bellhousing cover

[puddin]

every good questions always starts with a good story== so i got her running great 30 miles each way daily commutes in morning at 60 degrees and afternon at 70-80 degrees. in the morning everything is fine-- afternon 70+ degrees i start to notice the shifter gets hot and so does the ashtray and so does the center console. so i begin to think - what did i do recently to create this new problem.. o yeah i removed the exhaust manifold heat shield-- exhaust heat must be flowing down the trans tunnel and cooking my underbody.. then i go looking for the heat shield -- nope thrown it out.. then i look and notice i can see the flywheel and then i think shouldn't there be a cover on that bellhousing (exh side)??? i find some photos in my trusty Hanes manual
yup it's missing and looks like it should have been sandwiched between the eng and trans. which leads me to now know that somebody has been in there and was too lazy to put it back. it also looks like a one piece cover -

here lies the question - is it neccessary? - i suppose there is dirt and maybe some rain getting in there but is it a potential problem?- if i was to make a blank off sheet metal cover what do i bolt it to? really don't wanna pull the eng and trans apart for this .. also could this be related to the heat on the shifter or does the exh. heat shield really affect the heat from travelling into the trans tunnel.

or should i just be gratefull she runs , shut up , and drive

thanks
mark

[76was124]

Just ran across your post albeit a year later. What did you end up doing?

[puddin]

kinda figure it wasn't the exh shield -- made one - installed it and still had same problem-- think it's the exh heating up the underbody -- anybody else got this problem

[So Cal Mark]

all Spiders get quite hot in the tunnel area. Make sure the inner shift boot is intact, that will help a little. With the catalyst in that area, you've got a 600 degree heat source right next to the trans

[puddin]

i'm mostly worried about the trans getting baked -- it's a little unconfortable with the hot summer sun and a heat source next to me but are there any problems with the trans and the heat from the exhaust??/