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heat shield needed ?

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dan2288

15+ Year Contributor
577
1
Sep 9, 2006
Shillington, Pennsylvania
When i put in the 3065, i was wondering if it would be ok for me to take the heat shield of from the exhaust manifold. Will anything melt ?
 
more specifically, if you do not use a heat shield then your under hood temps will increase greatly. this has quite a few adverse affects, one being that your turbo will be sucking in hot air, causing higher intake temps and possible leading to detonation/knock. Also, due to the awesome location of the alternator and it being right near the hot side of the turbo, the possibility of you killing the alternator is quite high. So if you like knock or replacing alternators then go ahead and run without a heat shield, otherwise I would advise you to use one.
 
Does this mean that I will have to wrap my brand new shiny SS header? Will wrapping really drop the underhood temperature enough to make a difference?
 
oooooooooooooo yeah.... it makes a HHUUGGEEE difference in engine bay temps... but you will probably crack the SS manifold faster... but they normally crack after a while anyway
 
yes, heat wrap helps quite a bit. if you are too lazy to do it then thats fine too, there are plenty of people that run without heat shields. just be expecting to replace your alternator and have to deal with knock etc...
 
In addition to possible alternator failure it is possible to melt your fans. As everyone else said the heat wrap does make a significant difference in underhood temps. It will even help with spool up and total power output a little bit.

Looks vs Performance, it's up to you.
 
Good to know about the wrapping. I was just being a smart ass about wrapping my shiny SS header. Function always outways fashion on my rides! LOL
I am a little concerned in regards to the "cracking" of the SS header though! Is this going to happen for sure? I have an "Exotic Speed" SS tubular header for "internal" waste gate. Will wrapping this make it crack? Will supporting the turbo with brackets to the block help this problem? Or is that even needed? I'm still not done building my motor and would like to set things up right the first time!

Thanks for any help!

Chris.
 
I am wondering about ceramic coating also. I am wondering if it would work just as well on a cast manifold or would it not be worth it?
 
Ceramic coating works great on cast manifolds on stainless steel manifold it will cause corrision the same as heat wrap.

The chromium content in stainless steel alloys is what generally prevents corrosion. Pure iron, the primary element of stainless steel, is extracted from its natural state as iron ore, it is unstable by itself, and naturally wants to corrode (rust). The chromium helps to procrastinate nature's attempts to combine the pure iron with oxygen and water to form rust.

The chromium works by reacting with oxygen to form a tough, adherent, invisible, passive layer of chromium oxide film on the steel surface. If damaged mechanically or chemically, this film is self healing as long as it has enough oxygen.

Because oxygen is necessary for the reaction, liquids and other foodstuffs stored for a prolonged time in stainless can prevent oxygen contact and thus promote corrosion, as can prolonged contact with household cleaners such as bleach. Painting, coating, and wrapping the material will have this same effect.
 
Good to know about the wrapping. I was just being a smart ass about wrapping my shiny SS header. Function always outways fashion on my rides! LOL
I am a little concerned in regards to the "cracking" of the SS header though! Is this going to happen for sure? I have an "Exotic Speed" SS tubular header for "internal" waste gate. Will wrapping this make it crack? Will supporting the turbo with brackets to the block help this problem? Or is that even needed? I'm still not done building my motor and would like to set things up right the first time!

Thanks for any help!

Chris.



Cracking from wrappig? Brackets help? Anyone?
 
Chris (Ludachris) has some informative posts here starting with post #10.

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=255944

In my mind it seems that the predictable, guaranteed benefits of wrapping/coating the manifold clearly outweigh any potential risks which may never even happen. Check out the pictures of the setups of competitive/professional racers and the vast majority will have either the wrap or the coating.

There is debate about coating the inside of the manifold. Here is a discussion regarding that.
http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=203201&highlight=ceramic+coating
 
I'm not sure which one does a better job of containing heat within the manifold.

The heat wrap is considerably cheaper and you can do it yourself.

The coating is more durable and most people think it looks nicer. Also it is my understanding that since the coating is bonded to the manifold there is less chance of oxidation of the metal. But it is more expensive and you have to send the manifold out to have it done.
 
havent had my nice chrome sbr heat shield on because of the bolt breaking off in the manifold and i wasnt able to tap it out, but a evo gt mani from turbochargers.com is on the way then i will get to use the heat shield. I think my power steering pump is suffereing from over heating problems has been making a slight grinding noise the past couple of weeks and it has fluid?
 
So is a stainless steel heat shield or wrapping better?
The heat wrap will do a much better job than any heat shield.

romeen said:
The coating is more durable and most people think it looks nicer. Also it is my understanding that since the coating is bonded to the manifold there is less chance of oxidation of the metal. But it is more expensive and you have to send the manifold out to have it done.
Yes, a good coating is much more durable and will do even better job than heat wrap. But it is the fact that the coating is covering the stainless is what will make it corriod. It will corriod but will still last much longer than a steel manifold. You won't get full life from the manifold but by time it gives out you probably won't even own it anymore.

Plus, you will get slightly better spool from heat wrap or a good coating than a heat shield.
 
So is a stainless steel heat shield or wrapping better?

I think I initially misunderstood your question and thought you were comparing heat wrap vs coating. snox135 is absolutely right, wrapping is more effective than a heat shield. With my EVO 3 manifold I wrapped it AND I'm still using my stock heat shield. Underhood temps are quite noticeably less now.:thumb:

turbosax2, I'm not sure about doing the ceramic coating and heat wrapping. Theoretically the more you can minimize exhaust gas energy lost to heat the more energy will be available to spin the turbine. Heat is the enemy of most components on the car. It seems to me anything you can do to contain heat within the exhaust stream and away from other components should be a good thing as long as the exhaust can handle it. But I don't see people doing both so maybe there is a downside that I'm not seeing.
 
I've never heard of anyone doing both either. I don't think it's needed, if you have a good coating you can touch the manifold right after driving it.
 
The coating creates a thermal barrier, which greatly reduces thermal fatique of the treated parts. The coating is a insulator so the heat is not in the manifold or the engine bay (at least from the manifold).
 
What about the lower heat shield, over the turbo and sensor housing. For example: I'm waiting on my new o2 sensor housing and just had my original housing off. I have the upper manifold heat shield on, but not the lower one. I didn't feel like throwing the bottom one on at the time. I'm not going to ruin anything if I drive it for a week like this will I?
 
You shouldn't ruin anything driving it that way for a week. Mine was off my car when I bought it. It never hurt anything beside the passenager side fan that it probably melted (also broke when i bought it). From what others have told me it takes a while before you melt it. I know one guy that has run his (stock) for a year and hasn't melted it yet. Mine was not a stock turbo, O2 or down pipe, they may have aided in melting the fan.
 
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