In an effort to drop the heat coming through the floor of the Scrambler, I am doing a few things.
First, I had the exhaust shop add some heat shields above exhaust pipe under the footwell and seat areas. I did that only on the drivers side to see how much it helped. I also had to use header wrap on the downpipe where it comes out of the exhaust manifold on my 350 TBI since a shield would not work there. That works well but I didn't want to wrap the entire exhaust pipe in these areas in case of any future fluid leak. It would soak into the wrap material and if it were to catch on fire, it would be a torch. The short section of wrap and the heat shield worked well. It dropped the temperature above that area by 25-30 degrees. I used my IR temp gun to check that. So, I will be doing the same on the passenger side.
Next, I will address the top side.
I just ordered the BedRug carpet kit for the front section of the Scrambler. And also, some DEI Heat Shield material to put under the BedRug.
I tested a 10"x10" piece of the heat shield under the floor mat directly on the bare steel floor. This stuff is designed to go under the floor and above the heat source like your exhaust pipes and transmission etc. The silver side goes toward the heat source. The other side is a peel off sticky material to attach to the bottom of the floor. I am going to try something different. I will put the heat shield in the inside of the Scrambler with the silver side down on the bare steel. And I'll put the BedRug on top of that. That will keep it removable in case water leaks in under all that. I can remove it and let everything dry and hopefully avoid rust forming. I'm sure it will work better under the jeep, but I didn't want to create a moisture trap under there either.
Here's the test piece of heat shield. Note: The picture is just showing what it looks like. I flipped it over and placed it under that floor mat.
The result was good. That section of the floor mat was 20-25 degrees cooler. The BedRug on top of that should help with some additional insulation as well.
Hopefully when I get it all installed, I will have cut a lot of heat from coming into the cab and let the AC keep everything nice and cool under the hard top.
I also bought a "wind jammer" and put that up to keep the air in the cab section only. I have no back seat, so this is a good option for really hot days and made a noticeable difference. With the Jeepair kit, on a 105-degree day, the air blows really cold for around 20 minutes until the engine warms up and the heat soaks through the bare steel floor. At that point, the air going into the evaporator unit from the drivers footwell is so hot it can only take out so much heat. I'm hoping all of these changes will keep that manageable and let the AC remain cool on long drives on hot days.
On a side note: In the rear section of the Scrambler, I already have the cut down Dee Zee F-150 bedliner. That cuts the heat noise down a good amount back there. The heat from under the floor is not nearly as hot as the front section. In the future, I may add BedRug type bulk material back there and up on the wheel wells to cut the noise down. But that will be down the line.
Here is the BedRug kit. Looks like Husky Liner owns it now:
And here is the Heat Shield I chose after doing some research - I bought two:
I'll post pics and results once I get all this in. I want it done soon as I have a killer 5-day, 4-night Overlanding trip set for the third week of September to the Owyhee Canyonlands in Eastern Oregon. There have been bad fires near there, but they have a good handle on them so hopefully it will be clear when we go. I have a good backup if needed: Mammoth Backcountry Discovery route in the Sierra Nevada mountains.