If your talking about that sheild that's up against the head, you can use it, but it may need some trimming on each side. I had to trim it with the Minimania header.

Partsman, so you know you are always welcome to come look at my headers. I have the stock header , the Minimania, and the Supersprint in the shop now.

 

I was able to re-install all heat shield pieces - no cutting or trimimng. Perhaps a little hand bending of a pice but - the heat shields should not give you any real problems.

 

Ok guys, I really appreciate the info. I'll take-out some tin snips just in case... I'm going to do a bit more clean-up on both the head and header interface, and then put it all together while it's still somewhat early (cool). Thanks again.

 

Thanks Greg. I was going to call you the other day about something else. Can't remember now.
Which header are you going to use?

 

Just a side note here but has anybody else thought about how much heat the oil filter canister pics up from its proximity to the header?

I'd be real curious if anyone with an oil temp gauge could shield this and notice a temp change.

 

The header heat shield is designed to partition the canister from the header. This is one of the reasons I ceramic coated the header shield in addition to the header. Once the vehicle is moving there is adequate air flow in that space to remove convective heat; stops and creeping speeds are what’s most problematic. Not much can be done about conductive heat while stopped either. The shield is flexible and can be positioned to provide a little gap for air flow between it and the canister, also, make sure there is a little air gap for the outside primary.

 

Done!

Remind me to NEVER work on my MINI in 115+ degree weather . In wicked heat, everything just becomes a pain-in-the-butt. If all would have gone well, I could have been done by noon, but when I lost one of the 8 header bolts, I was set back nearly 2 hours. And, for those who have the PROMINI gauge cluster, my oil pressure sender was touching a primary. After spending some time fishing that sucker up there, getting it flush to the head, and a bolt started, I had to yank it out, and slightly re-position the sender, which entailed loosening it a tad (not a very good feeling)...

One of the primaries is touching some horizontal semi-circular shield, sort of near the oil cannister. I guess that's just the way it is, but when it's cooler, I'm going to bend that portion a down a little...

The good news is that I was quite happy when I fired it up as I didn't hear any exhaust leaks. And after a 15-20 min drive, inspection of the oil pressure sender showed no leak.

I've never driven my MCS hard in 100+ temps, but that changed today! The MINI ambient temp gauge read from 112-116 during my spirited canyon run. I would normally feel a let-down in power, and I actually felt a bit more, especilally in the mid to high range. After several WOT surges, and shifts at 6k+, I noticed that the volume was just a tad louder.

The heat shield (yes it did require some bending) showed a temp of 250 F. With ambient temps about 25 degrees less (90), the stock header heat shield saw 265 F; and that was with me commuting home (no hard, high-reving WOT driving). I should have about 90 commuting to work tomorrow for a more accurate comparison...

 

Just got into work, and by design, I left at a time where the ambient temps would be about 90 degrees for my trip (45 or so minutes).

Again, I know it's not the best instrument for this purpose, but I used a long temp gauge from my turkey frier. The heat shield bolted above the header is where I took readings. To be more exact, right at the spot where this a hand signifying not to touch...

Stock header saw 265 F

Ceramic coated SS saw 225 F

Of note, I purposely drove the car a bit harder today, so I this delta might actually be even better.

Hopefully the DFIC this weekend!

 

40 F is pretty good. And it does mean that there's a significant reduction in heat under the hood.

Good work...

Matt

ps, how's the system? Do you like the sound and/or power? Did you ever get the G-Tech?

 

Defininetly more power. How much is the header, and how much is due to the coating - who knows! I'm sure this must impact the temperature of the air being fed into the SC also...

Matt, I really like my entire system! I know not many will want to remove their battery box, and go this route though...

The sound seems the same, just a bit more volume when I'm a WOT, in the higher RPMs...

I might try to repeat some of those IC/scoop runs I did last Summer using my CarChip E/X just to see what kind of IATs I'm getting. No, no GTech Pro... I need to get a new communications device (think Treo), and I want it to also serve this funtion. Still shopping around...

The quest for power through cooling continues with the DFIC, and I might consider some type of venting of the hood, like those M7 louvers. I want to see how Sid's turns-out. I'm also pondering that eRam fan to extract heat, and wanted to talk with you about that... I find the M62 very appealing, and I truly hope that it comes to fruition!

EDIT/ADD - While driving home tonight I noticed a strange smell. Maybe the anti-seize compound I thought... Maybe a slight exhaust leak? After checking-out the car when I got home, I noticed that a part of my rear valence had melted! Just more proof that heat is being contained in the exhaust...

 

very nice setup ... wow...

but i have a question which readers of this thread would probably know the answer too.

is it true that OBX is an exact copy of SS ?

do u think it would then be possible to fit the SS testpipe to the OBX header without welding?

 

Thank you. It was like 70 degrees for my commute into work, and my car has never been faster!

OBX is a copy, but from some accounts shared here on NAM, not identical. It should be possible to fit the SS test pipe to the OBX though, I would think.

I picked-up some high temp (1200 F) ceramic engine paint at an auto store over the weekend and painted the heat shield above the header, on both sides. I suppose it might help a bit more, and also made it look nicer...

 

You should be able to add SS components to the OBX. I added a SS tips to my OBX exhaust with no problems.

 

40F drop!! nice! Glad to know it worked out as advertised. Hopefully Jeremy @ Crucial gets his new shop set up soon and will begin doing coatings in-house. He recently moved.

We used a can of Thermo-Tec on the exhaust housing of the VF40 turbo on our Subaru this weekend (Jeremy's not taking any new stuff in until he's done with the move)...so far, so good. The coating looks as good after a few hard runs on the car in 100F temps. A turbo gets as hot as a primary I think..1800F?

 

Nice guy. His girlfriend is starting law school in SF, so he wanted a place a little closer for her, so they relocated to Berkeley (Go Bears! ), my old stomping grounds.

I never heard of Thermo-Tec, but I'll check them out. I think you are right on those temps (1800). Do you have a wrap? It looks like that's how it's to be used:

http://store.summitracing.com/egnsea...=400356+309616

I'm really happy with the performance of the car, and I truly feel that with the right exhaust, a header can make a noteworthy difference.

 

my husband got two cans and 100ft of wrap for the headers on the Subaru. Didn't get a chance to do it before installing though (long story involving dealer sabotaging the exhaust stud with an air hammer). He'll pull them back off soon and do it however.

He used the spray only on the exhaust housing. Pre-install pics:





The exhaust housing is cast iron...it will get hot enough to glow orange, so hopefully this will help keep underhood temps down a bit.

 

Nice to see both the husband and wife into modding!!! With a turbo, I'm sure he'll notice a difference just when openning the hood. I see someone has a cool tap & die set...

 

the LGT has a positive pressure scoop/TMIC combo and aluminum hood, so temps stay under control until you park it. And modding? I leave that to him. I just let him borrow the car.

tap/die set - belongs to our friends who have a four-post Bend-Pak lift in their garage (good friends to have!!). Us girls stay inside in the A/C and drink wine while the guys suffer out there.

 

TonyB -

Can you please measure the OEM cat piece you cut and modded to fit? I'm talking about the now bolt on Cat in your picture.

Just overall length would be AWESOME!!!???

 

Sure, I won't have time to go under my car until this weekend, but I'll gladly do so. I was planning to re-check the torque settings anyways...

 

It's been quite a while since I started this thread, but since engine bay temps were a focus here, I thought I would share some current findings. As a reminder, a long temp probe used for deep-frying turkey was utilized by touching the shield over the header:

Stock header saw 265 F

Ceramic coated SS saw 225 F

Over this header shield I recently added an Aerogel EX. Prior to this, I had removed the bonnet liner and the rubber stripping on the cowl walls, leaving well over a 1 inch gap between the top of the cowl, and bottom of the closed bonnet. This should effecitvely allow for hot air to rise, and have an outward path through the cowl vents; which I'm fairly certain is happening...

Earlier in the week when it was in the mid 90's here in NorCal, after my commute commute home (almost an hour drive), I opened the bonnet do find the rush the hot air to be much less than what I had remembered. I got the same temp probe and placed it in the same location, but rested it on the top of Areogel as this is draped over the stock heat shield now.

After several minutes, it hit about 120 F. The Aerogel was touchable by hand, yet just fractions of an inch below, it must have been wickedly hot. Pretty amazing stuff! I drove the MINI quite hard the last few miles home into the canyon as I had a chance to play with a Solstice GXP (the first I've seen on the road)...

Engine bay heat derives or eminates from several sources:

the SC, the engine itself (including liquids the through it), and the header. I'm quite happy with the progress thus far...