How To: Make your exhaust manifold heat shield shiny as a new quarter

[ZenProtege]

After seeing pics of people who had a shiny heat shield over their exhaust manifold, I decided I would like to have the same for myself. After much searching, I found little to no information describing how it could be done. I have to give props to Casopolis, he was the only person I found on the forums who gave enough information to figure out how to do it.

*There is a movie attached at the bottom of this post with several pics that show the process I'm describing
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Step 1. Getting the right materials:

Your going to need some Rubbing Compound (preferably 3M) or some other high to medium abrasive compound that's equivalent. WAL-MART sells a small bottle of 3M's automotive rubbing compound for about 6$. It's in a little grayish black bottle and can be found near the touch up paints area of the automotive section. You are also going to need some way to apply the compound . I don't own a buffer, so I bought I little buffer attachment Black and Decker makes that goes onto my cordless drill. It cost about 5$ and comes with a buffing bonnet, sandpaper (useless) and the disk they mount to. I also bought this from wal-mart and it was in the power tool section. Casopolis used a grinder with a buffing attachment if I recall correctly, that would probably be your best bet route to go if you have a grinder. Anything, be it a cordless drill or grinder, that can apply the compound at a fast rate to the heatshield should be sufficient. Doing the polishing by hand will work, however it will be tedious and the results aren't nearly as good
Checklist:
*High or Medium cut polishing compound
*Means of buffing
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Step 2. Getting the heatshield off:

Tools needed:
* Flathead screwdriver
* 10 mm socket and socket wrench


First off lets hope you didn't just drive your car to wal-mart to get the things for step 1. If so your going to have to wait for it to cool, I thought I was skilled enought not to wait and the heat shield burned the s*** out of me 3 times. My hand is still burning as I write this.

The first thing to detach is your 02 sensor harness connector located just above where the hotpipe meets the turbo outlet. It's easy to do, just push it back towards the driver seat to get if off the clip, and then push the tab in the middle down while pulling on each end of the harness connector. Once that's out of the way, it time to fully loosen the clamps that secure the hot pipe on both the turbo outlet and IC inlet sides of it. You will ONLY need to remove the hot pipe on the TURBO SIDE at this point( you don't even want to try to get it off the intercooler). It might take you a while of pulling but eventually it will break loose and come off. If you feel like its going to fly off because your pulling on it so hard, go ahead and disconnect your BPV before pulling on it anymore. Once you have the pipe removed from the turbo outlet, pull it up and and twist it towards the front of the car to get it out of the way.
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Step 3.

Remove Heat shield. Its attached with four identical 10mm bolts that are clearly visible. Remove all the bolts and put them in a safe place. It will take some force to get the heat shield out from under the Power Steering lines, but it will eventually go. Be sure that you aren't putting much if any force on your 02 sensor as you remove the heat shield and try to avoid scratching it on the PS lines as well. Though it is more trouble and not necessary, removing the 02 sensor will save you some trouble and decrease your odds of damaging the sensor with the heatshield
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Step 4. Time to polish:

Put some rubbing compound on your buffer and go to town on the heatshield. The more you polish it the better it will look. I polished mine for 10-15 minutes and got great results. Remember, rubbing compound breaks down as it's used so it is important that you continually re-apply fresh rubbing compound and remove the old while polishing the heatshield. Once I was happy with my results, I used a damp terry cloth to completly remove all of the excess coumpound before polishing the heatshield with car wax to finish it off
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Step 5. reattach everything.
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It took me about 30-45 minutes from start to finish. I had previoulsy tried buffing it by hand but it didn't work well at all. I also tried a dremel tool but it didn't work near as well as the drill buffer( mainly because the buffing disc would tear up quickly or only polish a small area and make unpolished areas stand out.

Good Luck!

...Watch the movie!

 

[mooS mooS]

Nice and Blingy, good work

 

[EqualmindsMSP]

very nice, brings some shine to the engine bay

 

[RX]

(rockon)

Your going to need to get some 3M Rubbing Compound or somthing equivalent to it. WAL-MART sells it for about 6$.

I already have a bottle of Turtle Wax Chrome Polish. Would that be good enough?

I don't own a buffer so I bought I little attachment Black and Decker makes that goes onto my cordless drill. It cost 5$ and comes with a buffing bonnet, sandpaper and the disk that holds them, I also bought this from wal-mart.

Can you post a picture of this or more details so I can get a better idea what you're talking about?

 

[MSP#735]

looks kick ass good...post pics in a couple of months to see how it holds up. i am wanting to do the exact same thing to mine...hope it lasts!!!!

 

[motchai]

(headbang) Good job! You rock, maybe you can post a pics of what materials did u use, so that we can imagine better and have a better idea what to do. i would definitely do this. THANKS!!!

 

[MSP#735]

there anyway you can take a pic from further away so we can get the whole enigne bay and how good it flows with it?

 

[motchai]

there anyway you can take a pic from further away so we can get the whole enigne bay and how good it flows with it?

Exactly....See how it looks

 

[gboromsp]

It won't last forever, this is something that probably will have to be done every 3-4 months. I am going to try this next week, i'll post pics of how it turns out.

looks kick ass good...post pics in a couple of months to see how it holds up. i am wanting to do the exact same thing to mine...hope it lasts!!!!

 

[laracroft]

I tried to hand polish mine before and never got it to look as shiny as that. You did a great job man.

 

[MSP#735]

hell, i may just try and jet coat or thermal coat mine....

 

[laracroft]

Lazy ass. lol

 

[msp35]

Would painting the underside with high-temp paint help contain some of the heat?

 

[ZenProtege]

i'll try to post more pics tomorrow hopefully. I didn't have my camera on me while I did this

 

[MSP#735]

Would painting the underside with high-temp paint help contain some of the heat?

that is what i was wondering myself...i may try that and THEN jet coat/thermal coat the outside...

 

[CasopoliS]

I guess I was always too lazy to write out this whole thread.... though I should have due to the numerous amount of people asking me. Thanks ZenProtege, for saving me the time!

To do it best, get the buffing kit from Craftsman.

I did not use this, but I already had all the componds and a wheel. You can use these compounds on other things too, so the kit is nice.

Yes you have to do it every once and a while, my HS does not look that good anymore (but it is close). You can prob polish it up with a rag while it is in the car. Though it is so easy to remove, you might as well do it right and buff it again.

I also painted the bolts that hold it on as you can see in the picture. I need to replace these the SS or something better.

I found some recent pictures, it really is just dirty... just needs a rag to it..

 

[orphman]

I started searching the other day after seeing engine bay pics of ppl who had a shiny heat shield over their exhaust manifold. After tons of looking I managed to find little to no information on how to do it. I have to give props to Casopolis, he was the only person I found on the forums who gave enough information to figure out how to do it. I personally never thought I would get the results I did but I couldn't be happier to have this silver platter in my engine bay now .

Step 1. Your going to need to get some 3M Rubbing Compound or somthing equivalent to it. WAL-MART sells it for about 6$. Its in a little grayish black bottle, you will find it near the bondo/sandpaper section. You are also going to need some kind of high speed buffer. I don't imagine one of the cheap vibrating buffers will work well. I don't own a buffer so I bought I little attachment Black and Decker makes that goes onto my cordless drill. It cost 5$ and comes with a buffing bonnet, sandpaper and the disk that holds them, I also bought this from wal-mart. Casopolis used a grinder with a buffing attachment if I recall correctly, that would probably be your best bet route to go if you have a grinder

Step 2. First off lets hope you didn't just drive your car to wal-mart to get the things for step 1. If so your going to have to wait for it to cool, I thought I was skilled enought not to wait and the heat shield burned the s*** out of me 3 times. My hand is still burning as I write this.

The first thing to remove is your 02 sensor connector. its easy to do, just push it back towards the driver seat to get if off the clip and then pull the tab up and yank both ends to disconnect it. then fully loosen the clamps of the hot pipe of on both ends. you will need to remove the hot pipe on the TURBO side only( you don't even want to try to get it off the intercooler), it might take you a while of pulling but eventually it will break loose and come off. If you feel like its going to fly off because your pulling on it so hard disconnect your BPV before pulling on it anymore. Once you have the pipe removed pull it up and and twist it towards the front of the car to get it out of the way.

Step 3. Remove Heat shield. Its 4 10mm bolts that are clearly visible. It will take some force to get it out from under the AC condenser lines but it will go. Be sure that you aren't putting much if any force on your 02 sensor as you remove the heat shield and try to avoid scratching it on the AC lines as well

Step 4. Put some rubbing compound on your buffer and go to town on it. The more you polish it the better it will look. I polished mine for 10-15 minutes and got great results. Once I was done I got a terry cloth and completly removed all of the excess wax and then I polished it by hand to bring out the shine

Step 5. reattach everything.

It took me about 30 minutes from start to finish to do this. I had previoulsy tried buffing it by hand but it didn't work. I also tried a dremel tool but it didn't work near as well as the drill buffer.

This pic is of Casopolis's car, mine came out looking exactly the same so you can probably expect to achieve similar results

I also want to polish my wastegate & turbo heat shield but I'm a little hesitant to remove those bolts. If anybody knows a safe way to do this PM me and I will add it to this thread


http://www.msprotege.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=46267&stc=1

sweet deal looks great i can se your figgin refelctionn in the pic. lol... does it look sweet from a few ft back? looks goon in the pic... how fast does it corode after that?

 

[CasopoliS]

It doesn't corrode.

I almost took that pic in the nude (rofl)
.... but that would be (ghey)

 

[orphman]

It doesn't corrode.

I almost took that pic in the nude (rofl)
.... but that would be (ghey)

?scary too!

 

[Velocifero]

Does anybody know how hot the manifold cover gets? I was thinking of doing this or painting mine with high temp paint. Want to make sure the paint won't cook off if I go that route. I remember seeing this after Casopolis did it and admired his craftmanship, really looks good with the polished pipes, but I am not so much on the polished side myself.