traveling up the inside of the column housing and exhausting through the "grating" of the perforated portion of the housing to the cabin. My 72 didn't have the sleeve, but a '74 B-body did.

That may be part of the source of heat near the pedals; the convection (through the column housing) as well as the heat conduction of the housing (and shaft) itself.

You can make a crude sleeve yourself from cardboard and duct tape. Just wrap the perforated portion of the housing underdash.
Or perhaps use strips of duct tape. Whatever mess you're willing to tolerate...

get the header coated, this will help in dispersing heat away quicker
i have never had this issue so i can say about a wrap, exspecialy on the steering, , a shield could be designed i guess

I have a black plastic sleeve that wrapped around that perferated section. It just seems the heat goes inside the column and the cast aluminum just soaks it all up. I don't want to ruin any wiring and such inside the column. And Id like to keep that heat down when it's warm.

If it was me, I'd fab up some metal shield that can bolt to the brake m/c stud and hang between the column and header tube.

I have seen where the tube was cut/notched/clearanced with the cut being re-welded/boxed to give more room at the header tube on an a-body

maybe that can be done,just have to cut/slice it the couple inches at the header tube and make a flat area on the round tube of the colum.

a small piece of the insulation with the silver backing like used unhood of some car(grab some from a JY) could be wraped and tied to the colum where the tube ends and the shaft pokes out to keep heat and air moveing up the hollow of colum.

looks may be the only down fall of the insulation wrap

I'm going to try and locate a piece of aluminum today and fab up something, will keep you all posted..thanks

Couldn't you stuff some pink fiberglass insulation up inside the coluum? Or is the lower bearing in the way? That would stop the hot air from going up the coluum and won't cause any safety concerns. When it falls out stuff some more up there.

Here's a little Update, I made a shield out of some aluminum sheetmetal, put a couple flanges on it with some holes, and attached it to firewall/steering column bolt ends. I only fastened it at the top part with a nut. No test time yet as i just got it on. Clears shifter linkage as well.

is the lower plastic bushing in place,i cant see it? also maybe your missing the strip of foam that i think should be wrapped,glued around the shift tube to seal to the outer housing,

that plastic bushing appears to have moved up into the column. The heat shield did nothing, as i took a little drive to my dads about a half hour away...he inserted a piece of stove insulation into the tube. After it cooled i drove it home..hot as ever...my key when i pull it out feels really warm..wow...any other ideas on this?

If I'm looking at that first pic correctly you don't have much room between the header and the colum so a solid piece of metal in there would only help the heat transfer and it does'nt look like enough space for a real heat shield...Here's my ...Mark the tight spot on the header...Pull the column...Ding the header tube{s} for more clearance...When you re-install the column try and adjust it over{away from the header} as much as you can without any issues...Adjustment points would be the floor/firewall assy and the dash....A little clearance goes a long way in reguards to heat reduction...The heat is being transfered up the main{solid} shaft so packing it with insulation could very well add to the problem of transfer up the column.. ...And lastely, the added clearance would give you enough room to buy some real header tube insulation and wrap the problem area of the tube...

A piece of header wrap will help a lot around the one tube. I'm thinking your missing part of the lower bearing allowing hot air to travel up there.

Coated headers inside and out help a lot with these kind of problems, they really do run cooler, just as long as your tune up is good.

Good points by everyone, the headers don't get to awful hot.. I can actually touch them after about 3-4 minutes shut down from a good run..They are cooler than the water hoses..lol

I need to pull the dash cluster out anyways to try and fix fuel gauge so I will have the column loose, I can pull it then.

Another thing my dad pointed out we are having 110 heat index which is unusual for around here. High humidity to boot. thats about 40 degrees higher than the usual 70ish index..maybe that has something to do making it seem worse.

I'll take these ideas into consideration..thanks

Any chance you are having a electric issue inside the column that is causing heat to build up? How are your turn signals/flashers/ignition/horn, etc working? On these old systems things can get pretty hot without tripping any fuses.

just another avenue to consider!

-Jon

That's EXACTLY where I was going blown340

I have HP manifolds on mine (plenty of room) and my colum gets realy warm/hot after about 20 mins. to 1/2 hour of driving.

I have the standard cluster and not the Rallye. I'm going to disconnect my Amp Guage, fasten the wires together and try it like that to see what happens.

My ingition switch has been replaced (thought it was a dead short issue) but ended up being my low mile reman alternator that about burnt my car to the ground
Colum is still warm so I'll keep searching for the high resistance culprit

Greg