Headers w No Heat Shields

[whitebois]

So does anyone else here worry about not having any heat shields on your aftermarket headers and exhaust? I recently heard of some fires on new Ferrari 458's which had- glued-on heat shields. Apparently the glue caught on fire. If one were worried enough to do something about it, what material would you use and which components or areas do you think are the most at-risk. I did reinstall the shield for the limited slip diff when I put everything back together.
Thanks

 

[Honcho]

Honda put heat shields on the NA1 and NA2 manifolds for a reason. I do not think there is much of a fire risk, but the high amount of heat in the engine bay does accelerate the wear of the rubber seals and hoses that are close to the manifolds.

With that said, there are plenty of NSXs out there with aftermarket headers and no shields that are running just fine (though many have them ceramic coated, which has a similar effect). For what it's worth, I am using the factory heat shields with my NA2 headers.

 

[pgilliam1]

I posted this same question several months ago. My headers come close to my oil pan. That has to cause an increase in the oil temp. Honda uses heat shields on the OEM exhaust, so their engineers think the same thing. The only solution is to fabricate a shield yourself. Aluminum is the metal of choice because of its' ability to absorb and dissapate heat quickly. You can either attach it directly to your headers or use a couple of bolts existing on your oilpan. I prefered to use the oilpan bolts because direct attachment to the headers makes the shield act as a heat sink from the headers and the oilpan bolts don't and are easily accessable. All that being said, I have never experienced a heat related problem with this car.
Happy Motoring!

 

[BATMANs]

My new long tube headers are ceramic coated the same white coating that are used on the Zonda, which doesn't have heat shields.

It's rated at a 35-55% thermal barrier, the highest.

I haven't installed it on the NSX since I will do this with the SOS blower.

The current NA2 headers are coated with the silver ceramic coating rated at 15%.

that alone did reduce the heat that I can notice with my finger thermometer.

 

[jacobzking]

anyone wrap their headers with thermotec header wrap?

 

[Honcho]

anyone wrap their headers with thermotec header wrap?

Some people do it, but ceramic coating seems to be the preferred option. I think that wrapping can cause hotspots, get wet, move around, etc.