Improving the FM2 turbo heat shield
 

I'm not sure if this would be helpful to folks here. Hell, I'm not sure that this hasn't been posted a dozen times already. But I wish I'd thought of this sooner.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1328722319

This heat shield a pain. It is held in place with three bolts. Two of these bolts are easy to reach. One of them is damn near impossible. It is directly under one of the small heater hoses on the firewall. You CANNOT get your hand in there without shoving said heater hoses all around and scraping your knuckles on something. I hate it. I mean, I love the shield, but I hate that one hidden bolt.

I sliced a small notch out of the heat shield. You can see it above. One bolt hole is unmodified. One has a notch. So now I can just slide the shield under the hidden bolt. 2 minutes of work.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1328722319

Now I just leave the bolt in place after loosening it enough to slide the shield on or off. I can get to that bolt with a Gearwrench slid under from in front of the brake booster. I never have to shove my hand between the heater hoses again.

I also replaced all of my FM-supplied imperial bolts with spare OEM metric ones. All 3 heat shield bolts are now stock ones with 10mm heads. That small upgrade saved a bit of work and fumbling for wrenches.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1328722319


Anyone with an FM2 should do this mod.

I use a 3 foot extension on a deep 10mm to loosen and tighten that bolt in the back. I also agree that it is a bitch to get to when installing a heat shield.

I just stripped the threads out of the hole in the body and voila no more mounting worries.

Nice mod., I am going to do that because as you say what a pain it is to get to and it needs to be there as the ground strap also bolts there.

I moved the ground strap over slightly and beefed it up with a 2 gauge cable. You can kinda see it in the bolt photo.

And yeah. I considered just breaking the bolt off in that damn hole and never having to worry about it again either. :)

Thanks for the tip - I'm going to try that too.

I just happen to have my turbo off atm. Will do this on reassembly. Thanks!

For me, it's not the bolt that is a PITA, but the design of the tab sticking straight out and getting into a fight with the heater hose when trying to remove/install the shield in general.

I have no problem sliding mine under the heater hoses. For me, it's the brake lines to the MC that get in the way. I bang those damn lines every time.

You're a ------- genious!!

Good idea! We'll make that change to our production parts as well.

BTW, the supplied bolts with the kit are metric, not imperial.

Good plan
 

I did something similar when installing. Good to see FM is adapting it into the base part.