General Very hot in the cabin!

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General Very hot in the cabin!

thatandywhite

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Hello I own a 1967 Autobianchi Bianchina Panoramica, mechanically identical to the 500 Giardiniera. When driving, it gets very hot inside the car. Transmission tunnel, handbrake etc very hot to the touch. She drives absolutely perfectly but I was wondering if it's normal for these areas to get so hot?

It doesn't worry me unduly, I just want to be sure I'm not doing her any harm!

Any advice welcome. Cheers!
 
Does it have the heater flap at the rear of the tunnel, if so close it ?
 
Yep. There are flaps either side of the tunnel in the rear but, closed or open, the tunnel itself gets very hot.
 
an easy way to tell if your heater flaps are sealing properly is by sound. Heater flaps open = hearing damage imminent. Closed = just noisy. You should hear a noticeable difference when opening and closing the heater control whilst running.
This might not be the issue though
 
Thak you, people! It isn;t so much that hot air is getting into the cabin via the heater, it's the fact that the metal of the transmission tunnel itself gets very hot. I was really questioning whether that's normal. :)
 
Ha! I know what you maen about the sound levels! It's good to hear how the engine's running though. ;) I've given up on having a radio in there though. :)
 
Thak you, people! It isn;t so much that hot air is getting into the cabin via the heater, it's the fact that the metal of the transmission tunnel itself gets very hot. I was really questioning whether that's normal. :)

The back of the tunnel, the handbrake and to a lesser extent, the front metal part get really toasty....almost untouchable, when the heater is on full. It should be an encouragement for more people to venture out in their cars in winter. :D
 
I agree with Peter--I have an aluminium gear-lever 'gate', and when the heater has been 'on' for a bit of time, that gate is just about untouchable. On cold days it is a real pleasure to drive the 500---it gets really cosy inside!
 
Thank you again, people. Ironically I've gone through two freezing cold winters with her and only recently discovered that the heater pipe wasn't actually connected at all. Now the weather is lovely and warm, I'm driving a little toaster!
 
You may have just discovered why the original owner removed the heater trunking, rather than sort the problem properly!
 
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