Project is a 97 neon challenge car. The hot spot is right at the factory exhaust manifold. About 3 inches of air gap there. I expect it to be much worse with the longtube. Im thinking something should be done.....
Project is a 97 neon challenge car. The hot spot is right at the factory exhaust manifold. About 3 inches of air gap there. I expect it to be much worse with the longtube. Im thinking something should be done.....
Fancy high temp, low emittance paint on the header. high temp insulation on the fire wall.
Been thinking about wrapping the header, but concerned with long term effects. Its going to be a nice day driver after the challenge.
I used this stuff on the Abomination. It has worked fairly well.
Thermo-Tec Adhesive Backed Heat Barrier
I also added heat shields to the header and exhaust. That helped a lot.
No more 2nd degree burns from the trans tunnel.
Run as is for challenge, afterward send header out for coating
Aluminum heat shield with air gap. I'm not crazy about header wrap either, but may be the best solution. Swain coating the header?
The heat shields are made out of tin and held in place with 1/4-20 bolts welded to the exhaust tube. They stand about 3/4" off the tube for air space.
The entire trans tunnel was then lined with the Thermo-Tech.
It probably cut trans tunnel temps by 40-50 degrees.
All in it was fairly cheap.
Wrapping only does the outside of the header and can cause premature failure of the material, plus it can hold in moisture which cause more issues.
Not a huge deal for a race car as they get serviced quite often and headers/exhaust are consumables.
A proper ceramic coating would be inside and out which works much better at protecting the material.
For the Challenge? I'd run a wrap and then coat it afterward since its less of a budget hit as a proper coating job won't be cheap.
A little bent metal heat shield goes a surprisingly long way to reduce the temps.
I think a heat shield is a great start!
I also like the idea of the heat barrier stuff. Is tbe thermo-tec better than the gold dei stuff, or just cheaper or for different applications?
Patrick: this header will be a mother to remove. So hopefully i can do most on a challenge budget.
Coating: i had the headers in the duster coated when they were new. The coating is starting to fail after 10k. I cant imagine coating old headers holding up better.
In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :
The Thermo-tech was cheaper than the gold stuff when I bought it. No clue if it works better or worse.
Heat shields work very well. The Abomination as several in the engine bay to control the rotary exhaust temperatures.
You can find the waffle heat shield sheets on junkyard exhausts. Big sheets of it under modern cars. The R63 had enough to make a tent out of it. The more luxury the car the better it is (to a point) It forms easily. You just need a standoff from the exhaust and you're in business. You could even make a standoff from the first sheet and make a double shield. Or a standoff from the firewall and a sheet there too.
I used this stuff from DEI on the firewall and under side of the transmission tunnel a few race cars.
https://www.designengineering.com/floor-tunnel-shield-ii-extreme-heat-shield/
Works incredibly well.
Degrease and clean the surface thoroughly. I used POR15 degreaser for that. Best degreaser I've ever used.
https://www.por15.com/POR-15-Cleaner-Degreaser
I have some thin aluminum heat shielding from an RX-7 I just dug out of some shrubberly that had grown up around it. You can have a piece or two if you want it for free dollars.
Maybe not the most Challenge friendly option, but Lizard Skin seems like neat stuff
So, there's reflective gold foil. What about aluminum foil? Does it reflect similarly (I'm sure it's not as good but maybe close)?
I've been wondering if using spray adhesive and aluminum foil would be a challenge budget reflective foil solution?
In reply to Robbie (Forum Supporter) :
https://www.homedepot.com/p/USEAL-USA-Band-6-in-Aluminum-Foil-Self-Adhesive-Repair-Tape-8872AF6/202086180
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