Engine Dress-Up, Part 3 Exhaust Shield and Intake Upgrade
- Materials:
- Sheet aluminum, Cordless drill with step-drill bit, Wire-brush attachment for drill
- Shield template, Cardboard, Scissors, Marker, Grease pencil
- Tin snips, Hammer, Metal file, Gloves, Round file, Bolts and washers
- Custom Aluminum Exhaust-Shield
Later in this car's makeover, the owner may be replacing the stock exhaust manifold with a new one. In the meantime, we opted to dress up the looks by concealing the manifold with a custom-made brushed-aluminum exhaust shield.
Steps :
- To create a template, measure the rough dimensions for size and mounting-hole location when your engine is cold.
- Transfer the measurements onto cardboard and cut out the rough template.
- Shape the template by trimming it with scissors, and test the fit and mounting-hole position as well.
- When you're content with the design, transfer the measurements from your template onto aluminum with a marker.
- Cut out the design using tin snips.
- Hammer the edges flat, and use a file to smooth out any rough edges.
- Mark the holes with a center punch.
- Drill 1/8" pilot holes before enlarging the openings to the proper size.
- A step drill bit will allow you to make various sized holes depending on your needs. For the template pattern for our particular engine, the mounting holes get enlarged to 7/16" and the dipstick hole to 7/8".
- Tip:Use a washable marker to highlight the proper step for easier viewing while drilling.
- Make sure the aluminum is secure by clamping it to your workbench, and use a drill-mounted wire brush to create a custom finish.
- Because aluminum is fairly pliable, you can make the bend by folding the shield against the edge of the workbench.
- To install it, position the shield into place then slide a lock washer and a flat washer onto the first bolt. Use another flat washer as a spacer between the shield and the exhaust manifold. Hold the rear washer in place with your fingers as you guide the bolt into the mounting boss.
- Do the same with the other bolt and then tighten the bolts to finish your custom exhaust shield.
- For the final touch, we added a custom dip-stick with a blue handle.
Air-Intake Upgrade and Color-Matching Wires
The existing intake tube on our CRX was a little too close to the strut-bar tower -- something which could cause wear due to vibration and cost points on the automotive -show floor. We opted to replace it with a new chrome intake-tube kit.
- Materials:
- Replacement air-intake kit, including clamps and connectors
- Screwdriver, Black split-loom, Scissors, Wire ties, Wire cutters
- Steps:
- Pull the oil overflow line, then loosen the main hose clamp and swap them out.
- The new intake tube goes in just like the old one came out.
- Tighten the clamps at the intake manifold, replace the overflow tube, and attach the air filter at the other end.
- The newly installed breather offers better clearance at the tower bar.
- The white wires and hoses left on our engine weren't visually in keeping with our engine dress-up, so we opted to conceal those wires using black split-loom.
- With the split-loom installed and secured with zip-ties, the engine had a more unified look overall.
- Simply cut black split loom to length of existing hoses and slide it over the hoses.
- Once in proper position, secure it with wire ties.
- Clip the loose ends off the ties with wire cutters.
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