Quiny
01-05-2014, 04:36 PM
I see that a lot of builders have left the tin shields on their manifolds, crossover pipe, up-pipe etc... intact. Mine are in horrible condition, rotted and ugly so I figured that I would strip them all down and use thermal wrap. The manifolds went fine and it looks like I can grind down the shield mounts. Crossover pipe not so bad either. Now the up-pipe, what a disaster. It even looked to be in the best condition of all the exhaust until I looked closely. Someone had put some tack welds on the shields at the top right to the flange. I ground those off and the top flange fell off. The shield was the only thing holding it in place!! it looked like the flex had broken long ago. Well it looks like an new up-pipe for me. I do think I want something with a flex to it. I hate the idea of any stress on the turbo. I also have a cheapo header I could use but it fits horrible, I would need to do some custom bending to get it to work. I would love to hear what everyone else is planning. Coatings? Heatwrap? headers? My understanding is that these shields are constantly rattling and that would make me insane.