DIY heat shield - for under £20

[Piester]

So this all came about after I fitted my a Badger5 3" TIP and JR filter. Having pulled out the old airbox I could see that the MAF and filter were going to be bouncing about all over the place, so figured I needed something to secure it, stopping the vibrations destroying the MAF. That and obviously something to stop the heat soak.

I looked at a few on the web but decided I wanted something a little more substantial yet still pretty simple as I'm a bit of a spanner with a spanner. Don't get me wrong, this is officially amateur hour.

Anyway, I popped down to Homebase and picked up the following...

Materials:

• Steel sheet - 100cm x 50cm x 0.0055cm - £16
• 2 x nuts & bolts - 4mm - £0.85

Tools:

• Tin snips - £17
• Rivet gun - £16
• Drill - 4mm & 6mm drill bits

The design is all one piece of steel to keep it fairly fool proof, cut to the template below and riveted together. It's a fairly tight fit which is what I was going for so that it doesn't rattle around. It also gives as much room around the filter as possible, so shouldn't be too restrictive.

Before first fitting... needed to be trimmed down a couple of inches in length as it just wouldn't fit. Not as easy as it sounds.

Fitted...

I used one of the airbox fitting screws to secure it against the wheel arch, as well as the rubber ring from the lid of the airbox to space the filter from the heat shield. Having just thought about it, it would probably be better used to space the MAF from the heat shield. Must remember that.

What would I do differently?

• Potentially use aluminium instead of steel as it would be lighter and easier to cut/bend. Unfortunately that's all Homebase had on the day.
• Reduce the height by about 10mm as mine makes an indentation on the bonnet lining. It's a tight fit at least!
• Make the tabs larger which would make them easier to bend. These were a real ball ache with the thickness of the steel and fairly little leverage.
• Find a better tool to cut the MAF hole out - that took ****** ages to get a decent circle with those tin snips.

The adjustments above have been made to the template. Mine looks a little rough as I had to make adjustments as I went, which was a pain once everything had been bent into shape. Might also find some PVC edge trim to finish up the sharp (now slightly scrappy) edges.

All in all I'm pretty happy with it, certainly does the job. If you have the tools already, it's a steal at £17.

Next up is a cold air feed. Any suggestions?

Any thoughts, comments, amendments on the design? What has everyone else done? Answers on a postcard.

Cheers,
Geoff

 

[[Dave B]]

That looks great mate, well done!

 

[hades-]

looks good
1 thing tho
paint it will look even better

 

[nwmlarge]

that would look awesome in the matt black like the engine covers

 

[badger5]

very well done fella.. nice one

 

[Piester]

Cheers for the comments.

Actually I had thought about spraying it black as not only would it look the nuts and blend in a bit more, but would also give it a little protection against the elements.

However, would spraying it black not make it absorb heat rather than reflect it, or are we talking about low enough temperatures for it not to matter?

 

[badger5]

dont worry about the colour of the paint...

 

[DaveA3]

wow lovely job mate!

 

[fran-s3]

Wow looks awesome! Wish I was as clever and handy enough to make one of those....

 

[coyle]

brilliant! i'll be making this in the morning!

did you draw around the filter for the circle hole size?

 

[shanejess]

well done looks good, i wish i could put my hand to stuff like that.

 

[coyle]

also, how did you get the steel to fold so well, did you score it to weaken it at the joint? or just fold up around a spirit level, or something similar with a sharp edge?

 

[barters3]

i was going to design something like this when iv got a badger5 tip and jetex. however youve done the hard work, nice one. Im going to make it out of card following your design and then tweak if necessary.... iv got some spare satin black sat here so i think ill paint mine when its done.

 

[s3_kev]

after seeing your own coment of being a 'spanner' i thought oh no here we go it will be rubbish, but you stand me corrected thats actually a very good effort, well done

 

[s3dave]

Nice effort, i do them in ali with 2 fixing points, 1 down by the battery, well done on the folds with no press...

 

[DJ_Troopa]

Brilliant DIY there! I got the Jabba heat shield route for myself though a month back. Yours would be better if it was longer so it covered the whole length of the air filter.

 

[coyle]

Troopa, his did cover the whole length, but it was cut down due to fitting issues

 

[damo.h]

Good skills dude.

 

[coyle]

Did you just use a hand riveter?

found this: 250mm (10in) Steel Plate Hand | Hammers | Focus DIY Online

dont know if it will be any good, i'll have to buy a rivet gun and tin snips

 

[S3BN_H]

looks great mate,, make a few and sell them !!

 

[cecilthesausage]

That riveter will do the trick coyle

 

[coyle]

That riveter will do the trick coyle

nice one dude, i'll get everything tomorrow, and have a go.
going to make it from cardboard 1st, make sure im happy with it, then go for it

 

[s3 man]

Hi piester is the template you have wrote down before or after the things you said you would do different at the end of your post?

 

[J B]

Thats exactly what I needed, something to keep me busy at the weekend, had been thinking about this and grabbed some cardboard to make a mock up then you post this! Top bombing :thumbsup:

 

[s3 Hoggy]

This looks great! I don't have a badger5 tip or a jetex filter but still feel the urge to just make a heatshield!!!

 

[sportstractor]

after seeing your own coment of being a 'spanner' i thought oh no here we go it will be rubbish, but you stand me corrected thats actually a very good effort, well done

got to admit i was expecting something made of ply and coated with tin foil! pmsl

But im seriously impressed, you have all the DIYers with 3" mafs coming out of their holes... very inspirational.

Maybe a competition for the most elabourate heatshield?

 

[coyle]

got to admit i was expecting something made of ply and coated with tin foil! pmsl

But im seriously impressed, you have all the DIYers with 3" mafs coming out of their holes... very inspirational.

Maybe a competition for the most elabourate heatshield?

could make a perspex lid

 

[antnee]

Looks good, might have to make myself one! Might go one step further and make it from CF though

Is there a good place to get a CAI feed from?

 

[DaveA3]

could get some carbon wrap around the sheet steel. would look great

 

[Westy]

Nice work, you have got the cogs going round in my head now too

 

[Piester]

Wish I was as clever and handy enough to make one of those....

i wish i could put my hand to stuff like that.

It's really not that hard, honestly. This is the first thing like this I've made and whilst it took me a while, that's mainly because I was trying to figure it from scratch.

did you draw around the filter for the circle hole size?

Draw around the MAF, as that's what goes through the hole. If you end up cutting it slightly bigger, it's not the end of the world as the two screws fastening the MAF to the heat shield will stop it rattling around.

how did you get the steel to fold so well, did you score it to weaken it at the joint? or just fold up around a spirit level, or something similar with a sharp edge?

I did score the outside of the edges of the tabs with a standly knife, but not too much as I didn't want it to split. To bend I just used two off cuts of the steel to get it nice and even. Only the tabs really posed a problem as they were so short on mine.

Im going to make it out of card following your design and then tweak if necessary

Exactly right. Whilst my dimensions worked for me, that's based on how I fitted the TIP. Given that the TIP is fairly adjustable being in three bits, it shouldn't be too different but definitely do a template first. Use card as well, not paper like I did. Whilst it looks like it fits on the paper template, it's a different story once it's solid steel.

i do them in ali with 2 fixing points, 1 down by the battery

I'd actually made a bracket to use the battery fixing point to give it the extra stability, but the whole thing is such a tight fit I decided there wasn't any need to in the end. No point over complicating things.

Yours would be better if it was longer so it covered the whole length of the air filter

That's what I thought but it didn't fit as a straight rectangular box and whilst I could have tapered it in at a similar angle to the filter, I thought it would only be more restrictive. Also as it's squared off, it follows the line of the battery cover which keeps it nice and neat.

Did you just use a hand riveter?

That's pretty much exactly the same as the one I bought.

make a few and sell them !!

Can't be *****. The template is there though for anyone that wants it.

is the template you have wrote down before or after the things you said you would do different at the end of your post?

I made a few rough amends to the measurements when it was finished based on the issues I had, but would definitely recommend making a card template first and a seeing how it fits the way you've set up your TIP.

Is there a good place to get a CAI feed from?

This is what I want to know. I've seen somewhere that someone had flexible ducting pipe (as below) going down under the headlight. Anybody got any pictures or ideas?

NTCDUCTING.COM -Heating and Ventilation Ducting - Industrial Ducting- Flexible Ducting Manufacturer

Cheers again for all the comments. Definitely worth giving it a go if your bored one day.

Again if anyone has any changes to the template, PM me and I'll send you the powerpoint I made it on, or if you just want it to print I've got it on a PDF.

 

[Piester]

Crikey, that was a long reply!

 

[s3dave]

I can cut some 2500mm x 1250mm aluminium sheet down to the overall cut size at cost, if there is enough interest
should be no more than £10 delivered....

 

[JamJay]

Fantastic! It looks a lot like my old Neuspeed shield which I can confirm does not fit with Badger 5 TIP even with 1" trimmed off of each end of the top 90degree bend. The problem with the Neuspeed was that it wanted to sit too far backwards to meet the mounting points which meant the TIP needed to be pushed back so far that it raised and kinked. The Jabba one looked like the TIP slides into the shield rather than bolts to it which will be better but I like the idea of securing the MAF to something so I might make a version of what you have done but have it sitting further forwards with the mount points moved further back.

 

[badger5]

if Neuspeed can fit on std intake or silicon one, why would'nt it fit with my 3inch, which fits on std airbox if you trim it accordingly?

Neuspeed one is narrow tho, too narrow for the JR filter.. that I have seen

 

[s3dave]

Yeah the neuspeed is oval.. and sits in on the shorter side

 

[fran-s3]

Anyone got a picture of the Jabba one? Can you confirm if it would fit with the JR filter?

 

[JamJay]

if Neuspeed can fit on std intake or silicon one, why would'nt it fit with my 3inch, which fits on std airbox if you trim it accordingly?

Neuspeed one is narrow tho, too narrow for the JR filter.. that I have seen

This I can't answer Bill but I would have had to make a right mess of your TIP to get it to fit. I trimmed 2" off as if was and any more than I'd been too close to the bend in the pipe so it was a non-started I'm afraid. The only other way I could have done this would be to trim the lower 90degree bend and make it very short. I moved the hoses at all angles on the ported joiner and still no luck, just doesn't fit I'm afraid.

 

[fran-s3]

Piester regarding the cold air feed, me and my friend did once manage to stuff a cold air feed down the hole in the side of the wing where the original hole is where the passenger wheel is... (well it's more of a triangle then a hole, gap thing) He had to take my wheel fender off and pointed the other end forwards so as to catch cold air above the passenger wheel.... I was trying to install a universal enclosed kit but it didn't work out (as the pipe kept collapsing on full acceleration because of the angle) Anyway the point is you can utilise that gap and get a cold air feed down there, means a very tight fit with the wheel fender/guard things as we struggled to put them back on - a lot of bending was needed but it was possible. I'll definitely be doing that when I get the JR filter.. and of course u can pull the cold air pipe out as much as you want so it's pointing right at the cone..... Not as good as the front of the bumper but the next best thing I think.

 

[JamJay]

How did you cut the hole for the MAF meter housing?