Installing bellangers on my 2001 gts coupe. As all may already now they are of course jet coated. Should be finished with this project tomorow, Tuesday.
When I installed jet coated headers on my vette I left the stock shileds off and it has never been any kind of issue whatsoever on that vehicle.
Looking for opinions.
Do I install the headers with heat shileds or without?
I do not want to overheat, or worse, melt any components around the headers if I leave them off. Would this be an issue? How much cooler will the engine bay be if I instal the shileds.
Need to know by early tomorow. Please chime in.
Thanks in advance
Post Scriptus Erectus: I did do a search on this subject and could not readily find direct info.
I have coated cdi headers and no shields.HOWEVER heat shielding has been applied to the hvac air box,its motor,all nearby tanks,brake lines,pumps etc.First time I drove the car I stopped and inserted hand into hvac air box and jerked it out before it blistered.With stick on shielding it is now only warm to the touch inside.Anything facing those headers may go including the power steering pump reservoir that does not have some sort of shielding. GTS Bruce
I'd run with them on, not just for safety purposes with the nearby components and the heat, but the fact that the underhood temps will increase in general. These engines run hot enough! Install a Roe fan kit if you haven't. Why dodge didn't design the fan to run after the car is shut off, I don't know. This is the time the engine heats up the most (to the highest temps,) before then cooling down. You can set the fan kit to run for up to 10 min after shutdown, or less. I set mine for the full 10 min. Hell, even on a stripped down chevy econo box, the fan runs after shutdown! I know the temptations of having good looking headers and wanting to show them off, but I'd play it safe!
If you track your car, the sustained high exhaust temperatures will cook everything under the hood. Plug wires, blower box, brake lines, PS reservoir & hose, etc. - especially from heat soak after a session. If you run a pure street car, then you don't have near as much to worry about.
If you track your car, the sustained high exhaust temperatures will cook everything under the hood. Plug wires, blower box, brake lines, PS reservoir & hose, etc. - especially from heat soak after a session. If you run a pure street car, then you don't have near as much to worry about.
I think this is the dividing line between the two opinions you are getting. I have put about 15K miles with Belangers and no heat shields and now I am running the Roe SC for another 8K or so miles and still no heat shields including a recent 2500 mile jaunt down to VOI9 and back with no issues.
If I was going to do any serious tracking of the car however, I would either put the shields back on or I would use the thermal insulating material on the parts I wanted to protect.
I think this is the dividing line between the two opinions you are getting. I have put about 15K miles with Belangers and no heat shields and now I am running the Roe SC for another 8K or so miles and still no heat shields including a recent 2500 mile jaunt down to VOI9 and back with no issues.
If I was going to do any serious tracking of the car however, I would either put the shields back on or I would use the thermal insulating material on the parts I wanted to protect.
After the belanger install with no heat shields, would you say your engine bay temp is
only slightly warmer
warmer
no change
cooler
only slightly cooler
I think this is the dividing line between the two opinions you are getting.
.
.
If I was going to do any serious tracking of the car however, I would either put the shields back on or I would use the thermal insulating material on the parts I wanted to protect.
I've been tracking my Vipers for 12 years and I've seen too many instances of burnt/melted/boiled bits from radiant heat exposure from even mildly modded cars without heat shielding. Even my car, still running OEM exhaust, has cooked the hi pressure hose because of an unprotected spot near the PS pump. My personal observation is that the SVSi headers are MUCH more likely to cause underhood problems than any other. But, they are an extremely fine piece and I would be proud to have them on my car.
I have been running Jet Hot coated Edelbrock headers on my 95 for 3 years now and have not had any issues. I think the Jet Hot coating really helps in reducing the heat under the hood and on the headers. I can drive my car hard for hours and only a short while after shutting her off the headers are cool enough to touch. I have noticed a big difference in under hood temps with the Coated headers and I don't even have vents in my hood for the hot air to escape.
I really think the heat shields look aweful to!
Belanger recommends not using them, but I left them off and my shit was ready to melt. My airbox was getting deformed after only a few days of light usage. Since I threw mine out I had to purchase special aftermarket shields (iconel) which ran about $500. They do look nice though. A lot better than the stock shields.
There has always been a division among owners with headers - some saying they run with no problem and some saying it's way too hot without them. One guy eeven posted picture of everything plastic melted under his hood.
I don't know why some have no problem and other do.
Gary
Wow lots of good info but intersting to note that different cars are having different heat issues.
Not to piss anybody off, but I run shield-less on my vette (a C5, it too had stock shields) and not a single issue. The headers I run on it are jet coated and they cool rather rapidly after the car is shutdown and has not melted anything while haulin' ass down the street.
Now, I did a trial fit on the viper and it looks like I can instal the stock shileds rather easily after having bolted the headers in place. So I am going to fire it up and run without the shields, and if it starts wanting to cook something I will not hesitate to to put the shields back on in a hurry.
I have not finished this entire project yet, however. What is holding me up now is that one of my slip-on down pipes from the exhaust I am also installing is out of round and have to take it to the local midas and have it rounded out true again.
I'll post again when finished with this project.
OH and also, the post about saving weight by removing the shields is hallarious.
To answer your question about heat, I noticed no real difference between the underhood temperatures before and after the headers. As mentioned above, all heat related issues that I have heard of seemed to be related to uncoated stainless steel headers like B&B and not coated steel headers like Belanger. I could also image that a car that was running real rich could also be more at risk to cook some parts. When I installed the Roe SC, #10 cylinder was running way rich and it burned the coating right off the #10header tube.
Good luck with the install and let us know how it turns out.
There are well known Viper shops that will refuse to work on a Viper W/O shields due to possible liability problems they may be charged with when the car burns up at a later time. GTS Bruce
