Best long lasting exhaust manifold gaskets (Page 3/3) Patrick NOV 11, 03:16 PM quote Originally posted by MaxxPower1968: I have to decide what I'm going to do about the heat shield. You didn't hear this from me ... but some people <cough, cough> toss 'em. theogre NOV 11, 03:24 PM The V6 Shield are for both... Helps keep oil leaks away from the exhaust. Helps keep exhaust IR heating the valve covers that tries to prevent Cover Gaskets/seals cooking causing leaks. If wreck, make replacements out of many types of sheet metal. MaxxPower1968 NOV 11, 04:25 PM Yeah, I was thinking about making one out of stainless or aluminum. I haven't decided yet. Has anyone had good results with either material? What thickness? pmbrunelle NOV 12, 02:50 PM GM didn't think that the RH valve cover needed a similar shield for protection from exhaust manifold radiation. The valve cover gaskets are silicone; in my experience they seem to stay soft/pliable, as if they are not damaged by heat. I don't run this shield on my Fiero. If you do want to make a replacement shield, you should have equal or greater sheet thickness than stock. Thickness is key in setting the shield's natural frequencies so that it doesn't vibrate itself apart. Steel is heavier (by about 3x), which makes it more vibration-prone, but steel is also about 3x stiffer than aluminium (which reduces tendency for vibration), so overall the two effects balance each other. Neither steel nor aluminium is more likely to vibrate than one another. Since you are stuck with this huge failure of a design, there is either cracking, or sliding somewhere (on gasket surfaces), with thermal expansion of the manifold. Because of the potential for sliding, I would choose stainless steel, because I think it would hold up better to sliding than aluminium. Patrick NOV 12, 04:23 PM quote Originally posted by pmbrunelle: GM didn't think that the RH valve cover needed a similar shield for protection from exhaust manifold radiation. The valve cover gaskets are silicone; in my experience they seem to stay soft/pliable, as if they are not damaged by heat. I don't run this shield on my Fiero. Yep, agree 100%. MaxxPower1968 NOV 13, 01:53 PM quote Originally posted by Patrick: Yep, agree 100%. So has anyone had problems with not running the shield on the firewall side of the V6? Were the fire problems only isolated to the early 2.5? A_Lonely_Potato NOV 13, 03:20 PM before this thread, i didnt really even know there was supposed to be a shield there. i dont have one. thats just one case though Patrick NOV 13, 08:04 PM quote Originally posted by MaxxPower1968: Were the fire problems only isolated to the early 2.5? As far as I know, the 2.8 never had issues with connecting rods punching holes in the block (which would then allow crankcase oil to spray all over a hot cat). IMO, there's very little chance that a shield mounted on the forward side of a 2.8 will ever be of any use. However, there's a much higher probability that it'll contribute to an exhaust leak. I purposely left it off both my '86 GT and '88 Formula. MaxxPower1968 NOV 15, 04:44 PM quote Originally posted by Patrick: IMO, there's very little chance that a shield mounted on the forward side of a 2.8 will ever be of any use. However, there's a much higher probability that it'll contribute to an exhaust leak. I purposely left it off both my '86 GT and '88 Formula. I'm really leaning toward not using the heatshield. If the rear doesnt need it, then I'm thinking the fwd side doesn't need it either (I coudl be wrong). I might make a new one and perhaps think about reinstalling it in the future. I think I may just use some type of insulating shielding on the wiring to add some protection and run with it but monitoring things between oil changes. I'm going to work on porting the manifolds and welding them up in the next few days. zkhennings NOV 15, 05:56 PM +1 for chuck it, never had issues without it on mine, DEI makes some nice products for heat including some formable heat shield material that you could put over the manifold if you were worried about heat. Or go ahead and weld some studs to the manifold to attach a make -it-yourself heat shield to. Or make a new heat shield or modify the one you have to attach to the exhaust manifold bolts on the other side instead of being sandwiched between the flanges and head. If you are worried about oil dripping on the cat, I think a heat shield over the cat attached to the exhaust would be a better solution. Can also wrap the cat in DEI products, whether the insulating lava wrap or the formable heat shield material I mentioned. I would not recommend wrapping the manifold in the lava/titanium wrap though, works well but makes them corrode quickly. Porting the manifolds definitely makes a noticeable difference in power, they are quite restrictive. If you have a polished countertop or glass table surface, you can take some sandpaper and tape it to the surface and run the manifolds over that to flatten them, I like to use WD40 on the sandpaper, makes it slide easily. Get good sandpaper or it will disintegrate. Or use a belt sander if you have access to one.