Arizona heat

[Geeksterman]

I just took the plunge 3 weeks ago and purchased an Elec Blue GT. I've been reading the posts about turbo performance and minimizing heat under the hood. I'm very new to the whole turbo thing and I want to be sure I take care of the engine properly. Considering it can get over 115 degrees [}] on a daily basis in the Phoenix area for most of the summer, what should I be doing to minimize heat stress on my GT's engine? The GT is my daily driver, so I'll be driving it almost every day 50+ miles round trip.

Thanks!

-- Geekster

[Cal Cruzer]

First chance you get I would dump the factory oil in favor of a good synthetic. It will have no effect in "break in" despite what urban legend says. Many high performance cars come with it from the factory.

As for under hood temps. Many have cut the rear hood seal in half to release the hot under hood air. At first I removed it all together but the air intake for the interior is on the passenger side and it sucked up some of the under hood air so I cut it at a little over halfway and put the passenger side back on...but that's just me.

Being in AZ you probably won't notice any difference between under hood temps and outside ambient temps anyhow!!! (just kidding, my brother lives in Phoenix and I KNOW how hot it gets there)[^]

[TNT-PT]

Almost the same here in West Texas - 'cept it's a dry heat. Either get a Turbo Timer or be sure to let it idle for about a minute before turning the car off.

[Jeff V]

You know those new mini-air conditioners? Just get one of those, bolt it to the inside of the engine bay, and drill a hole to run the wiring through, to the dash adapter.

[Mike Radowski]

Dry heat?? DRY HEAT??? Hot is hot, wet or dry. I worked in the Saudi desert and it was dry heat, 135° HOT. and when you got to the Persian Gulf, it was 135° WET HOT. Didn't make a difference, hot is hot...

Mike