my DIY turbo heat shield
 

the turbo is boxed in (are there any drawbacks?)
i used very light gauge .025” aluminum…..doubled up in some areas for stiffness.

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/g...8/miata001.jpg

nice work:bigtu:

nice, make me one and i wont ban you :bigtu:

make me one too lol, the greddy one i have is a piece of shit
i had to get it re welded

more pics!!!!!!

I see a strange trend with Greddy branded things breaking?? :hustler:

nice work man. make them and sell them!
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http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/g...8/miata003.jpg

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/g...8/miata002.jpg

it's an idea i'm tossing around. super cheap to make......and sell.

I like it. It's very similar to mine that's been on for a while. Does a good job of shielding the heat. I used some sheet metal from my old hvac unit.
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t...t/engine01.jpg

yup.....i as in that aisle in lowes too before i found the sheet aluminum.

nice, im going to build something like that

Yes, definitely nice work. The main thing to shield is radiant heat to the brake cylinder and lines. I've tracked my turbo miata (at 15psi, T28) occasionally and never had heat problems but that was always a concern in the back of my head. Your design looks like fits the purpose well. Only worry would be the mounting. Is it also mounted below to the engine somewhere or only cantilevered out from the two valve cover bolts? Will it shake and move much from the mounting or do you have other mounting points to make it solid?

only draw back i see is the AFM lol
looks good IMO

Very nice. I need to fabricate something similar soon.

You might want to consider making them out of steel since steel is a worse (much worse) heat conductor than aluminum. Like at least 3 times worse. That will provide additional shielding. Stainless steel would be nice for rust prevention though it will cost more of course. Also, regardless of the material, if you leave the inside shiny (like you have done), instead of painting it black for example, it will reflect more radiant heat.

Het budget racer, any pics of the back of the shield?? Like where the heater hoses are looking forward??

I ask because I just started making mine today (using diamond plate) and was wondering how to go about boxing it in...Yours looks VERY clean man!! Good job!

Also curious about any other mounting points as someone else asked..
I'm gonna be using 3 of the valve cover bolts, but was thinking about something else on the bottom...

Nice, neat work.

I think it is worth considering that the shield ought to be mounted on the chassis rather than the motor. Reason is vibs. As hard as it is to imagine, the primary (up and down) imbalance of the 1.8 four cylinder turning 6000 revs is about 20 G's. Of course it doesn't go very far, as 1/2 rev later, it wants to go the other direction. Regardless, it is a source of vibration that needs dealing with.

Corky how much movement from the motor have you seen, say, measured from a point on the valve cover to a point on the shock tower? Of course this will vary with torque output, motor mount condition, etc. Just wondering what is typical. I've considered removing the hood and measuring it myself.

Do it man, open the hood and turn the throttle body.
The 40% stiffer MazComp motor mounts should eliminate a decen't amount of the motor "torquing" motion.

I'm thinking that it would move more under load at peak torque compared to blipping the throttle? I was thinking I would remove the hood, rig up a measure with a pointer, and videotape it while driving up a hill. Crude, but cheap and effective :)

Not thread jacking here, just thinking about the what-ifs of a chassis mounted shield per Corky's suggestion.

^You really need to test this while driving under WOT conditions and some hard shifting. Revving it on the driveway really doesn't tell anything.

You wouldn't have to remove the hood though... just rig up some sort of lever in the engine bay that the motor can push on. Move it over against the engine and go for a drive... when you get back, measure the distance it was pushed.

I'm guessing w/good motor mounts that it should probably rock over less than 2".

well.....the aluminum that was used is very thin (.025") and more importantly it's very light weight and will hopefully not need any other mounting points than the two valve cover bolts. the box shape helps give the shape some stiffness and should keep it from any "warping". i'm not an engineer nor a fabricator so i can't tell you how well it will hold up.......but my common sense tells me that it's going to work just fine.

sorry, i don't have any pics available and according to your post you're already done your shield. but.......that side comes down to seperate the heater lines and downpipe. just think 3 sided cube.

basically......i made the 3-sided box, reinforced it, and then just kept trimming away until it cleared the intake tube, turbo oil/water lines, and downpipe.

good luck.

Thanx...I did it, and also did the 3sided thing....but mine looks like assssss...Had to use a hacksaw...I know, I know...but hey it'll do till I just fork up for a blanket...