Yes, I do appreciate data when solving problems instead of speculation, the same as I deal with in a world of science every day in the industry I'm in.
Saying one thing then another that conflict technically when you are asking how to solve that problem, makes me question the problem as it's being reported.
Another skill I have is root cause analysis. It is used in industry to ensure you are actually fixing the problem, not just a symptom.
Sooooooooooooooo, in summary, I question whether you actually have a problem, whether the heat you report is actually hot enough to worry about, and you might want to throw in I question running without header heat shields. Using the simplest of root cause analysis thought patterns says that if indeed your car has an elevated temperature in that area as compared to the other cars you say you've checked, then your car has a problem that removing that heat does not solve the problem. Said problem being your car is generating heat that all the other cars are not. If they don't need an extra hole in the hood or a heat sink or cool box or whatever for the footwell to be at a desired temperature, then so should yours not need those things.
If it were my car I would be trying to eliminate the source of the heat not finding an exit route for it. That is after determining through measurement what that heat level is. I would say your hand is not calibrated well enough to counter the engineering specification of how robust the PCM is.
Of course it's not my car, so drill the hole and let the heat escape all the while realizing your car generates heat in a fashion that none of the others do. <<--- Derived from your statements. Enjoy some cold iced tea while waiting on this problem to propagate itself to the next thing that will get too hot.
Blah blah blah. You're a little too self righteous Dave, The data is not in conflict, you simply have a bug up your a** and are feeling the need to be a d***. But hey, I'm not terribly busy at the moment so will play along....
I question whether you actually have a problem, whether the heat you report is actually hot enough to worry about - Yes, the PCM is very hot, pyrometer will get the exact Dave-the-root-cause-genius temperature. Then I'm sure the debate will turn to what temperatuure for what time increases the probability of electrical failure...a debate which I'm sure can consume 20 pages if you're not busy that day.
I question running without header heat shields. Of course you do, you made such nice ones for your car. Don't forget all the posts on this subject where many people running without shields reported no issues at all....
Using the simplest of root cause analysis thought patterns says that if indeed your car has an elevated temperature in that area as compared to the other cars you say you've checked, then your car has a problem that removing that heat does not solve the problem. The heat is the cause of the problem, the symptom is a hot PCM. The heat is from the exhaust.....and to be clear, some cars do get a hot box while others do not. Lots of factors Mr Root Cause.....header seal, metallurgy, physical geometry of exhaust/box relationship, airflow in box area....etc etc . This is a case where I don't care as much about the cause (since I know my tune is safe), I care about the symptom. Kinda like malaria, you can't address the cause (presence of the parasite) so don't worry about it....but you can effectively address the symptom (keep people with the parasite from getting sick) by taking the right chemicals.
Said problem being your car is generating heat that all the other cars are not. If they don't need an extra hole in the hood or a heat sink or cool box or whatever for the footwell to be at a desired temperature, then so should yours not need those things. Now shame on you Mr Scientific method. Where's your rigor? This statement is only true if all other variables among the comparison group are the same. My engine build is different than some other cars right? I have a different fascia than some other cars, and a brake cooling system that changes underhood airflow pattern considerably. And so forth.....we all know that these cars respond differently to mods and that modding them often requires getting stuff rebalanced - so don't hand us the "other cars don't need it so why should yours?" line.
If it were my car I would be trying to eliminate the source of the heat not finding an exit route for it. Taken literally as you, Mr Root cause seem to be fond of, the source of the heat is combustion of fuel in the engine. Are you indeed suggesting that I should remove the engine to solve this problem? I bet it'd work.....the box would never be hot again.
I would say your hand is not calibrated well enough to counter the engineering specification of how robust the PCM is. Probably not. But I'd bet my hand is calibrated better than your Googling skills that came up with the 130 degrees burns skin data. As i say, when i get back to the car, I'll put a pyrometer on it and we'll see, until then this is a senseless academic debate.
So Dave, relax and go bother someone else.
