Homemade Heatshield
 

Hey guys, I'm new here and I'm in the process of piecing together a used Greddy kit. Just for some background, I formerly owned a 323GTX and a 92 SE-R with a GTi-R engine swap with about 250whp, and I've had my Miata for about 2 years, but I really miss the power of my SE-R.
Anyway, I had some free time so I fabbed up a DIY heatshield for my Greddy kit using a SS 1qt pot as a starting point. I only have the one pic from my cell phone camera, but I thought I would share and see what y'all thought. I still plan on getting some wrap to protect my master cylinder and various hoses, but I think this should help. Not bad for a $7 SS pot from Walmart...

http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/3...tshieldkm2.jpg

Might want to consider something more to cover the downpipe, as it will get quite hot as well. Looks neat.

no get a slightly bigger pot, and weld it around the smaller one. Voila fancy heat sheat.

Good idea Loki. Here's the other pic from my phone showing the bottom of the "pot." Obviously it would have to be modified or scrapped when I go to a bigger downpipe.

http://img250.imageshack.us/img250/6...shield2ad6.jpg

shoulda left the handle on it.

I think you want some open area on the back side to allow air flow past the turbine housing.

Clay, that looks totally legit man, nice job. I totally love shit like that!!!

You're gonna want to expand on that though to protect the most vulnerable part under the hood... the brake reservoir. To have a really effective heat shield, you've gotta protect the brake reservoir and your heater-core lines from both the turbine housing and the DP. The Greddy top-mount design makes perfect sense to leave room for PS/AC and makes it easier for the stock crossover pipe to mate up, but placing it that high cooks the hood and a few other things.

You're also now focusing the majority of the heat off the turbine forward right onto the oil-feed line.

I've got a Begi manifold, but check out my heat shield and see if you're interested in fabbing up something like it. I tried to make it so all of the heat was focused down. No matter what we do, the hood is still gonna get hot-as-fuck, but when I run my hand over the hood, starting at the windshield and sliding my hand towards the headlight, it's super easy to tell exactly where the heat-shield ends as it goes from mildly warm to !!!HOT!!! directly above the compressor housing. I used existing holes in the inner fender lip to mount the bottom half, and the top half uses the valve-cover bolts.

Check it out:
https://www.miataturbo.net/forums/showthread.php?t=9700

You should consider picking up a used FM heatshield. They are generally about 30 bucks and fit the greddy and also most future turbos you will upgrade into.

I do like the idea you have going though.

Thanks for the tips guys. This is just a 1st draft sort of thing, but I wanted to get some input. I'm definitely planning on more protection than just this shield, but I had the parts and all it took was a little time with some tin snips and jigsaw playing around. I've got access to lots of scrap sheet metal, so I may try something more along the lines of samnavy.
BTW newbsauce, not sure if you knew, but this is your old Greddy kit. I bought it off of the guy you sold it to a few weeks ago.

haha yep, it has his drain fitting on it.