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On occasion the spark plug wire shields that attach to the side of the engine block...I will clean them up...blast off any rust and repaint them a nice silver to match the plating that they came in. I do not spend the time using any of the Eastwood stuff....because if i did that..I would just buy new ones and save my customer my labor time. It can get kinda counter productive. Also sending them out to be re-plated is pointless if they are badly pitted. SO it depends on what you want when you are done.
The same goes for the spark plug heat shields by the exhaust manifolds. It depends on how bad they are. Most of the time I replace them if they are really bad. If not.. I put them also in my blast cabinet and give them the quick once over and paint them.
Hi,
One thing I've noticed with painted heat shields is that the curved area on each of the 4 plug shields is QUITE close the exhaust manifold (Donnie's picture shows that pretty well) so the heat from the manifold sometimes begins to discolor the paint.
It's not too much of an issue on engines which have 4 horizontal radio shields since they cover much of the plug shields, but on the cars with just 2 horizontal radio shields you can see the discolored area on the front pair of shields pretty easily.
It appears the heat discoloration is less of an issue on the 'boomerang' wire heat shields since they're further from the manifold and more difficult to see.
Regards,
Alan
Hi DP73,
Seeing your engine always makes me smile!
Hi,
One thing I've noticed with painted heat shields is that the curved area on each of the 4 plug shields is QUITE close the exhaust manifold (Donnie's picture shows that pretty well) so the heat from the manifold sometimes begins to discolor the paint.
It's not too much of an issue on engines which have 4 horizontal radio shields since they cover much of the plug shields, but on the cars with just 2 horizontal radio shields you can see the discolored area on the front pair of shields pretty easily.
It appears the heat discoloration is less of an issue on the 'boomerang' wire heat shields since they're further from the manifold and more difficult to see.
Regards,
Alan
Hi DP73,
Seeing your engine always makes me smile!
Thanks Alan for your kind compliments.
Alan is correct, I didn't paint the plug shields, just the
"boomerang" shields ( I forgot that is what you call them).
The discoloration can be held at bay for while when using silver high heat paint like you would use on headers or header wrap if that is your thing.
Donnie....your engine looks very similar to those that I have seen on my engine stand during re-assembly and detailing before it went back in. Very nice job!!!
I would write this and I hope you take it well....but I would install the french locks on your outer exhaust manifold bolts.
And if you want....I have some nice stainless steel Allen head set screws that I use in the exhaust manifolds that no longer have the air tubes in them. When installed they are not really noticed and flush.
If you are interested in them...send me a PM and I can get you some.
03-06-2016, 07:04 PM
