Thread: my ideas to combat heat

I have a black car and i got in it today (after it was sitting in the sun all day) and man it was hot. I was concerned about heat as well. I like the idea

I don't think I would put a hole in my trunk for the exact reason you stated, water/rain.

If you had to do it I would try to make it so you can close the hole when needed. I have seen on older civics where they have a duct in the fornt which allows air in when it is opened. You could put a lever which you moved to open the duct in the truck to let the air in and close it when it is raining or the when the roads are wet.

Originally Posted by wizardPC

since heat seems to be the biggest issue with my system (I get lockups etc when the case temp gets to be about 90F), I am going to take some drastic measures.

It is only early march, but the temperatures inside my car have already started to reach into the 120+ degree range. My idea is to cut a hole in the floor of my trunk and suck in outside air from underneath the car. I'll be using flexible ductwork to go from the hole to the intake on the PC. I worry about water getting sucked in if it's raining, so I may put a filter somewhere in there to help with that.

just figured I'd throw this idea out there for some responses

90°F is not very hot. You might want to recheck the heatsink install. It may be getting poor contact with the CPU. Re-install it wit some good thermal paste. Or you might benefit from a HS upgrade.

the 90F is the case temp as measured by a 5 dollar thermometer that I bought at Target. I dont know how accurate that is, but it's an epia M10000 so I cant exactly reseat the heatsink.

oh, and the hole in the trunk is going to be in the floor if I wasnt clear about that. I was thinking about getting an butterfly valve to close it off if needed (like say, when its raining or 20F outside).

In my wrx there are floor vents that come out under the front seats so they are aimed at the area where the rear passengers' feet would be. I'm gonna put my case under the passenger side front seat so this system works perfect for me. The floor vents only shoot air when I flip my HVAC switch to aim at my feet. In the winter when it's extremely cold I can run a little bit of heat over the case to get it warmed up and then switch it to just blow air up afterwards. In the summer I can turn on the A/C and have cool air running over it for as long as I want. Maybe you can try to do something similar by hooking up some ducts that meet with your stock venting system. I dunno if it would be effective going all the way to the trunk, or worth all that work, but it's just something to toss around in your head. You could also try using a ram intake that they make for cars and run the piping to your case. I know AEM has a water log filter that prevents the intake from flooding if the car is driven thru high water. This will cost you a lot of money for just a vent though.

Or you could try doing what I'm going to do.

Cut two 80mm diameter holes in the rear deck, mount two fans with grills (one blowing into trunk, one blowing out of trunk). This way, it keeps the trunk at cabin temperature. As soon as the car starts, the fans I want will be at least 3.8cfm, so worst case scenario the air gets exchanged once per minute or so. I can also get fans that are heat-controlled (very hot, they'll spin fast, but once the car cools (ac, or winter time) they spin very slowly).

Just an idea.

I would worry more about condensation then sucking up water. Some chill morning could cause you big trouble.

Originally Posted by fearthepenguin

I would worry more about condensation then sucking up water. Some chill morning could cause you big trouble.

didnt think too much about that one. hmmm......

Originally Posted by wizardPC

didnt think too much about that one. hmmm......

condensation falls strait down, dont worry about that one.

i'd worry about the rain and mist off the road getting sucked into the blowhole. yeah... because of negative pressures and such, there's a good chance it'd get sucked right in and deposit some very wet air on your car-puter. you might either think about some kind of p-trap apparatus with an absorbant material lining the curve, to clean the air of excess moisture. either that, or just not taking it in from outside.