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I'm sure this has been discussed before, but I can't find anything recent...I really like the look of after market side pipes on a C3, but I'm concerned about the heat that they give off, even with heat shields. Not so much about me, but I'm scared that my wife will burn the crap out her leg getting out of the car. Any advise pro or con will be appreciated. Thanks!
I have the steel shields on mine and though they are expensive they are worth the piece of mind knowing my wife's legs won't get burned. Before I bought them the inserts I was using allowed enough room that I used header wrap before slipping them in the tubes but the temps were still in the 120's but with the shields they are high 80's to low 90's. I would imagine some of the temperature readings I'm getting are influenced by sun exposure too just like the nifty chrome door window molding we all put our arm on and get burned after sitting outside for a few hours .
If you don't put the heat shields on, you will absolutely get burned.
With the heat shields, after a hard drive, I can put my hand directly on the shield. It is warm, but not uncomfortably hot. I made my own shields using the cheap Patriot shields from Jegs, and stainless brackets. It took some bending and cutting, but the shields sit a bit further off of the pipe. I have Hooker headers, road-tested from Craigslist.
You can still burn yourself on the downturn, or if you wear flip-flops, but the shields will protect you (and your wife) getting in and out of the car. She will likely complain about needing earplugs, though.
The photo is from before I put the black side fairings back on, which had stripped all of their screws coming off.
Last edited by Bikespace; Nov 19, 2019 at 01:25 AM.
If you don't put the heat shields on, you will absolutely get burned.
With the heat shields, after a hard drive, I can put my hand directly on the shield. It is warm, but not uncomfortably hot. I made my own shields using the cheap Patriot shields from Jegs, and stainless brackets. It took some bending and cutting, but the shields sit a bit further off of the pipe. I have Hooker headers, road-tested from Craigslist.
You can still burn yourself on the downturn, or if you wear flip-flops, but the shields will protect you (and your wife) getting in and out of the car. She will likely complain about needing earplugs, though.
The photo is from before I put the black side fairings back on, which had stripped all of their screws coming off.
I bought the Patriot pipes/shields. In case I didn't like sidepipes I wouldn't have much invested in them.
Now for the "bad news".....after 4 years of Louisiana weather there still isn't a rust spot on them....I'm stuck with 'em/good thing I now like sidepipes.
Previous experiment with Harley Davidson motorcycle mufflers...……..
Yes....it was a Heinze (57) '76 when I bought it!
I think $315 for chrome plated shields with hardware is reasonable.
PS. I'll be in Palm Beach County next week, my sister lives in DelRay Beach.
Stev-o
Mine aren't Hooker but the OBX brand stainless sidepipes. I was referring to the mufflers (inserts) I first tried the hooker Max Flo inserts and wrapped them with the header wrap which was effective since I didn't want to go with shields for the cost and the look but after a few drives and the fact that the Max flo deep dronish tone was getting on my nerves forced a change to a different set of inserts that the wrap wouldn't work as well is when I installed the shields which looked better installed than I thought so it all worked out.
Enjoy your visit, Delray beach is just down the road from us.
Side pipes
