CR Firewall Heat Damage from 351W Headers

[rbgray1]

CR Forum members,

I've been meaning to post this as a public service announcement for a few weeks since I got the body of the car and completely dismantled suspension, brakes, etc. Due to working like crazy on the suspension, I haven't had the time to post this, my apologies.

If you are currently operating your CR without any kind of heat shield on the headers or firewall (Header Tube Tape wrap, heat shields, etc), you may want to take a very close look at your footwell areas on your firewall.

This is what I found when I removed the body:


As you can see from the photo, there is some substantial heat damage to the passenger side of the footwell area on the fiberglass firewall. The driver side also has some similar heat damage, just not as drastic.

The best way to see this on an assembled car would be to raise the front of the car and then look up from below just behind where the sidepipes exit the lower fenders.

When I rebuild my sidepipes, I'm going with Jet Hot ceramic coating and this should help with lowering temps somewhat. My rebuild plan is also to make and install stainless steel heat shields with 1/2" standoff from the fiberglass itself.

The other concern is the driver's side lower firewall area where the brake lines run. I'll do the same on this side but extend the heat shielding to cover the brake lines as well to prevent the brake fluid from boiling.

22 or 24 guage stainless sheet stock is fairly easy to work with and should solve this issue without wrapping the headers in heat tape.

Just thought I'd provide a warning to those of you that haven't looked closely at your firewalls where the headers get close. It's not easy to see from the top of the engine bay.