Fabricating cover for aftermarket exhaust manifold
Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2015 10:17 pm
So I have a 3yr old solid fabrications SS exhaust manifold that looks, well, a bit old. I'm currently smoothing and tucking my engine bay so need to either 1) make it look nice (bring it back to it's shiny self) or 2) cover it.
1) I have tried the former option - cleaning it up and polishing but I'm not particularly happy with the results. Also I'm not great at keeping on top of shiny things maintenance wise haha so covering it sounds like the best option for me.
2) I don't like heat wrap (both in terms of looks and how it causes heat soak back into the head which can cause issues in itself). I don't have a spare £300-400 to spend on that fancy Zircotec coating which leaves either me painting it with high temp matt black bbq paint or fabricating a metal cover in the same fashion as it comes from the factory.
I really like the idea of the metal cover - so I need opinions on what would be easiest or if you know of anyone who has done this before. I thought of having a go at manipulating the stock h22 cover but need one to test on. Maybe a simple metal sheet with one fold would look ok...
Opinions? Help!
1) I have tried the former option - cleaning it up and polishing but I'm not particularly happy with the results. Also I'm not great at keeping on top of shiny things maintenance wise haha so covering it sounds like the best option for me.
2) I don't like heat wrap (both in terms of looks and how it causes heat soak back into the head which can cause issues in itself). I don't have a spare £300-400 to spend on that fancy Zircotec coating which leaves either me painting it with high temp matt black bbq paint or fabricating a metal cover in the same fashion as it comes from the factory.
I really like the idea of the metal cover - so I need opinions on what would be easiest or if you know of anyone who has done this before. I thought of having a go at manipulating the stock h22 cover but need one to test on. Maybe a simple metal sheet with one fold would look ok...
Opinions? Help!