CR Firewall Heat Damage from 351W Headers

[Wisconsin_Snake]

Ah yup... That doesn't surprise me.. I was planning the same thing (heat shields on the firewall)..
Looking at my brake lines, they are a ~inch from the headers and that was scarying me right there. (BTW I'm still building mine.)

[rbgray1]

Originally Posted by Wisconsin_Snake

Ah yup... That doesn't surprise me.. I was planning the same thing (heat shields on the firewall)..
Looking at my brake lines, they are a ~inch from the headers and that was scarying me right there. (BTW I'm still building mine.)

Wisc Snake,

Good luck with the build and let me know what you do for the shields. More ideas are better than fewer.

I am planning on making the Stainless Sheet with a 1/2" offset bend on the top and bottom of the shield, kind of in the shape of a U. This would allow to drill 1/4 inch holes evenly spaced along the top and bottom of the shield, maybe 4 in all on each side.
This u-shape bend would protect the bolt head from the heat. If you don't shield the bolt head, they will transfer heat in a very small area and potentially create a fire.

Then with the bolts in the shield, place spacers(about 1/4 to 3/8") on the bolts and mount to the firewall with small 1/4 nuts on the inside of the firewall footwell. The spacers will keep the shield away from the firewall and allow an airgap for cooling, and minimal to no heat transfer to the fiberglass firewall.

A good friend of mine has built several Experimental Aircraft and this is the same way the FAA requires protection of fiberglass or flammable cowling components from hot engine components to obtain airworthiness certification.

Send me a pic of what you do. I probably wont get to this until next spring as my car building time is limited to the next 2.5 weeks. Unfortunately for my car, my wife and I stay in our Florida home during the fall and winter and my car is in our Cleveland area home.

[C5GTO]

I built some simple heat shields from SS sheet and attached via sheet metal screws to the frame back when I first built my CRL. Between the SS shield and fiberglass I put some high heat insulation material. My brake lines run behind the drivers side shield so they don't get cooked. My CRL has been on the road for 20 plus years and 40K miles and the fiberglass footboxes are still good as new

I'll try to take some pictures and post when I get a chance. Building the shields was fairly quick, easy, and materials were not expensive.