I'm trying to figure out if/where to shield against my headers.

On the P side, they are about 1" from hitting/touching anything. The closest points of consideration are the A/C blend box, control arm bushing, heater hoses, fuel lines, and starter-side wiring. Again, as mentioned, I'm still 1" away from anything on that side. (Fuel lines are further away after I strapped them back.)

DS is really close to the steering linkage. #3 is only 1/16" away from the shaft, so I hope I don't get much rebound movement with new motor mounts. More importantly, #1 is also fairly close to the damper joint. I wonder how that'll hold up (or if there's any chance hi-temp reflective tape will wrap around (stick) to that.

I was SO close to the oil cooler hoses, I modified the mount so I could rotate them away. I may also fab up a shield to hang off the pan and wrap around those hoses.

The CHS line is about 1" behind #7 too. Since it hangs out in la-la land, I can only try the hi-temp tape there too. (I also "adjusted" with slight, repeaded bends on the hardline to get that 1" spacing.)

Motor mounts is my last thought. I even thought about trying to make a small shield that I could add on with another "double" nut. (There's enough threads to add another nut.) BTW,,,does anyone know the motor mount bolt diameter/thread?

A lot of this comes from not knowing (being able to anticipate) how hot the headers will get within various distances. They are JetHot coated. I would probably be helpful to know how much heat they radiate at distances like 1/2", 1", and further.

Oh yeah....There's going to be a NEW motor (383) running it's hot gases thru them. That's gotta make the temps even higher.

Thanks for any feedback!
gp

 

http://www.harborfreight.com/non-con...ter-96451.html

 

!!!!!!!!!!! New Motor!!! That bad boy is going to "run-in" hot as South Hades.

Don't over due it, it could screw up the headers.

see PM

TJM

 

Gregg, I have had my motor and headers in my 89 for about 6 weeks now, the only thing I did differently with the coated headers is I wrapped the starter with a heat blanket.. I have put 1,400 miles on it in that amount of time and have noticed no ill effects from the headers heat. I did notice the coated headers put out a lot more heat then the stock exhaust so I bought a Dewitts high speed fan last week to replace the stock one and have noticed the engine bay stays much cooler with the added air flow. This may be something for you to think about doing to your car because even if there is more heat, as long as you move it out it won't heat things up nearly as much . The stock fan puts out 1,700 cfm, the Dewitts puts out 2,360 cfm, big difference...WW

http://www.dewitts.com/pages/product...asp?ProdID=428

 

I have measured 600 degrees on the center 2 tubes, at a high idle.

 

Have mine heat wrapped near the starter.....Mine is close to the starter as well and I went through a starter pretty fast w/o them.....most of the TPIS headers (what I am running) have good clearance though.....

 

Mine are Jethot coated and I've had no issue with heat destroying anything in 3-4 years. They arent anywhere near as hot as uncoated headers and cool off pretty quickly. I wrapped up the oil cooler lines, thats it.

 

you could get temps as high as 1200-1300.

 

What'd you guys use to wrap starter and oil cooler lines with?

600-degrees ON the two center tubes? That's not as bad as I'd thought. That's about what I'd expect for the rest of the exhaust system.

 

You can get a heat wrap for the starter at Summit for about $17.00 , it has velcro to fasten it , then you can cut off the excess with scissors..They also have a tape product that you can wrap the oil cooler lines with to reflect the heat away for about the same price..WW

 

Thermo-tec.

 

That is what I documented at idle, with the rpm kicked up slightly to probably 1300 rpm.
At wide open throttle, 1400 is possible. Not sure what the drop would be with an inch of space and sufficient airflow between them.

 

Yeah,,,with combustion temps exceeding 2000 degrees, that's more what I expected (e.g., 1200-1400 degrees). That's what header paint is usually rated at too.

So, does ANYONE give consideration to the motor mount rubber when insulating? (Or do you consider it naturally shielded since the majority of it is "masked" by the metal mount?

 

I often wondered that myself. LT1 mounts are different, and appear to have a thermo-tec type wrap around them from the factory. My 87 mounts have had headers near them for 16 years, and have not seen any visible signs of heat damage.