Hey everyone,

I have a quick and hopefully easy question to toss out here. Is it important to have the heat sheild that mounts under the intake manifold in the lifter valley? Not the lifter spider legged crap, but the actual inverted tent shaped sheet metal shield found bolted to the under sider of stock manifolds?

Does anyone know where I can get my hands on one?

Thanks for any and all help, it is very much appreciated.

Jim

 

No ideas?
anyone?

 

That shield you were talking about.. is it on a stock iron GM manifold? I've heard they are for reducing oil sludge since the manifold passages (water) run pretty hot. I don't know where you could get a stock replacement.. those are usually held down by rivets and people usually go for an aftermarket manifold that doesn't use a shield. Hope that helps...

 

The heat sheild I speak of came on my stock aluminum tpi manifold. I bought a new Accel manifold and wasn't going to put it on, but noticed on the bottom that there are four small bolt hole in which to attach the sheild. Mine is bolted on. But if people don't seem to be using them, I guess I don't need to either.

 

i don't know about tpi but on a stock quadrajet manifold that shield covers the area where the exhaust crossover goes under the carb. the exhaust gasses are very hot and any oil that splashes on that area will pick up heat. may even burn and convert to carbon build up which is very abrasive

 

found a crap picture on ebay just to show you guys what I'm talking about.

 

That's just a heat shield. I'll leave it up to you if you think you need it.

 

For a 383 with aluminum heads, do you guys think I need it.

 

Install the shield. Anything you can do to keep hot oil off the bottom of the intake is a good thing. I plan to reuse it when I install my Accel manifold.

 

It is important to keep heat off the intake.. but if you're going with aluminum heads, why would you consider using the stock manifold?? Most aluminum aftermarket intakes don't have provisions for the heat shield, and if you were really concerned about the intake ports getting too hot, go with a RPM Air Gap where the ports aren't directly in conduction with the oil.

 

I have a new Accel manifold which does have provisions to add the sheild. I guess I'll try to find one to put on.

 

Thats what I would do.

 

What are the NPT plugs under the shield for?

 

I believe those were needed for the production process...