Fabricating cover for aftermarket exhaust manifold

SiR_Chris · Post by **SiR_Chris** » 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!

Post by **Vtecmec** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 10:56 pm

I managed to slightly modify a stock cover to fit over my DC Sports. There was not too much to it really with a little bit of welding also required for the mounting brackets.

SiR_Chris · Post by **SiR_Chris** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 11:02 pm

Thanks mate that's good to hear - do you have any pics?

89 UKDM BA4 4WS (resto job!) · Post by **wurlycorner** » Fri Jan 09, 2015 7:21 am

Bing!

Post by **vanzep** » Fri Jan 09, 2015 8:52 am

There was someone on here a while back that had made a custom heatshield and was offering to make some more up but he got some criticism about the design and no one placed an order. It looked great imo but wasnt cheap.
Ive had a search but cant find the original post - i think it was a guy in France that was doing them-you might be able to do a search on the French prelude forums (if there are any?)
I wonder if anyone else on here remembers seeing that post

Post by **NafemanNathan** » Fri Jan 09, 2015 8:54 am

I always remember before my time on the forums there had been a groupbuy for such a thing. It was just a curved piece of stainless steel sheet with some fixing holes. Looked quite tidy.

I've just had a look on google, but couldn't find anything other than this very similarly looking Benen one...

89 UKDM BA4 4WS (resto job!) · Post by **wurlycorner** » Fri Jan 09, 2015 9:53 am

Looks a bit gay without wrapping round the sides, IMO. A sharp edged thing on a curly wurly thing just doesn't look right?

SiR_Chris · Post by **SiR_Chris** » Fri Jan 09, 2015 10:11 am

thanks guys. Yeh I agree with the sharp edges. The stock cover would be perfect painted up. I think I'll just bite the bullet, find one second hand for cheap and have a play.

Really want a cover tho as I'm using a K series manifold on my H, with the K20 Inlet cover, so adding an exhaust cover would make it look like it all 'flows' lol

thanks all

SiR_Chris · Post by **SiR_Chris** » Fri Jan 09, 2015 10:11 am

Does anyone have pics to hand of the stock manifold showing the brackets? Will have a quick search online

Post by **NafemanNathan** » Fri Jan 09, 2015 10:25 am

There is an underside to it as well...