Hit the Pocono track yesterday, it was not too hot in the morning but it got a lot hotter later in the day, I'd say around 80 degrees.
Well, after running my sessions with PDA the plastic piece on top of the valve cover which says Mitsubishi melted in the middle. It seems there was too much heat building up on top of the engine bay. It's a fairly thick piece of plastic so there must have been a lot of heat. Anyone else had that issue?

Btw. my car is bone stock, only thing I have upgraded is the fuel pump.
Other than that, car was running fine, I didn't notice any hickups or anything.

 

How long were your sessions? Ive done one event at Summit Point and didnt have any issues. We were running 18 minute sessions and it was fairly warm (upper 80's). I would definite investigate, you dont want an engine fire.

 

I've run 40 minute sessions in 90+ degrees and haven't had a problem. Did this happen on track or sitting in the paddock? At speed there should be enough airflow to keep things cool, but I pop the hood as soon as I stop and let the engine idle for a while.

Dave

 

Sessions were like 20mins. I believe it did happen on the track, because when I came out I popped the hood and the thing was already melted.
Weird, because it happened on the 4th run, it was fine first 3. I did run it hardest though, 2 straits at 125-130mph and then some corners where it was suppose to cool off (?).
I'll have to put my EGT back in, it's definitely the air coming up from the exhaust manifold.

 

Do you still have the manifold heat shield in?

 

Yessir.

 

That's your problem. Take that heat sheild off and also take off the louvered vent on the hood when you're running on track. This should help dissipate some heat.

 

Joe, wouldn't it burn the throttle cable without the heat shield or hurt the valve cover?
I saw you removed the vent from your hood and I know you have an aftermarket manifold but I find it hard to believe that it will actually vent better with it off since the vent is tilted to extract air I know you track you car alot, did you maybe measure the temps with it off?
I would do that if it helps keeping the heat out, my car is black and in sun that doesn't help either.
Thanks

Btw. my instructor made me destroy all the Corvettes and bimmers in my group so I was on boost all the time

 

I still have both and I didnt have any problems. I wasnt going quite as fast as SoR but I was hitting 7500 or so in 4th and holding it there (should've been shifting into 5th) for the remainder of the straight (~1200 ft.).

Im wondering if the restrictive stock exhaust is creating a bottleneck and increasing temps?

 

i'd pull the fuel pump out. the added fuel pressure waste fuel and probably is burning off in your manifold. when i added my pump the car lost power too.

 

I actually never took it out after I removed my other mods (which I intend putting back on in next few weekends) but you might be right, might be that the extra fuel is burining in the manifold...
I do get better gas mileage driving around town now than before though I always get from 220-250 miles/tank and before (with mods and stock w/stock pump) I wouldn't get more than 180, on a good day 200.

On the exhaust comment, there were 2 other Evos on the track and one of them was a stock MR. The guy complained about the heat in the trunk. He didn't remove all the padding from the trunk as I did, only the spare. The 2nd Evo didn't have any issues and he had the full exhaust. I'm also under the impression stock exhaust can't take the heat out fast enough. I'll be putting in my full exhaust back and see how it goes on the next event.

 

SoR,
In short, no. You're getting airflow through the bumper, the radiator and up through the hood vent. The heat shield is keeping it in and radiating the heat under hood at low speed.

I haven't run a stock manifold in over a year and don't really care to for the purposes of testing. Try running with the heat shield off and see what happens...or at the very least, take that hood louver out when you're at the track.

The stock exhaust might be heating things up as well, especially if you still have one of those pesky catalytic converters.

 

I ran the Poconos over 15 times with just an AEM. No exhaust, nothing else. The car was on the money every time. Never had any heat issues. I never did do the course I think you just did with PDA. Was it the long track with the North and South infields?

I did run a session at Poconos that ran about 35-40 minutes. I went in with a full gas tank and had to come out to refuel. No heat issues there either considering it was almost double the amount of time our sessions last.

 

Have you looked under the sparkplug cover? Maybe a little fire started under neath the cover causing it to melt?

 

I'll try different things, louver will be coming off and the "pesky" converter is going out and my nice shiny Random unit back in

Any issues with heavy rain or snow and w/ louver out? Cold water/snow on the hot manifold?