is it safe to remove the exhaughst heat sheild - Honda Prelude Forum

Rick Bailey · 01-20-2002, 12:57 PM

that metal head sheild under the car rattles when i have my subs in and it kinda sound *** so i was wondering if it would cause problems if i took it out or just cut off some of it that rattlea?

dohcpower v2.0 · 01-20-2002, 02:11 PM

i took off my cat heat shield from my 4th gen prelude, i never had a problem with it. My 5th hasn't rusted threw yet, so i'm just leaving it on there.

Just aslong as you don't park over any dry leaves or anything, you should be fine.

Rick Bailey · 01-20-2002, 02:47 PM

well its not the cat heat sheild its the big peice of metal that it screwd into the bottom of the body

Lewd Lude · 01-20-2002, 02:49 PM

that will heat the underside of your car...hence heat shield...this is not particularly bad, but it will melt any wires that are touching the other side of the bodywork if they follow in some way the direction of the exhuast....and that would be bad

jc836 · 01-20-2002, 05:45 PM

You need to look carefully up in there as there are things that should be covered. Also the shield is not in 2 pieces like the books show-it is welded into a single piece. It is doing no harm and actually helps. Are you positive that the shield is vibrating that much? You can use a bit of Dynamat or Cascade over the tunnel (take up carpet to do it) to dampen some of the noise/vibration.

mazachan · 01-23-2002, 09:21 AM

What about the heat shield over the headers? Can that be safely removed without damaging anything else?

kenchan · 01-23-2002, 11:20 AM

yah, just dont park in tall grass.

you might wanna keep the header heatshield as it will contain the heat from dissapating inside the engine area.

azninside · 01-23-2002, 02:54 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by kenchan
yah, just dont park in tall grass.

you might wanna keep the header heatshield as it will contain the heat from dissapating inside the engine area.

what bout aftermarket headers? Everyone takes it off when they install their headers....does the stock header heat up more than DC Sports headers?

-AZNinside

ZMonkey11 · 01-23-2002, 05:40 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by mazachan
What about the heat shield over the headers? Can that be safely removed without damaging anything else?

I removed mine. Iunno why, but now I always have this somewhat burning smell from my engine bay. If I was you, I would just keep it on. It only weighs like 5 lbs...my cousin told me it would be like 20 and I believed him...that was the Type R driver.

PreludeVTEC01 · 01-23-2002, 07:18 PM

DONT DO IT

Rick Bailey · 01-24-2002, 05:41 AM

ok i wont i think dymating the whole bottom of the car should fix it i was wondering how much would it cost to dynamat the whole trunk and lid? but using that b-quet **** like there best stuff and how many square ft will do most of the car?

LuDeS · 01-24-2002, 11:52 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Rick Bailey
that metal head sheild under the car rattles when i have my subs in and it kinda sound *** so i was wondering if it would cause problems if i took it out or just cut off some of it that rattlea?

i dont suggest you do that... it was put there for a reason...

mazachan · 01-24-2002, 01:41 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by LuDeS

i dont suggest you do that... it was put there for a reason...

While I appreciate the help, it seems that most of the responses are "It's there for a reason" or "Don't do it because it is bad". So, let us assume that I am ignorant, but want to further my knowledge in my car. If it was put there for a reason, why? What are the potential dangers of removing? What are the benefits of keeping it there? Does the header heat shield keep the engine bay below a certain temp.?

djc · 01-24-2002, 01:55 PM

Say a small piece of paper flies into the engine bay while driving on the hwy. It catches on fire, spreads to the electrical wires, and begins to melt your engine bay. Soon your front end is on fire, but you can't do anything because once the electrical stuff burns, your car stalls, your steering wheel locks up, and your headed straight for the center divider. The fire spreads into the grease and oils that lube everything, and soon your strapped in a 200 HP VTEC Fireball that headed into a collision course with a concrete wall at a measly 80 mph.

why? Cuz your heat shield buzzed when JaRule was playing.

LuDeS · 01-24-2002, 02:18 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by djc
Say a small piece of paper flies into the engine bay while driving on the hwy. It catches on fire, spreads to the electrical wires, and begins to melt your engine bay. Soon your front end is on fire, but you can't do anything because once the electrical stuff burns, your car stalls, your steering wheel locks up, and your headed straight for the center divider. The fire spreads into the grease and oils that lube everything, and soon your strapped in a 200 HP VTEC Fireball that headed into a collision course with a concrete wall at a measly 80 mph.

why? Cuz your heat shield buzzed when JaRule was playing.

hehehe

i have the same problem with my heat shield rattleing b/c of my subs but im not about to remove the heat shield... hey
MAZACHAN i didnt engineer the prelude so im not sure why the heat shield is there othe than the obvious reason... "to stop excess heat from reaching vital areas"
I have an idea for you instead of being devils advocate why dont you take your heat shield off and let us know how things go

mazachan · 01-24-2002, 02:55 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by LuDeS

hehehe i have the same problem with my heat shield rattleing b/c of my subs but im not about to remove the heat shield... hey
MAZACHAN i didnt engineer the prelude so im not sure why the heat shield is there othe than the obvious reason... "to stop excess heat from reaching vital areas"
I have an idea for you instead of being devils advocate why dont you take your heat shield off and let us know how things go

HAHA...That's pretty funny.. you can blame me for being a devil's advocate, but it's just like me.. always ever so curious.. however, to quote djc though, when the engine is running nice and hot, wouldn't a piece of paper that flies in there catch on fire anyways? On a side note, it's just that I notice most posts these days are "Are these the best cams?" or "Are these the best springs?" you know stuff like that. I think that if I can help promote some thoughtful discussions and get more into the why of things instead of "this is the best" or "Because it's done that way", then maybe we can develop some actual theories on making the prelude a better car.

LuDeS · 01-24-2002, 03:00 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by mazachan

HAHA...That's pretty funny.. you can blame me for being a devil's advocate, but it's just like me.. always ever so curious.. however, to quote djc though, when the engine is running nice and hot, wouldn't a piece of paper that flies in there catch on fire anyways? On a side note, it's just that I notice most posts these days are "Are these the best cams?" or "Are these the best springs?" you know stuff like that. I think that if I can help promote some thoughtful discussions and get more into the why of things instead of "this is the best" or "Because it's done that way", then maybe we can develop some actual theories on making the prelude a better car.

i agree with you totally im sorry if i came across like i was flaming you but to honest with you unless someone is a prelude engineer or has spoken to one on the exact reason for the heat shields... other than the obvious reason, no one here would know... but yeah an explanation to the reasons why people feel one way or the other on different issues is a good thing and should be promoted...

mazachan · 01-24-2002, 07:50 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by LuDeS

i agree with you totally im sorry if i came across like i was flaming you but to honest with you unless someone is a prelude engineer or has spoken to one on the exact reason for the heat shields... other than the obvious reason, no one here would know... but yeah an explanation to the reasons why people feel one way or the other on different issues is a good thing and should be promoted...

Hey... don't worry about it.. I'm sure most of us here are here to expand our knowledge.. But I was thinking, does anyone know how much more efficient our engines would run if it were cooled to certain temperatures? Wouldn't it make sense to develop some sort of heat sink that would channel the heat, say underneath the car? Also, I have seen on SCC some company develops these "sleeves" to wrap around the header.. do they make much difference?

LuDeS · 01-24-2002, 08:01 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by mazachan

Hey... don't worry about it.. I'm sure most of us here are here to expand our knowledge.. But I was thinking, does anyone know how much more efficient our engines would run if it were cooled to certain temperatures? Wouldn't it make sense to develop some sort of heat sink that would channel the heat, say underneath the car? Also, I have seen on SCC some company develops these "sleeves" to wrap around the header.. do they make much difference?

Cooler air into the engine directly equates to more power so lowering engine bay temp should reasonably lead to better performance... hence cold air intakes, intercoolers, larger better radiators...
Those header wraps you're talking about i've heard pros and cons... pros:keeps engine bay temp down... Cons:it doesnt allow heat to escape so people "say" it increases wear on the headers(dont know how true that is)

ludethugs · 02-15-2002, 12:22 AM

ok, i think you guys did a good job on explaining why not to take off the heat sheild... but i think what needs to be answered is:

what can you do to fix the rattling problem?

it just started to happen to me a few days after i installed an N1 exhaust. ??????? and it only happens when i de-acellerate... if i go to neutral it doesn't do it.

help!