Has anyone tried removing the rattley exhaust heat shields from the front manifold part of the engine and replacing with heat wrap as available from demon tweeks etc. my heat sheilds are starting to perish and vibrate at certain revs on my 94 wrx. thought it might be an idea to try a different approach!

The easy answer is to remove the downpipe and change it to a CAT free unit.

Dan

Deanmachine,

For the manifold (not downpipe!), there's some views which say the cast manifold can't take the additional heat generated by the wrap. But there was one guy on here who did it a few months back - try a search.

Don't forget to port the manifold while it's off :)

Richard

Just to warn all of you that if you fit a tubular manifold it's necessary to heat wrap it in order to reduce the under bonnet temp especially the up pipe.
I didn't wrap mine as the mechanic suggested me (He told me that the heat wrap will destroy my manifold due to overheat), and after four months the result is a very slight oil leak from near side gasket of my engine...conclusion is yours!
The factory heat shields are there for some reason.
JIM

I did mine a few weeks ago. Did some porting work also.
I've had no problems whatsoever and the car does seem to pick-up quicker. It'll save you some weight too.
Have a look at this thread for some inspiration,
http://www.scoobynet.co.uk/bbs/thread.asp?ThreadID=101950

hi guys friend of mine (conection declared) who runs rallyusedparts.co.uk is going to sell heat wrap/shielding, its the same high quality as demon tweeks but it is cheaper.contact him through his web site if you are interested @ www.rallyusedparts.co.uk.Hope thats helpful
good luck.

rally designs is a lot cheaper than demon tweeks.

www.raldes.com

ian :)

For the lazy:

Very useful thread I think

rally used parts

raldes.com