Can I ask why you would want to expose that ugly stock manifold? It's gonna be all nasty rust looking. And removing the heat shield will put more heat in your engine bay and kill a few hp, and could melt stuff. I wouldn't suggest it, unless you got the manifold coated with jet-hot or something like that.

 

The heat shield could actually be doing you more good than harm performance wise. It holds in the heat around the stock manifold and helps with the flow in much the same way header tape in used to keep the temp up.

[ 11-10-2002, 02:33 PM: Message edited by: bugshack ]

 

i've also seen posts about people saying that the head gasket is melting due to the excess heat that is presented due to the lack of the heatshield... just pay attention if you do take it out...

 

Leave it on. Like bugshack said, it helps keep exhaust pulse velocity high, which is a good thing.

 

take it off, paint it flat black with that super heat resistant stuff... put it back on. i painted mine ford blue (that engine paint) and the back side burned off, but the front holds its color okay.

i think i might paint it flat black after all, anyway.

 

If leaving it on helps with cooler air, better response, then how about he people that are running headers??

 

Originally posted by 1BadEgg:
If leaving it on helps with cooler air, better response, then how about he people that are running headers??

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">well..there aftermarket..you cant really compare an aftermarket to stock! Have you seen one side by side! YUCK TO THE STOCK!! YUCK!! its teennyy tiinnyy and ugly looking..

 

Believe me, I know how ugly it is...

but he was talking about worrying about excess heat.

 

I've run w/o the shield for a month on a turbocharged engine. You aren't likely to run any hotter than that. You should be fine.

The reason I think Ford puts it on, is that the exhaust exits right out the front of the engine bay where people could accidentally touch it. That heat shield should cool down very quickly compared to the header (and it gives them a flat surface to put a "don't touch" sign).

The other issue is that its just horribly ugly under there and they had to cover it up. But if you want to take it off, no problemo.

 

Ford put it there for two reasons. The first to keep under hood temps down and 2 for better flow and performance. Then maby add a third to keep all other components cooler in the surrounding area. The designers know what they are doing with this one. Aftermarket headers would benefit from the use of one as well (but then no showing it off).In racing they use header wrap tape to keep the temp up. The use of tape will shorten the life of the headers as temps run into the extreme.

 

also helps keep the 'stock' look, whatever header i get down the road, i will prolly weld tabs 2 the header 2 allow the replacment of the heat shield 2 make it look stock again.

-Ult

 

Why would Ford engineers care about underhood temps with the stock airbox setup? The scoop draws from outside the car, and the plastic isn't likely to conduct even the smallest amount of heat. If there was an issue with surrounding things actually being damaged by the heat, I should have noticed considering four weeks of high-temps due to the turbocharger in the exhaust stream (and others showing off their shiny aftermarket headers).

[ 11-10-2002, 10:05 PM: Message edited by: Ducman69 ]

 

I run a 4-2-1 header and no underhood insulation on my car, and the result is blistered paint on the hood over the header. I would leave the insulation and the heat sheild on if I were to do it over again.

 

So should the aftermarket headers "short" or "race" have to be covered with the tape? Is that going to effect the life of the header or the performance of the car? I also know the stock headers are cast iron and "holding" the heat in comparison with the aftermarket they are made of thin pipe iron or SS. What the experts say??

 

After reading your guys posts, I have decided to keep the heat shield on. Would it be ok to paint the stock heat shield?? or would the paint come off it due to the excessive heat?

 

Originally posted by GioDiGreek:
I also know the stock headers are cast iron and "holding" the heat...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Actually, I have it on pretty good authority that the stock exhaust manifold is stainless steel. It's not iron by a longshot, and is actually pretty good for an OEM piece.

 

Originally posted by BRZX3R:
I run a 4-2-1 header and no underhood insulation on my car, and the result is blistered paint on the hood over the header. I would leave the insulation and the heat sheild on if I were to do it over again.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Now we have entered into another interesting conversation. Starting in 2002, ford stopped putting the insulation/sound blanket on the inside of the hood. Has anyone else running aftermarket headers (shorties)noticed changes in their paint due to heat?

[ 11-11-2002, 11:10 AM: Message edited by: 1BadEgg ]

 

if it ain't broke don't fix it

 

I can tell you that my paint blistered in the front, right above the header area.

I'd also like to add that this was
A) while the sound insulation matt was still in place.
B) while the "heat shield" was still on.
C) while there was no turbo on the car.

IOW, my car was stock with all of this "heat insulation" in place, and the paint blistered up front and had to be repainted after one year. So that was just a case of crappy paint job.

Then with the repainted hood, its been run with no heat shield, a turbocharger, and no sound insulation matt with -no- issues whatsoever.

Difference? The stock paint that blistered due to reasons OTHER than heat (which one would have assumed had it happened later) was the issue. Cause and effect. You have to make sure you match them up properly or you could make false assumtions. The fact is that the paint is blistered... but thats the only fact (could be the same issue as happened on my stock car). Yes you can paint the shield. Use high temp paint and scruff up the shield first to make the paint stick better.

[ 11-11-2002, 01:20 PM: Message edited by: Ducman69 ]

 

I have been with a short header and without the heat shield for a year now with no problems. I do still have the hood liner in place though.

The heat shield is, I believe a "compliance issue".

It is mandated that all under body cats must have heat shields to prevent grass fires. Obviously where ours is situated that shouldn't be a problem, however the legislation hasn't caught up to the technology (cat placement) yet, and thus the need for a heat shield to satisfy the standard eventhough it serves no purpose.

 

glad to hear I am not the only one with a blistered hood.
correct on the fact that ford has done away with the underhood insulation